Keeping track of your food portions is healthy exercise

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A free brochure that offers to help you look wisely at what is on your dinner plate is designed to benefit your health.

The brochure directs attention not only to the proportion of plant food to animal food on that plate, but also to portion size at a period when caloric intakes have been soaring along with serving sizes.

The brochure, "The New American Plate," is offered by the American Institute for Cancer Research as a reminder that if you want to lose weight you have to eat less, says Melanie Polk, the institute's director for nutritional education.

"Obesity became an epidemic in this country at the same time portion sizes grew enormous," the brochure says, adding that it's probable most people can achieve a healthy weight by reducing the portions they eat and exercising more.

A free copy of the brochure can be obtained by calling (800) 843-8114, extension 22, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. EST, Monday-Friday.

On the Web: http://www.aicr.org.