Better Health & Living
Size Matters
As food portions got bigger, so did we. Here's how to downsize your meals.
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Lisa Young, RD, PhD, remembers seeing the statistic and being alarmed. In 1994, the National Center for Health Statistics found that the average American adult was 8 pounds heavier in 1989 than in 1980. “But it wasn’t just that we were heavier than ever,” says Dr. Young, a faculty member at New York University. “We were gaining weight at a much faster rate than ever.”
Her colleagues blamed it on too much TV, not enough exercise, fast food, and unhealthy snacks; but Dr. Young began to wonder if it might have something to do with portion sizes, which also seemed to be growing. So she set out on a project that eventually became her doctoral thesis and the basis for her book, The Portion Teller Plan
She found that portions of many foods were as much as five times larger than they were when the foods were first introduced to the market—going all the way back to the 1950s for some products.
For example, the famous Hershey’s chocolate bar, which weighed 0.6 ounce in 1900, its first year on the market, is now 1.6 ounces, almost three times its original weight. McDonald’s, which started out offering a 1.6-ounce patty, now has an 8-ounce burger—the Double Quarter Pounder—on its menu. Bagels that weighed 2 to 3 ounces in the 1960s weighed 4 to 6 ounces in 2000. The average restaurant pasta entree, which was 1.6 cups in 1960, was 3 cups by 2000.
“It was a perfect parallel to the obesity epidemic,” says Dr. Young, who may be best known for her appearance in the movie Super Size Me. “As portions got bigger, people got bigger.”
In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that on average, Americans gained 25 pounds between 1960 and 2002; though the average U.S. citizen grew only 1 inch taller. Two-thirds of Americans are now overweight or obese. The fastest-growing subcategory: Those who are 100 pounds or more over their ideal weight.
Bigger Size, Bigger Expectations
One reason portions started growing is money. “The food industry learned that you can make a nice profit by doubling the size of the serving and doubling the price, since the cost of labor is the same,” says Karen Donoto, RD, coordinator of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Obesity Education Initiative.
Our expectations have grown as well. In a 2006 study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Jamie Schwartz, RD, a New York-based nutritionist, reported that when asked to serve themselves the amount they considered a “typical” portion of each meal item on a buffet table, adults piled on as much as 40 percent more food than participants did in a similar study done 20 years before. Only about 30 percent of the portions the participants took at lunch and dinner were close to what they had been 20 years earlier. They supersized everything else. “It showed that people’s perceptions of portions had changed,” says Schwartz.
QUANTITY CONTROL
You may not be able to convince your favorite restaurateur to pile less food on your plate, but you can take charge of that yourself, says Lisa Young, RD, PhD. She teaches her clients to estimate food portions with comparative cues. For example, 3 ounces of meat, poultry, or fish is about the size of a deck of cards. A cup of cereal, berries, or popcorn is equal to a baseball.
Here are six other ways to make sure you’re eating reasonable portions.
- Scrutinize labels. A serving of Ben & Jerry’s low-fat Cherry Garcia frozen yogurt is only 170 calories; but the label says that’s for a paltry 1/2 cup. The labels on many canned soups tell you a can contains two servings. How many times have you eaten the whole thing?
- Create your own comparisons. If you frequently stick your hand in a bag of chips for “just a handful” and end up eating half a bag, try some portion practice. Weigh an ounce of your favorite food on a food scale. Look at it. How much space does it take up? Put it in your cupped hands. What does it feel like?
- Undersize your order. Order an appetizer rather than an entree. Get the small or even the kids’ meal at fast-food places. Restrict yourself to smaller meals for a week or two, and you’ll find that you’ll feel full on less food.
- Eat more of these. “Nobody ever got fat eating carrots,” says Dr. Young. “Be liberal with foods rich in fiber, like fruits and vegetables. They make you feel full; and when you feel full, you eat less.”
- Choose juicy foods. In her studies, Pennsylvania State University nutrition professor Barbara Rolls, PhD, author of the Volumetric Weight-Control Plan
, found that eating foods that contain a lot of water—fruits, vegetables, cooked grains, soups, stews, and casseroles—also fill you up without breaking the calorie bank, as long as you control the fat. “Water has volume and weight but no calories, so water-rich foods give you bigger portions,” she says.
- Downsize your dinnerware. Plates and glasses have been supersized, too. Choose an 8- to 10-ounce glass rather than a 20-ounce tumbler, a 9- to 10-inch-diameter dinner plate rather than a 12-inch plate, and a teaspoon rather than a soup spoon. “Put your oversize serving containers away for parties and special occasions. Keep the ‘portion-friendly’ dinnerware out for everyday use,” recommends Dr. Young.
The scale and your clothes will thank you for it.
Visualize Your Servings
Food Portion = Size Equivalent
- 3 ounces meat, poultry or fish = deck of cards
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter = walnut in its shell
- 2 tablespoons salad dressing = shot glass
- 1 teaspoon butter or margarine = standard postage stamp
- 1 cup cold cereal, berries or popcorn = baseball
- 1 ounce pretzels (3/4 cup) = tennis ball
- 1 ounce bread = CD case
- 1 ounce hard cheese = 4 dice
- 1 baked or sweet potato = computer mouse
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