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Fast food and inactivity are often blamed for the burgeoning waistlines of adults and children around the world, but another factor - portion size - is probably packing a heavier load into many people's bodies.
During the last 20 years, the standard serve-size of popular everyday foods and drinks has crept upwards. Muffins are so large that you can carve them like a cake. Dainty biscuits have turned into cookie monsters!
This alarming trend in portion distortion means you are fuelling up with more kilojoules and calories without even realising it.
And unless you up-size your exercise, the 'silent' trend to super-size can mean only one thing - larger serves turn consumers into jumbo sizes. Larger serves pack in more kilojoules or calories and if you don't need the extra fuel, you'll store it as body fat. Larger packs and bowls entice bigger bites and faster eating.
Some disturbing facts and examples of how small changes can stack on excess body weight.
- You can't always trust the description of a serve size on a food label. Trudy's investigations in 2008 have shown that manufacturers and fast food outlets generously often over-size foods in packs. Whilst this may only be by a few grams or so, those extra morsels add up. If you use the sides of packs to calorie count per serve, then you really need to invest in some good scales and weigh your serve. The differences between actual and claimed serve size accounted for close to 200 kJ (50 cals) extra fuel for some food items. By using the life-size photo images in "this=that", you can gauge the best portion or serve size for your health.
- Vending machines and drink fridges stock regular 375 ml (12 oz) cans of soft drink, but for just a few cents extra, you can buy the 600 ml (20 oz) size, so you do. You get a drink everyday and think nothing of the extra few gulps of liquid quenching your thirst, but in just 1 year that small change in drink choice could add a massive 5 kg (11 lb) of fat to your body.
- Over the past few years you've noticed a slow weight gain of 1 or 2 kg (2.2 - 5 lb) each year. You put it down to age but in truth you're not that old and you're still as active as ever, so what could be causing it? Perhaps your portions have up-sized without your knowledge?
- Take the chocolate bar that's been your faithful treat all your adult life - it's never been a problem because you only have it once a week. But did you notice the size of a single-serve bar has snuck up from 55 g (2 oz) to 85 g (3 oz)? This small change, eaten just once a week, will cause a weight gain of almost 1 kg (2.2 lb) a year.
- How about your workday sandwich? Delicious and nutritious and still only using two slices of bread, but you probably didn't notice that your slice of bread has grown in size by almost 40% during the past 20 years? The bread is almost toast-thick but it's sold as a sandwich loaf. Have a sandwich, five times a week, on this up-sized slice and you've eaten enough extra fuel to pack on 2 kg (5 lb) weight in just 1 year.
To help you re-size your food and drink for better health and body shape, check out our unique book "this=that" available from our on-line Shop. Full colour life-size photos of food and drink allow you to see exactly how much your body needs. You can make choices according to which foods give you more satisfaction and a better fill for the same energy value (kilojoules and calories).
There are some surprising serve sizes inside "this=that". Compare 18 prawns with 2 crumbed calamari rings or 1 skinless chicken leg. There's no prize for knowing which one is more filling, but which has the highest energy rating? Incredibly, they are all equal. How about your banana? Is it only 1 serve of fruit? The life-size photos show that 4 licorice allsorts or 1 row of chocolate is equal to 1 whole rockmelon or 24 mini-meringues. And amazingly, instead of 3 lonely potato wedges you could super-size your green vegetables, pumpkin and carrot to a full plate for much more nutrition, better satisfaction and gut-fill and the same energy hit.
To discover how you can easily adjust your serves for better health, visit our on-line Shop.
It's not possible to achieve total portion perfection in everything you eat or drink; and indeed, that seems a little obsessive. But it is possible to improve your portions and serve sizes.
It doesn't matter whether you are young or old, slim or overweight, or how much schooling you have done - we are all incredibly vulnerable to eating mindlessly - polishing off the packet just because it's there, finishing the plate because that's how much is served.....too bad the pack size and plate sizes have increased over the past few decades! And when portions are increasing, this mindless eating slips our bodies into a dangerous weight gain cycle. Read more about eating awareness - mindful or mindless eating and why we eat more than we think we do, at a couple of our dietitians' favourite sites: "Mindless Eating" and "Food Psychology and Marketing".
Take the fun, free interactive USA portion distortion quiz.
