The portions, servings, helpings, slices and amounts of what we eat have grown dramatically over the past two decades.
The bigger-is-better motto has taken over the food industry, in conjunction with mass marketing to convince us to buy bigger sizes in order to save money. Supermarkets and restaurants use the promise of better value as a way of pushing extra food onto customers.
• Pizza pies were 10 inches in diameter back in the 1970s. Today the average size for a pizza is between 16 and 18 inches!
• A Hershey chocolate bar weighed 0.6 ounces its first year on the market. The standard bar now weighs 1.6 ounces. That’s almost 3 times its original weight!
• All of the most popular burger restaurants have increased the size of their hamburgers. The original Burger King burger weighed in at 3.9 ounces, and today a Double Whopper is 12.6 ounces. McDonald’s original patty started out at 1.6 ounces, and now the Double Quarter Pounder is 8 ounces — that’s five times more meat!
• Even diet food has grown in size. During the 1990s, Weight Watchers introduced their Smart Ones frozen meals with larger portion sizes. Lean Cuisine offered Hearty Portions, with 100 more calories than the original meal.
• Starbucks once offered the “short” cup of coffee at 8 ounces, but it is no longer on the menu. The smallest cup you can order is the “tall.” At 12 ounces, this cup is nearly twice the size of what was once considered a regular cup of coffee.
• When Hot Pockets advertised that they added 10% more filling to their microwavable sandwiches while keeping the price the same, their sales increased by 32%.
• If you compare the new edition of the classic cookbook The Joy of Cooking to the original, you will find identical recipes for cookies and brownies, except that the new recipe makes fewer servings: for example, 16 brownies instead of 30. The modern portions are twice as large.
• The Olive Garden restaurant chain offers the “Never-Ending Pasta Bowl,” with unlimited refills of pasta for only $7.95.
Portion Distortion
Bigger portions mean we eat more than we need. When a larger portion is placed in front of us, we tend to eat 30% to 50% more! Most often, we don’t even realize that we are eating more.
• Women ate 31% more and men ate 56% more when served a 12-inch sub sandwich instead of a 6-inch sandwich.
• When cooking, people poured 4.3 ounces of oil from a 32-ounce bottle, but only 3.5 ounces from a 16-ounce bottle.
• Moviegoers ate 61% more popcorn when given the larger container than they did with a small size. We make our own at home and bring (sneak) it in. This way we avoid the Genetically Modified corn and can control the portion sizes and the quality! Check the blog for our delicious popcorn recipe!
• Snackers poured about twice as many M&Ms from a jumbo bag (103) than they did when given a smaller package (63).
Adapted from The Portion Teller, by Lisa R. Young, PhD, RD.
What’s the solution?
Becoming aware is the first step. Putting less on your plate or using smaller plates puts you back at the helm as well.
But here’s the real deal:
The problem is processed, chemicalized, artificial foods. All of the items mentioned above are highly refined food facsimiles. Because they are so processed, they lack nutritional density. As you add more nutritionally dense foods into your diet, you naturally eat less. (Just ask my clients. I go on and on about this but it works!) When you overeat, it is largely due to not feeling satisfied when in fact, you are not being satisfied nutritionally. Go figure!
Here are some other tips:
- Drink a full glass of water before you sit down to eat
- Cook more of your own food. not only do you control portions and ingredients but you engage in the act of creating something to nourish you.
- Set a relaxing atmosphere for your meal. turn off the television, light a candle, create some ambiance and enjoy your meal in a relaxed state of gratitude.
- Chew slowly and enjoy the full range of tastes and smells. Notice how things grow sweeter as you chew. Digestion begins in the mouth.
- Include a soup with your meal, it will add nutrition, fill you up, and warm your tummy.
- Put your fork down between bites. Breathe, smile, have a pleasant conversation. Ask questions and listen, really listen.
To find out more about the safety of our food, visit http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/YRTK.cfm
Great article guys. We wrote one sort of similar this past week, yours popped up on our blog (fusionsouth.wordpress.com), and we came here – we like what we see!
[...] here at FusionSouth we are attacking out of control portion size in today’s American meals! Check out today’s linked article here, from the blog of The Enlightened Table, a holistic nutrition and health firm. Too much of anything [...]