Need help with understanding the process

[def2xx]

Hello,

I need to understand the process of food intake regulated by "hand portions", but I do not get it.

Hand portions are simple to understand. One palm equals one serving of protein (exp. one chicken breast serving big as a palm), one fist equals one serving of vegetables (exp. one spinach serving big as a fist), one cupped hand equals one serving of carbohydrates (exp. one cupped hand of oats as a one serving of carbs), one thumb equals one serving of fat (exp. almonds serving big as a thumb as one portion of fat). I have attached the picture related to this so I recommend taking a look at it.

But most foods contain a mix of protein, carbohydrates and fat.

On average...

1 palm protein	~ 24 g protein, 2 g carbs, 4.5 g fat
1 fist veggies	~ 1.5 g protein, 5 g carbs, 0 g fat
1 cupped hand of carbs	~ 3 g protein, 25 g carbs, 1 g fat
1 thumb fats	~ 2 g protein, 2 g carbs, 9 g fat

(this may vary but it does not matter right now, let's use these averages for this task)

If I need to consume about 165 grams of protein per day, about 325 grams of carbohydrates per day, and about 72 grams of fat per day,
how many portions of palms, fists, cupped hands, and thumbs do I need to count?

The number of fists needs to be 6-8, but how many palms, cupped hands, and thumbs do I need to count?

There is a calculator for this purpose but I want to be able to manually do this and I do not understand the process.

I would really appreciate it if you can explain step by step what to do or just show me the example of the whole process using the numbers above.

(I said about 165 grams of protein per day. It can be close to that number like 163 or 166 etc. The same goes for other carbohydrates and fats)

Let me know if you need anything (like an answer from the calculator)

 

[Otis]

There is a calculator for this purpose but I want to be able to manually do this

Why is that? Are you planning on developing your own app?

 

[Dr.Peterson]

On average...

1 palm protein	~ 24 g protein, 2 g carbs, 4.5 g fat
1 fist veggies	~ 1.5 g protein, 5 g carbs, 0 g fat
1 cupped hand of carbs	~ 3 g protein, 25 g carbs, 1 g fat
1 thumb fats	~ 2 g protein, 2 g carbs, 9 g fat

(this may vary but it does not matter right now, let's use these averages for this task)

If I need to consume about 165 grams of protein per day, about 325 grams of carbohydrates per day, and about 72 grams of fat per day,
how many portions of palms, fists, cupped hands, and thumbs do I need to count?

The number of fists needs to be 6-8, but how many palms, cupped hands, and thumbs do I need to count?

Do you recognize that the words protein, carb, and fat are being used in different ways in the two columns of the table? I presume protein on the left really means "a typical food that is commonly thought of as a protein source, such as chicken", while on the right it refers to the actual nutrient. So let's call the food Protein and the nutrient protein (lower case).

Given that, if you have P palms of Protein, F fists of Veggies, C cupped hands of Carbs, and T thumbs of Fats, then, for instance, you will have 24P+1.5F+3C+2T grams of protein; you want this to equal165 grams. That gives you one equation. Then carbs and fat give you two more equations. So you have three equations in four unknowns; this will have many solutions. If you set F to 7, say, then you can try to solve for the other three variables.

This may or may not yield a practical answer; I haven't tried. Since everything is approximate, you will probably have to make some adjustments to improve on the answer.

 

[def2xx]

Why is that? Are you planning on developing your own app?

No, I might need this later in my job (working with clients). The calculator is fine, but I want to be able to manually do this and understand the process (what if there is no calculator anymore, and right now, there is just 1 high-quality calculator for this purpose. I don't want to rely on it too much)

 

[def2xx]

Do you recognize that the words protein, carb, and fat are being used in different ways in the two columns of the table? I presume protein on the left really means "a typical food that is commonly thought of as a protein source, such as chicken", while on the right it refers to the actual nutrient. So let's call the food Protein and the nutrient protein (lower case).

Given that, if you have P palms of Protein, F fists of Veggies, C cupped hands of Carbs, and T thumbs of Fats, then, for instance, you will have 24P+1.5F+3C+2T grams of protein; you want this to equal165 grams. That gives you one equation. Then carbs and fat give you two more equations. So you have three equations in four unknowns; this will have many solutions. If you set F to 7, say, then you can try to solve for the other three variables.

This may or may not yield a practical answer; I haven't tried. Since everything is approximate, you will probably have to make some adjustments to improve on the answer.

Yes, you are right about food protein and nutrient protein (the same goes for carbs and fats). I have attached the results from the calculator.