Resources: Articles
May 2009: Portion Control
This month I would like to address the topic of portion control and how it relates to feeling well. In our “bigger is better” world it can be a constant struggle to navigate your way through the haze of food marketing, portion distortion, and diet hype to try and find a way of eating that promotes good health, a sense of wellness, and ultimately your best.
Food marketing
The commercial food industry has one main goal and that is to sell more food. This leads to high profit margins and improved bottom lines for food companies and marketers nationwide. Large sums of money are spent on advertising campaigns that convince consumers that they need to eat more rather than less. Our desire for convenience has helped to drive this trend - a trend which has increased considerably since the late 1970's. Between 1977 and 1996 away from home food consumption has doubled. Today almost thirty percent of Americans report having eaten out on any given day as compared to just under fourteen percent two decades ago. This trend combined with supersized portions and a society that encourages overeating and inactivity has resulted in a nation where 1 in 3 Americans are now overweight or obese. When you consider that almost 11 billion dollars are spent annually on food advertising, the huge increases in portion sizes in grocery stores and restaurants, and the increase of sedentary hours spent in front of the computer or television, it easy to see how hard it can be to feel well, stay well, and battle obesity. So how you might ask do we endeavor to take less "energy in" while expending more "energy out."
Portion Distortion
The American Dietetic Association (ADA) defines portion distortion as a term created to describe the perception of large portions as appropriate amounts to eat at a single eating occasion.
Consider this:
- Twenty years ago an average bagel was 3 inches in diameter and yielded approximately 14o calories. Today the average bagel is 6 inches in diameter and yields 350 calories. That is 210 more calories before you even contemplate how much cream cheese to put on top of it!! A 130 pound person would have to rake leaves continuously for 50 minutes to burn off these extra calories!
- And today's average cheeseburger provides roughly 590 calories compared to the 330 calories that a cheeseburger provided 20 years ago. To burn off these 260 calories a 130 pound person would have to lift weights for an hour and a half straight.
- Like pasta? A spaghetti dinner twenty years ago (1 cup of spaghetti with _ cup of sauce and 3 small meatballs) provided 500 calories. Today an average spaghetti dinner provides 1,025 calories - a whopping 525 more calories! To burn these calories off a 130 pound person would need to clean their house continuously for 2 hours and 35 minutes.
- Sweet tooth anyone? Perhaps the biggest culprit of the portion distortion phenomenon is the soft drink. Twenty years ago the average soda was 6.5 ounces and yielded 85 calories. Today's average 20 ounce soda provides 250 calories - a 165 calories increase.
And even if you are striving to eat healthy nutrient dense foods and exercising it is still important to pay close attention to portion control. To maintain steady weight and good health it is important to manage the amount of food you eat at any given meal. Portion control in conjunction with healthy food choices and physical activity is the best determinant of controlling both your weight and overall health.
So what is a portion size?
While a "portion" is how much food you choose to eat, a "serving" is a standard amount of food or drink often set by the U.S. Government and nutrition professionals. Both the USDA Food Guide pyramid and the FDA's Nutrition Facts label provide information on portion sizes.
The USDA Food Guide Pyramid provides information that shows the recommended number of servings to eat from each of five food groups every day to meet your nutrition needs, and it defines serving sizes. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Nutrition Facts Label also provides valuable information regarding portion sizes. It is printed on most packaged foods. It tells you how many calories and how much fat, carbohydrate, sodium, and other nutrients are in one serving of the food. The serving size is based on the amount of food an average adult would usually eat in one sitting. This size is often different than the serving sizes in the Food Guide Pyramid.
To see how many servings a package contains, check "servings per container" listed on the Nutrition Facts label. Small containers often have more than one serving. For example: A label for cookies may show serving size as two cookies, but if you eat four, you are eating twice the servings and double the calories, fat, and other nutrients in a standard serving. Learning to recognize standard serving sizes can help you judge how much you are eating and help you to control portion sizes. To better help you understand what a portion size is, try measuring the foods you eat. Often we eat more than we think simply out of habit and not actual hunger. When cooking for yourself, try using measuring cups and spoons to measure your usual food portions and compare them to standard serving sizes from Nutrition Facts labels for a week or so. Putting the measured food on a plate before you start eating will help you see what one standard serving of a food looks like compared to how much you normally eat.
Once you master what serving sizes look like you will be able to “eye ball” the foods you eat and not have to rely on measuring and counting. Another great strategy for mastering portion control is to eat several small meals spread throughout the day instead of three large meals. When we allow ourselves to become overly hungry during long stretches of not eating our blood sugars plummet and we tend to overeat. Small meals every few hours help not only to stabilize blood sugar levels, but also help prevent overeating by keeping you from getting too hungry and losing control of your portion sizes.
Size does Matter
Learning to master portion control is a process that will take some time and effort, but in turn can yield great results! Just try to take it one meal at a time and don't be too hard on yourself if you slip up from time to time. Once you establish a routine and adjust to eating smaller amounts you can begin to create lifelong healthy eating habits.
So let me know what your portion control tips and secrets are and feel free to use this guide to help you better understand and visualize your food choices:
| Grain Products | What One Serving Looks Like |
| 1 cup of cereal flakes | The size of a fist |
| 1 pancake | A compact disc |
| 1/2 cup of cooked rice, pasta, or potato | 1/2 of a baseball |
| 1 slice of bread | A cassette tape |
| Fruits and Veggies | What One Serving Looks Like |
| 1 cup of salad greens | A baseball |
| 1 medium fruit | A baseball |
| 1/2 cup of raisins | A large egg |
| Dairy and Cheese | What One Serving Looks Like |
| 1 1/2 oz. cheese | 4 stacked dice |
| 1/2 cup of ice cream | 1/2 baseball |
| 1 cup serving of milk, yogurt, or fresh greens | The size of a fist |
| Meats and Alternatives | What One Serving Looks Like |
| 3 oz. meat, fish, and poultry | Deck of cards |
| 3 oz. grilled/baked fish | Checkbook |
| 2 Tbsp. peanut butter | Ping pong ball |
| Fats | What One Serving Looks Like |
| 1 teaspoon of oil | The size of your thumb tip |
Source: NIH Publication No. 03-5287, Just Enough For You: About Food Portions
Resources:
Try some of these online resources for more information on portion control:
From AARP:
Eating Right
How healthy is your diet? Eating right is achievable. Learn
more.
Healthy Snacking
You can eat snacks and still be healthy. It's easier than you
think with smart choices.
Read Food Labels for a Healthier Diet
Learn to read food labels to help you eat healthy and control
your portion sizes.
From the Weight-control Information network:
Eat Just Enough
This brochure breaks down portions and serving sizes
From the US Government:
MyPyramid Plan: Steps to a Heathier You
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Nutrition Facts Label