Serving Size – Don’t believe your eyes
We have a favorite Mexican
food restaurant in town that we LOVE. We have become ‘regulars’ to the point
that when we walk in they bring the mild sauce for me and the hot sauce for the
hubby. They also know he’ll have iced tea and I’ll have water. It has a wide
selection of menu items but most days we don’t even need to look at the menu,
we know what we’re having. I love that they have several non meat choices that
are delicious so I never have to look far for something wonderful to eat. The
prices are reasonable and the portions are generous to say the least. I
always tell myself that I’m not going to eat the whole meal but I usually do
and then I’m overly full and can barely move. No one is forcing me to finish
the whole plate but I can’t just leave it there!! And it just doesn’t taste as
good the next day so I can’t take it home! (I try to convince myself)
Once again, the large size of
the meals we eat has become ‘normal’ in our society. And once again, normal isn’t
working.
The F.D.A. regulates serving
sizes food manufacturers list on packages based on what people “customarily
consume.” The problem is that the research was done in the 1970’s and 1980’s,
when the average American wasn’t eating a meal that could feed a family of
three! If you’ve ever downed a pint of ice cream and then realized a serving
size is ½ cup, you know what I mean. PAM vegetable spray can advertise zero
calories because the serving size is ¼ of a second. Is it even possible to
spray for ¼ a second? Not at my house it’s not!
Although I think advertising
and marketing play a huge role in deceiving the consumer, it’s time for us to
take part of the blame. The portion and serving sizes are simply out of control
in the U.S. The labels on the foods consumers buy are just so different from
what people are actually eating. The system seems to be stacked against us so
it’s up to us to figure out how to cope with it.
*thought for the day*
“I finally figured
out the big, elusive secret to weight loss. Don't eat as much! Who knew?”
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