We all know that Americans are overweight- well at least two-thirds are. But, it may not be all because of a change to a more sedentary lifestyle or the development worse eating habits. The reason may be simply that: we eat too much.
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| Bucket Gulp |
The size and portion of our food has increase dramatically within the past few decades, and Americans are unaware of how much more they are eating. Foods we buy are sometimes two to five times larger than when they were first introduced into the marketplace. (Even our apples are bigger!!) Haven't you heard about people who go on vacation in Italy or France and lose weight- even though "all they ate was pasta and bread and cheese and delicious crepes?" The reason is that the portions are much smaller in other countries, and if less is on the plate- you eat less and still feel satisfied. (by the way- the French croissant doubles in size when it's baked in America! oy)
The professor for one of my classes is a well-known nutritionist in Manhattan and does much of her research on portion sizes in America. She recently wrote a book, The Portion Teller Plan, on how to control eating by simple methods that are "handy" (you will get the joke in a minute). According to Dr. Young, diets don't work because you "go on" them. It's easy and common to also go off them- resulting in the yo-yo effect commonly seen with dieters. What's important for healthy eating habits is: "portion-size awareness, nutrition awareness, and self-awareness." (You can eat what you want, when you want- just be aware of the portions and maintain a healthy balance of nutrients).
I recommend taking a look at this book or reading her blog. It is filled with shocking statistics of how wrong we are at "guessing" the calories in food and even how wrong the calories are on the nutrition fact labels. (Did you know that the calories on the label of food can be up to 20% wrong? AND- generally the ones that are underestimating the calorie content are those on foods that are labelled "diet"!!!!) It also includes detailed information on how big the meals are that we get served. For example, Sizzler offers a steak that contains more than 3 daily servings of meat!!
Have no fear. This is not a post to make you depressed. There are simple ways that you can start to take control of your eating by being more aware of your portion size! From Dr. Young's blog:
The “Handy Method” helps you guesstimate your portions by comparing your foods to different parts of your hand. Everyone has a different size hand, but using your hand is useful nonetheless. If your hand is smaller than average, you are probably smaller than average, and should eat less food.
Here are some HANDY examples:
- Two fingers 2 oz cheese
- Your palm 3 oz meat
- Your thumb 1 tablespoon peanut butter
- Rounded handful 1/2 cup rice or pasta
- Two handfuls 1 cup popcorn
- One layer of your hand 1/4 cup mixed nuts
other examples using her eyeballing technique:
- Nuts, 1/4 cup = golf ball
- Salad dressing or olive oil, 2 tablespoons = shot glass
- Peanut butter, 2 tablespoons = walnut in a shell
- Ice cream, 1/2 cup = 1/2 baseball
- Cheese, 2 oz = 8 dice
- Pasta or rice, 1 cup = baseball
- Oil, 1 teaspoon = water-bottle cap
- Meat, fish, or poultry, 3 ounces = deck of cards
- Bread, 1 ounce slice = CD case
Hope this is a start on new ways to understand your eating! AND- just now- the SUN came out!
*The information that I have included on this post has been taken from lecture by Dr. Young and her book, The Portion Teller Plan. I did not do this research- she did- and she deserves the credit :)
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