Healthy Eating and Serving Sizes

Good nutrition starts with eating the right foods, and serving sizes need to be considered as well.

Today’s portions are far bigger than in the past, which often means we’re taking in far more calories than we realize! Fast food restaurants feature super sized meals for just a few cents more. Portion sizes of virtually all foods and beverages have increased and now appear typical.

So what’s the big deal, you might ask. What’s the harm of eating a few extra calories here and there? The answer is simple: An extra 10 calories per day could add up to a pound of weight gain per year. So, if you’re consuming an extra 100 calories from soft drinks and snacks every day, you could pack on an extra 10 pounds of weight in a year.

Consider this:

A small, two and a half ounce serving of french fries has 210 calories, compared to a whopping 610 calories in the seven-ounce size. While a 12-ounce fountain soft drink contributes a relatively modest 150 calories to a meal, a mega size 42-ounce cup contributes 410 calories.

If you drink that huge soft drink and eat a giant hamburger with an extra large fries that contains as many as 1,000 calories – that would total about 2,000 calories in one sitting – more than many people need to eat in a single day!

Here is a visual timeline showing the trend to larger portions.

In 1990 Federal laws were passed requiring packaged food labels to list nutrition information. The serving sizes were based on surveys done in the 1970′s and 80′s and perhaps the people surveyed didn’t really respond well to how much they really ate. They certainly don’t reflect how most Americans really eat; it’s hard to imagine someone stopping at a half a cup of ice cream. All of this means that the calories, fat, and other nutritional counts can be misleading since we are really eating more.

More than 120 million Americans are either overweight or obese. The additional pounds Americans are piling on have had a devastating impact on our national health.  The cost of healthcare is soaring.

The F.D.A. is now looking at bringing serving sizes for foods like chips, cookies, breakfast cereals and ice cream into line with how Americans really eat. This combined with more prominent labeling should allow the public to make better choices.

“If you put on a meaningful portion size, it would scare a lot of people,” said Barry Popkin, a nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina. “They would see, ‘I’m going to get 300 calories from that, or 500 calories.’ ”

Food for thought and Good Cheer!