RSVP: The History of Portion Distortion

The PROBLEM is that the more that's on your plate the more you will eat.  Over the past few decades, portion sizes from cheeseburgers to muffins have grown substantially.  Unfortunately, American's waist bands have too....  Everyone wants more bang for their buck.  This holds true for eating out as well, especially with the last decade. 

Who:  Restaurants are seeming to be the biggest to blame for this incident due to:

• Increased portion sizes:
•  give us more calories
• encourage us to eat more
• distort perceptions of appropriate food quantities

Along, with our lazy sedentary lifestyles this does not help with obesity control.

What: Ways to watch portion control include:

• Measure how much the bowls, glasses, cups, and plates you usually use hold
• Measure a fixed amount of some foods and drinks to see what they look like in your glasses 
• If there is still food on your plate or on the table, put it away (or throw it out).

Other helpful tips will be included on this website:
              http://www.choosemyplate.gov/weight-management-calories/weight-   management/better-              choices/decrease-portions.html

Where: This is happening at almost every restaurant.  But, the good news is is that a lot of restuarants are starting to label their foods with the nutrition facts.  This allows you to see how many calories you will specifically be consuming. 

When: Data from 2 national surveys of over 60,000 Americans, found that serving sizes have grown drastically over the past 20 years.  Between 1977-1996, food portion sizes increased both inside and outside the house. 

•  Hamburger sizes increased by 23%. 
•  Mexican food increased by 27%. 
•  Soft drinks increased by 52%. 
•  Snacks, such as potato chips, pretzels, and crackers increased by 60%. 

Not surprising, the prevalence of adult obesity in the United States has increased from 14.5 in 1971 to 30.9 percent in 1996.

Additional obesity statistics:

                          http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
     1971                                      1996