How is the food exchange list used?

The food exchange list is a matching system that lets the foods inside one group be used in place of one another. TÜBER, Türkiye's national dietary guideline, builds this on equivalence: equivalent amounts are amounts that contain a similar level of energy. So what the list equalizes is not the volume on the plate but what that amount corresponds to.

Below we look at what equivalence is built on, how exchanging is done within a group, why exchanging between groups does not work, how a day's portions are spread and where the list gets it wrong.

What the system is built on

Every food group has a standard portion, and that portion corresponds to an approximate energy value. In the milk-yogurt-cheese group and in the bread-grain group, one standard portion is about 150 kilocalories; in the meat-chicken-fish-egg-legume group it is 150-200 kilocalories.

In vegetables and fruit the range is wider: in vegetables one standard portion is 25-85 kilocalories, in fruit 50-100 kilocalories. This is why equivalence works more loosely in these two groups.

The exchange list is these portions written in place of one another. The list itself is not a recommendation, it is a translation table.

Exchanging within a group

The clearest example is the milk group: 1 standard mug of milk, 1 standard bowl of yogurt, 60 g of beyaz peynir (Turkish white cheese) and 40 g of kaşar cheese are accepted as equivalent to each other. For ayran the equivalent is 1.5 mugs, that is 350 milliliters.

The same logic works in the bread and grain group. One standard portion is 2 thin slices of bread or 50 grams; for cooked bulgur and rice, ½ mug or 90 grams; for boiled pasta, ½ mug or 75 grams.

In the meat group, one standard portion of cooked red meat or chicken is 80 grams, for boiled legumes ¾ mug or 130 grams, and for nuts a handful or 30 grams.

Why exchanging between groups does not work

Two foods do not stand in for each other just because they carry similar energy. What separates the groups is not energy but the nutrients they carry; the milk group stands on the calcium side, the meat group on protein and iron, the grain group on carbohydrate and fiber.

This is why a group that falls short on a given day is not covered by taking two portions from another group. The exchange list is a tool that works within a group.

How a day's portions are spread

The guideline gives daily portion recommendations per group by age. For an adult, 3 portions a day are recommended for the milk-yogurt-cheese group; on the meat-chicken-fish-egg side a total of 1.5 portions, for legumes 3 portions a week, for fish 2.5 portions a week.

The exchange list fills in these numbers. It is possible to cover the day's three milk portions with a mug of milk, a bowl of yogurt and 60 grams of cheese, and it is equally possible to cover all three with yogurt.

Equivalents in vegetables and fruit

In these two groups the measure is given by volume rather than by weight. For cooked vegetables one standard portion is 1 mug, for leafy vegetables eaten raw 2 mugs; for dark green leafy vegetables 1 mug or about 1 fist.

For fruit the equivalent is given by weight: one standard portion is 30 grams for dried fruit, 100 grams for banana and 150 grams for all other fruit. For apple, orange and peach this means one medium piece, roughly the size of a fist.

The width of the range makes exchanging easier in these two groups. Swapping one fruit for another gives less error than swapping one grain for another.

When the measuring tool changes

The system is built on the mug; the mug is the basic measuring tool that defines the standard portion across all food groups, and it is 240 milliliters. One fist corresponds to one mug, a small bowl of 12-14 centimeters to one mug, and a large bowl of 18-22 centimeters to two mugs.

The ladle is defined too: a medium ladle is 9 centimeters across, 120 milliliters, that is half a mug; a small ladle is 90 milliliters. If the ladle at home is different from these, the result shifts even when the list works correctly.

Side dish or second course

The footnote most often skipped in the list is here. One standard portion of rice, bulgur and pasta corresponds to the amount served as a side dish.

Pilav or pasta served as a second course after the main dish, on the other hand, equals two standard portions. The same plate falls on a different line of the list depending on its place at the table.

The limits of the list

Because equivalence is built on energy, not every difference inside a group is equalized. The guideline writes this plainly for the milk group: the portion amounts of low-fat products and their full-fat alternatives have been kept similar, and people have been directed toward choosing the low-fat ones.

The second limit is variety. Even though the list allows a group to be covered with a single food, repeating the same food every day narrows the variety that group carries.

In short: equivalence is built on energy, exchanging is done within a group, the list does not work correctly until the measuring tool is fixed, and pilav counts as one or two portions depending on its place at the table. We gave the short definition in this tip, the portion itself in this guide and hand measures in this guide.