You may be getting the portion sizes wrong

Eating healthy foods, like avocados, nuts or dark chocolate, in excess may thwart the best of weight loss plans. Here’s what you should keep in mind.

Many people have made weight loss their New Year’s resolution and have stocked their kitchen shelves with healthy items like avocados, coconut oil and other healthy things. But, according to some nutritionists or dieticians, binge-eating healthy items can also stop you from losing weight, reports the Independent.

Rather, they would recommend counting calories, but that doesn’t mean the quantity of food you’re eating isn’t important. Specialist dietician Nichola Ludlam-Raine of Nic’s Nutrition said, “Everything can be ‘unhealthy’ if consumed to excess; even water! Foods that are high in fat and low in nutrients, such as fries, doughnuts, crisps, chocolate and cake should definitely be kept to an ‘occasional’ food, but when it comes to foods that are high in fat and high in nutrients we can indeed have them more frequently.” They say that the most important thing is to get your portion size right.

Nutritionist Rhiannon Lambert explained, “There are days where we overindulge and eat more than we usually would, but in general, it can be helpful to be mindful of what a portion size is for different foods.” While Ludlam-Raine said, “Consuming calories in excess of your daily needs on a regular basis will result in weight gain. And although we should be getting 30% of our calories from fats, it’s important to keep to the recommended serving sizes.”

Avocados provide us with essential fats. Nuts and nut butters and hummus are also sources of healthy fats as well as protein. Dark chocolate is rich in flavonoids and dried fruits are full of fibre. So how do you know how much is too much?

Here are the recommended portion sizes from nutritionists:

• Avocado - Half a large one or one small one

• Hummus - Two to three tablespoons

• Nut butters - Two tablespoons/30g

• Nuts - 25/30g

• Dark chocolate - 30-60g

• Dried fruits - 30g (around five dried apricots, four dates or two to three figs)

But people need to keep in mind that portion sizes can vary depending on how active you are, so there’s no strict one-size-fits-all rule.