We are far from hearing the last of the “portion distortion” story.  A few weeks ago a government agency encouraged the restaurant industry to downsize the portions served to customers.  (This would most likely be ok – if they downsized the prices also).  A few weeks ago, researchers at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY completed a study showing that people ate more when using larger spoons and bowls.  They invited 85 nutrition experts to an ice cream social.  I wasn’t invited since I went to Syracuse University.  (We missed all the good studies !!) Each person was given a bowl and an ice cream scoop.  The amount of ice cream each individual took was directly related to the size of the individual’s bowl and scoop.

  This week the media has reported on other studies that show people will eat a container full and stop.  If you purchase a ½  pound container of potato salad you will eat ½  pound of potato salad.  If you purchased a ¾ pound container of potato salad, you may put ½ pound on your plate, but go back and “finish up” the potato salad when it comes time to clean up the kitchen.  Why put that little ¼ pound back in the refrigerator and waste all that refrigeration space?  How many times have you finished the “last little bit” left in the serving bowl?

This concept gets to be very significant when it comes to two person households.  At either edge of the life cycle people are forced to purchase more food than they really need.  Newlyweds have a tendency to be more active and burn the extra calories, but the new “empty nesters” need to plan carefully.  As the food industry tries to sell us larger containers of food, we are trying to cut down on the amount of food we are eating.  It may be dollar wise and pound (no pun intended) foolish to purchase larger containers of food that are less expensive per ounce. The smaller containers are less expensive, may be have a healthier portion size, reduce waste and won’t overdue the calories when we “eat it all”. 

My wife reports that her grandmother’s “dinner plate” is the same size as our “luncheon plate”.  Glasses and coffee cups are getting bigger every day.  Most coffee “cups” are now coffee “mugs” and they do hold more coffee and more cream and more sugar!  Due to this tableware size difference, our perception of portion size has changed over the years.  What we once visually considered a healthy portion has increased.  Twenty years ago, a fast food hamburger was about 330 calories.  Today it is about 590 calories.  A difference of 257 calories.  Two slices of pepperoni pizza twenty years ago was about 500 calories and two slices today is about 850 calories.  A difference of 350 calories.  A serving of spaghetti and meatballs was around 500 calories and now it is around 1025 calories, because you need to fill up the plate. A difference of 525 calories.  A 3 inch bagel is about 150 calories versus about 300 calories for a 4 ¼ inch bagel.  Keep in mind that an excess of 100 calories daily over what your body needs will yield a 10 pound weight gain over a year.  100 calories per day isn’t much food.  The food industry now is coming out with the 100 calorie snack pack.  Adding one a day will add the 10 pounds easily, although it is better than the 250 calorie bag of popcorn snack that will add 25 pounds.  Maintaining a healthy weight is a balancing act – try to balance calories in with calories out.  Know how many calories you are eating before your scale tells you.