Overcoming Portion Distortion

By:   Reader's Digest

When did our plates become bigger than our stomachs?

Signs of the super-size times: Restaurants have swapped their 10-inch plates, once the industry  standard, for 12-inch versions. Why? More room for portions big enough to feed not just you, but the entire family--8 cups of spaghetti, a pound of ribs, or a mountain of 70 French fries.

We've super-sized in our own kitchens, too. When researchers at the University of North Carolina compared at-home portion sizes today with those of 30 years ago, they were shocked to discover that a serving of chips or pretzels is now 93 calories bigger, hamburgers now contain 93 more calories, and a serving of French fries is now up by 68 calories.

Portion distortion is one of the prime causes of America's obesity epidemic, yet most of us don't even realize that we overeat--or that when it comes to reining in calories, serving size is crucial. In fact, one recent survey found that 62 percent of Americans believe restaurant portions are smaller today than 10 years ago; 80 percent said the portions they eat at home are the same or smaller.

We're overlooking out-of-control portions for a variety of reasons, from seductive weight-loss myths to genetic programming to economics.

We think what we eat matters more than how much we eat. When the American Institute for Cancer Research surveyed Americans about their eating habits, a surprising 78 percent said that eating certain types of food while avoiding others was more central to their weight-management efforts than eating less food. The problem: We're missing the big picture--for weight control, it's total calories that count.

We're programmed to eat whatever is in front of us. When researchers at Pennsylvania State University served study volunteers one of two portions of macaroni and cheese--either a reasonable 21/2 cups or a whopping 5 cups--the average volunteer ate 30 percent more food when given the bigger portion, without reporting feeling any fuller. "Men and women, normal-weight and overweight individuals, restrained and unrestrained eaters, all responded to larger portion size by eating more," notes portion-size expert Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., of Penn State's College of Health and Human Development.

We think more food is a better bargain. Plates piled high with pancakes or lasagna or that 20-ounce steak look impressive when the server sets them on your table. Eateries can afford to pile on large portions because food is one of the smaller-ticket items on their budgets (rent and staff salaries cost more)--but getting more for your money isn't good for your waistline or your health.

The result? The USDA estimates that Americans now consume 148 more calories per day than 20 years ago. That doesn't sound like much, but by itself, it works out to an extra 15 pounds every year. Couple that with a more sedentary lifestyle, and our troubles with weight make much more sense. The bad news about big portions: When we overeat at one meal, we really don't cut back at the next. When researchers in Penn State's portion lab doubled the portions they fed a group of volunteers, women ate 530 more calories and men ate 803 more over the course of a day--even though they'd also overeaten on the previous day.