Size Really Does Matter!

Now, regardless of where your mind went, what you thought of when you saw the title for this newest post, what I was referring to is food portion sizes.

I started an experiment some months ago, to really pay attention to the size portions I was eating. I was curious about this because I see so many clients who have weight concerns. So I decided to check the portion sizes of everything I ate. My goal was not to loose weight, but to find out how we can be tricked in to eating way to much at one sitting.

The result of this experiment was that I lost 10 pounds. I also became very aware of what others were eating, I found myself staring at other diners when I ate out, watching with fascination as they loaded up on huge mounds of food. I wondered if they knew that a plate the size of a hub cap covered with food was enough to feed a family of 13.

I really did not change what I was eating, just how much. It's tricky, because when you check things like those little serving bags of chips you get with a sandwich when you order out, you find that the tiny bag has two servings in it. Look at a mounds bar and you find it's not one, but two servings. A serving of cereal is 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup, depending on the brand. Put it in a bowl and 1/4 of a cup of cereal looks like just enough to feed one mouse. A serving of cheese is just a couple of ounces, which again, looks like enough to feed a mouse.

It reminds me that some theories on how to eat right would say that we are born to eat a hand full of food at a setting, and some would say that eating less calories extends your life. Now I can definitely hold a pie in one hand, but I don't think that is what they meant.

I found that eating one person portions satisfied my hunger, but it returned sooner than I expected and I added a few meals a day to my regular 4 meal schedule. I still lost weight. Maybe this meandering will come in handy for someone out there. I know that people tend to start thinking about loosing weight in the spring, which is a good time to do it because you really don't need that winter fat to keep you warm anymore. Add that to the fact that the dreaded bathing suit weather is just around the corner and you get a big handful of motivation to go with you little hand fulls of food.

So now I'm wondering, who came up with the big gulp? Who invented the double cheese burger with bacon? Who decided that plates at a restaurant should be the size of a 50 gallon barrel top? And how did we all get tricked into thinking that is how we should eat?

It brings to mind a dear friend, who had traveled the world as the wife of a Ambassador of a large county. She was in the US after many years away, and commented on how easy it was to find food here. Any time of day or night she mused, all you have to do is hit the nearest quick stop and load up. She thought 24 hour diners were amazing and the selection at the grocery store was mind boggling, all of which we Americans take for granted. To her, it was easy to see why the obesity rates are so high here. She assured me that the whole world was not like that.

Thinking about loosing weight? Next time you look at your full plate, imagine you are a mouse, and eat what you need to feel full, because I can assure you, size matters.