[lilbitrsweet]

Hi,
I'm new, and after exploring this website yesterday and chatting with a few of you 'Sonoma girls', I decided to go out & purchase the book. After paging through the book, I noticed that the serving size of breakfast cereal is not very clear. On page 68 the graphic showing meal portions in relation to plate size shows option 2 for breakfast as 50% dairy, 50% grain in a 2-cup bowl. That would lead you to think that it would be 1 cup of each for breakfast, and as it also states on pg 72, "fill your bowl with half dairy and half whole grains." But on pg 76 on the wave 1 list of approved foods, it says under the "Sonoma Grains" heading it reads- "1/2 cup = 1 serving". Down below in that list where it reads "Whole Grain Cereal" it contradictes the sub heading by saying "8 grams fiber per serving or higher" . I just bought Kashi GoLean Crunch (a recommended cereal), which is 8 gms fiber per 1 cup serving. Therefore, is the portion size for whole grain cereal an exception for the "Sonoma Grains" list ?

Also what about rolled oats, is it 1/2 cup of dry oats or cooked oats? (On my rolled oatmeal package it states 1/2 cup as 1 serving). I noticed that also on pg 76 under that same "Sonoma Grains" list, the barley, pasta, rices, bulgar, quinoa, cracked wheat all are specified as 'cooked' for 1/2 cup portion (but not the rolled oats). So what do 'ya think?

Sorry to get so uptight about portion sizes, after being on Fat Flush for a while where you really measure almost everything, I guess I'm a little paranoid about making sure I'm understanding the guidelines. I really want this plan to work for me, just as I'm sure everyone else is also hoping for themselves !

Thanks for taking the time to read another long post.

[Suzanne 3FC]

The 1/2 cup grains is usually for cooked grains, like oatmeal. A serving of oatmeal would be about 1/3 cup dry oats, which cooks to about a 1/2 cup, or 1/4 cup steel cut oats, which cooks to about a 1/2 cup.

Cereal would be about 1 cup dry, since cereal is usually very lightweight and you end up with a lot of air in the measuring cup.

In general, I'd say the portion sizes are approximate. You can measure (as above) if you are not sure what a cup or half cup looks like, but then you'll be able to eyeball it. And it's not exact. A cup of one cereal may have more or less calories than a cup of another type of cereal. It's all just general guidelines, not a chemistry experiment, so you should be fine

[lilbitrsweet]

Suzanne, Thanks for clarifying !