Portion Distortion

O.K.- I don’t even know where to start with this. Well, this is the best thing I can think of:

If you go to Netflix and rent SuperSize Me, you can get a pretty good idea of what I am getting ready to talk about… portion sizes.

I can remember being a little kid and going to McDonald’s with my Mom and ordering a cheeseburger and fries and one of those glue ball apple pies (those things rock!!) and this was plenty… not just for a little kid, but also for my Mom and Dad. The biggest Coke that they had in the joint was like 32oz.- pretty tame by today’s standards. (now you can get a “dock your jet-ski size” just by paying another 0.49)—– This problem has been well documented, not only by the movie, but in various other places.

But what I am about to tell you is truly ASTOUNDING!!! A recent study went back and looked at the 1936 edition of The Joy of Cooking and compared it with the 2006 version. In 1936 the brownie recipe was to be divided in the pan into 30 squares. 2006- 16!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Same recipe……. bigger brownies in 2006. WHAT?????

In the 1970s only 14% of the U.S. population was obese….. now it is almost 66%. This is NOT a good trend. I think that we can blame this on fast food joints in the same way we can blame them for hot coffee. Sure, maybe they have been ratcheting up the servings, but I think that we, the folks—- (sorry, I am watching Bill O’Reilly) have a bit of culpability in this scenario.

So- how do we change this?? Funny you should ask- the answer is right in the palm of your hand. Keep the following “rules of thumb” in mind when you are about to eat.

1. One cup is about the size of your fist (cup of cereal, milk, yogurt)

2. Three ounces- about the size of your palm (this is about how big a steak you should be eating)—- o.k. Maybe a little more!!

3. One tablespoon (dressing on your salad)- about the size of your thumb from the knuckle to the end

4. One teaspoon (butter)- about the size of your index finger from the knuckle to the end

Keep these guidelines in mind and you can keep it under control. And remember, as I have said before, if you look on a bag and it says that 4 make a serving…. and there are 78 in the bag…. this is most likely a food you want to avoid (except on special occasions).

Originally posted 02-21-2010

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at 1:00 am and is filed under Diet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Portion Distortion”

Heather Says:
February 24th, 2010 at 10:54 am

Wow…those stats are horrifying!

(Though, I think you meant that 66% of Americans are overweight OR obese…not just obese. That’s what I’ve heard, anyways.)

I think one of the biggest contributors to “portion distortion” is our tendency to seek “value”. For example, we feel better about spending money in restaurants when we get a LOT of food for our money. For some reason, it doesn’t seem to matter that we’re being served much more food than our bodies actually need.

The scary part is that, to change this in any significant way, we’re going to need some sort of culture shift. And I just don’t know how we can make that happen!

Until then, your tips for controlling portion sizes will definitely come in handy.

All the best,

Heather

Rob Says:
February 24th, 2010 at 4:10 pm

You are EXACTLY right… thanks for catching it…..

Thanks Heather!!

Anonymous Fat Girl Says:
April 23rd, 2010 at 5:05 pm

My personal trainer taught me the same thing with portion sizes in regards to what you can fit in the cup of your hand or the size of your fist. It’s a great way to measure what you are eating and it’s always with you. I also think the size of drinks has gotten way, way, out of proportion among other things.

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