Friday, 20 November 2009
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Portion Sizes, 20 Years Ago and Now
Portion control is always a hot topic for achieving a healthy weight. I wanted to post this before I talk about portion control for Chinese meals. I got these photos from the Portion Distortion Quiz from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. Check that out. It compares the portion sizes we see today to what was available two decades ago!
If you ate pizza twice per month, this would be an extra 700 calories per month. In one year, that means about an extra two pounds per year, or 40 pounds after two decades!
We live in the land of Starbucks, where apparently our small (tall) size is a LARGE in France! They must be appalled by our venti size! Plus whipped cream or chocolate sauce is very common on top of our overpriced specialty coffees. A morning mocha alone is pretty much your morning meal!
It doesn't matter how good the popcorn is because if you are given a larger container, you are more likely to eat more than if you had a smaller container. Watch that butter and margarine!
Today's bagel is so large and dense, it equates to 3 or 4 servings in the grain product group! No wonder it is difficult to portion size. Larger restaurant portions have made us eat more at home too. We pour more cereal and milk into our bowl and eat larger bagels without realizing how unhealthily large these portions are!
Don't be too quick to blame McDonalds. Do you consider the Big Mac to be really big? Now there are triple whoppers and colossal burgers engaging our appetites.
Portion sizes have increased so much in the last twenty years and so have our average waistlines. Of course one cannot blame the obesity epidemic on just increased portion sizes. Low physical activity levels and wide availability of cheap foods are to blame too! Today, these larger portion sizes have distorted our perceptions of what a proper and healthy meal should look like.
What is normal?
What is healthy for you?
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Comments (56)
i hate how large portions are now a days. Its not that i cant eat it all it's because some foods are just so greasy or sugary that it becomes sickening to eat a portion that large.
I'm also quite a tiny figure so eating large portions like that really is not the best for me
I don't drink coffee so I never have to worry about that but when I eat bagels, I get little mini ones and they are only like 100 calories, so I guess it's pretty good.
I don't like how everything is sooo big! I can't eat all of it and I feel like I have to. I also, am pretty small, so I have to watch what I eat all the time.
I think sugary soft drinks are a serious contributor to obesity. I've been wondering if they're inbetween sugar water and syrup as far as their sugar content... sort of like a light syrup that would take heat and then slow cooling to create.
The dinner plate has increased its size too. Current dinner plate is a 12" and a few years ago was 10". I bet in the yester-years, it was probably an 8". Yes, bigger container does make us want to eat more.
Avoid buffet - buffet is to give us choices on variety of food, but nowadays it's advertise as All You Can Eat. People just want to eat their money's worth; bad idea. The medical bill will outweight our financial gain by eating more.
I have to agree my eyes has a bigger appetite than my stomach. I learn to not finish my portions nowadays. Yes, it's wasting food but it's the healthier choice.
I just had a grande Starbucks coffee today. YUM. :P
It IS crazy how much the portions have gotten bigger.
the primary sugar source of cokes changed as well, kind of sad when you try to keep cost down and yet mass produce such a delicious beverage. The other day after training I ate 2 whole bagels with cottage cheese and a protein shake, I counted how much I consumed and just my bagels alone added up to 985 calories and with this special cottage cheese I eat was an addotional 350 calories and the shake was 200............. ok I am not going further with this :::steps on the treadmill:::
as long as you know when to stop...
(you don't when you're a teenager)
I generally try to save the rest of it for later which saves money and time since there's really no such thing as free time in university
Those portions are insane! I cant believe how big theyve gotten over the last 20 years. WTF?!
Before I preggers I almost never ate all the food given to me at a restaurant. I knew it was too much for me personally, but I had no idea that proportions are so ridiculous now. Just wow....
Have to say, I love your blog. So informative without being dry. ::twothumbsup::
My trick for keeping my at home portions smaller.....I eat everything off a salad plate instead of a regular dinner plate. About 3" difference in size. And anything needing a bowl is eaten out of a coffee cup or a "prep bowl" which only holds 1 C max. The bowls that came with my flatware set hold 2.5 cups. Again, big difference.
that's crazy how each item you picked was about two times bigger! I never understood why we need such big sized popcorn and drinks in movie theater. I guess if you share it amongst a group it's okay, but for one person that's insane.
That's just crazy. And then people wonder why the United States has such high rates of obesity. My gosh.
wow thats sad
@wanderingXwondering - I do the same thing. :)
It's bad enough that portions are like this, but they don't tell anyone that they increased in size, and so everyone thinks that it's normal. Not only are our choices bad, but they're two or three times the size they should be.
Wow! i think obesity is a conspiracy because yea its our choice of what we eat but they make it sooo available to us you don't see a fast health food restaurant with a 24 hour drive thru window.
Two questions. When portion sizes were smaller did people eat more portions, and now that they are larger, do people eat less portions or pack portions away for later.
The only one I know of where there are good studies is the soda, where when I was a child kids averaged one to two 12 ounce sodas per day and now they average four per day. Going anecdotal, I know many people older than myself who say sodas were maybe a treat on saturday, and you'd get one 8 oz bottle.
As for myself, I rarely finish my meals, and pack up the rest for later. Often times a meal purchased for lunch becomes dinner as well.
rec'd - i think everyone should read this to really put things into perspective for themselves, including myself!
I wonder how great food will be 20 years from now... Yay.
Liz, are these the top snack preferences for college/universities? What foods should I eat before a test or lecture for stamina?
Another question: Do you recommend exercise before sex if the person is overweight from cholesterol fat build up?
I HAVE A QUESTION HOW MUCH CALORIES ARE YOU SUPPOSE TO HAVE EACH DAY? AND HOW CAN I MAKE THOSE BIG PORTIONS INTO SMALLER PORTIONS?
i really do hate that everything is so overly portioned
@CrAdLe2daGrAve - Try this tool here:
http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/calories-burned.php
Your calorie expenditure depends on your height, weight, gender, etc. Everybody's metabolism varies, so this tool is not 100% accurate. But it can give you a good ball park!
You need to physically eat less. This could be eating only half a bagel instead of a whole. Or always ordering the smallest size available at restaurants. Or only eating half of what is given to you at restaurants and taking the rest home. Small tips like that! I'll write more about portion sizing soon :)
@communitychannel - haha these foods aren't necessarily the top choices for college students. Everyone loves pizza, coffee, etc!
I wrote this post about foods that fight stress. See if that helps:
http://i-nutrition.xanga.com/704362617/foods-to-fight-stress/
I sometimes take a multi-vitamin or a B-vitamin supplement. I find they ease stress a bit and kinda perk me up and make me more alert.
I don't know how to answer your second question.... But I've heard that exercise in general helps sex life because exercise produces endorphins in your body.. increases stamina... all kinds of stuff! :)
Wow! that is an awesome point of comparison. I've always known portions are far too large these days..and I've always wondered how the women of the '80s stayed so thin!