The American Meal - Portion Distortion!
In a bid to make us come back for MORE and MORE and MORE, restaurants large and small, fast and fine have increased portion and meal sizes to the point where the average person can no longer make a sound judgement about how much food they are consuming.
The food groups have devolved into the salt/fat/sugar pyramid and obesity and diabetes are wildly out of control. Young and old obesity rates are off the charts because NOBODY knows what a normal size portion looks like.
Over the last 20 years portion size creep has distorted what it takes to feed our bodies a nutritious diet. Take a look (right) at how portion sizes have gotten larger from the last 2 decades.
OK, so I know that is a lot of bad news. In order to make some real lifestyle changes you are going to have to really look at how much food that you consume and what is a REAL SERVING SIZE.
Normal Serving Sizes:
1. A serving of vegetables or fruit is about the size of your fist.
2. Snacks. A rounded handful - about one half cup cooked or raw veggies or cut fruit, a piece of fruit, or 1/2 cup of cooked rice or pasta - this is a good measure for a snack serving, such as chips or pretzels
3. A serving of meat, fish or poultry or the palm of your hand (do not count your fingers!) For example, one chicken breast, 1/4 pound hamburger patty or a medium pork chop
- All about the size of a deck of cards
4. One quarter cup of dried fruit or nuts - Golf ball or large egg.
5. About one half cup of ice cream - Tennis ball.
6. Small baked potato - Computer mouse.
7. One serving of pancake or a small waffle - Compact disc.
8. One teaspoon of peanut butter - Thumb tip.
9. Serving of cheese - Six dice.
10. Serving of fish (approximately 3 oz.) - Check book.
11. Measure it! Get out a measuring cup or a food scale and practice measuring some of your favorite foods onto a plate, so that you can see how much (or how little!) a 1/2 cup or 3-ounce serving is. This will help you eyeball a reasonable serving!
At first the new serving sizes will seem ridiculously small and just not enough food to tame the beast (this is normal). Try it for at least a week and I promise you will discover that you will be completely satisfied with normal size portions and meals. Before you know it your pants will be looser, those sexy cuts on your abdomen will show and you will feel in control when it comes to your diet. Sweet!
Michael Arnone is the Tiger Fitness Ambassador for Tiger Fitness Los Angeles, the premier personal training company, fitness boot camp and fat loss experts in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. http://tigerfitnessla.com/