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Portion Size: Size Matters
Size really does matter when you’re trying to lose some weight or maintain your current weight. The portion sizes of our meals may be the reason why some of us who, despite following sound nutritional advice (i .e.eating a wide variety of foods), and putting in time and effort to include some regular physical activity, are still unsuccessful in losing those stubborn inches. We may just be eating too much !
Most of us don’t think of how much we eat. We just put into our mouths what’s on our plates. After all, everyone knows how much food to dish out, right? Well, actually, no…It has become evident that portion sizes (that’s the amount of food you get on your plate) has been rising steadily during the last two decades.
Restaurant portion sizes in the United States and Europe have increased by about 50% in the last 15 years. Anecdotal evidence in Asia also shows that food vendors are also increasing portions to customers by offering large orders, in addition to regular servings.
‘Super-sizing’ seems to be the order of the day now. Retailers, restaurants and take-away outlets may use bigger portion sizes as a way of tempting price-conscious consumers who see bigger sizes for little extra cost as a ‘bargain’ Consumers also tend respond by buying and then eating more foods, if cheap and plentiful. Special offers on side dishes such as onion rings, sauces and dressings, or special deals offering discounts on other accompaniments or courses can seem awfully good ‘value-for-money’, but if the final result is excess weight, then maybe the extras are not such a great bargain after all.
If you’re in the habit of super-sizing you may be unwittingly increasing the amount of food you’re consuming. Several studies have shown that people who are served bigger portions tend to eat more without feeling fuller afterwards. When such eating habits are continued over a prolonged period, they will inevitably add up to unwanted kilos.
In addition, portion sizes in restaurants have also influenced portion sizes of home-cooked meals. Perhaps not surprising, as food takes up less of the household budget, and of course if used to large portions when eating out, of course the expectation is to eat the same amount of food at home.
- Tricks to keep portions in check
So how would you know when it is too much? The Food Pyramid is a good starting point. However, those of us who have tried to follow the Food Pyramid may have found it confusing. As an example, the Food Pyramid suggests that a moderately active woman eat 6-7 servings of grains or cereals a day. Now if you think that a grain serving is one bowl of rice; it becomes clear that 7 bowls of rice is simply too much food,. In fact, one bowl of rice is actually two servings in the grains/cereal group.
Here’s what you need to know: a portion is not the same as a serving. A portion is how much you eat. A serving is a specific amount of food. Therefore you need to understand and use serving size when deciding on portion sizes in your daily diet.
For example, if you eat a bowl of noodles for breakfast and a bowl of rice each at lunch and dinner, you would have satisfied your daily requirement of 6 servings of grains and cereals (2 servings each meal). Snacking on any additional starches in the form of flour pastries or potato chips would exceed the daily recommendation.
The same goes for meat and dairy products. A serving of meat or fish is about the size of a dect of cards. Hence one medium piece of tilapia or a medium piece of chicken would be one serving of meat or protein. So would a large egg. As you can imagine, many individuals, eat well above the recommended 2-3 servings of the protein group every day!
- Handy Guide to Portion Sizes
Now that you know how much a serving is, it is easy to fit the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables into your daily diet. A medium banana would be one serving, as would a slice of papaya. One large scoop of cooked leafy vegetables like spinach or kailan would constitute two servings of vegetables. If you’re like salads or raw vegetables, one serving would be one small bowl.
With processed foods, things may get a little tricky until you learn to eye-ball what one serving looks like. Many people wrongly assume, that one pack of noodles or pasta equals a serving, perhaps because that make preparation so convenient. But one pack of noodles or pasta could equal one to three servings according to the Food Pyramid and you could be eating more than you bargained for.
Eating according to the portions recommended by the Food Pyramid may seem a lot less than what you first thought. However, the earlier study mentioned showed that people who were given less to eat usually didn’t feel less hungry or satisfied as those who were given larger portions. So go ahead, enjoy your food. Just watch the portions.
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