Smaller Portions = Decrease in Obesity?

My blog link today might not be from a scientific source but nevertheless, it gets the point across I’ve been wondering about for so long:

I’m at an age where I still remember what portion sizes used to be like in the “good old days”, normal. Then they became bigger and bigger and the area of “super sizing” food portions arrived in the 70s. How anyone can drink a super-size coke of nearly 1.2 litres, I have never understood. Even before the turn of the millennium researchers and found out that once people were accustomed to those larger sizes, they would continue to overeat when offered more super-sized meals. The days of overeating on an exceptional occasions and under-eating the next day were over.

The documentary “Super Size Me” by Morgan Spurlock, which “follows a 30-day during which he ate only McDonald’s food” documented this lifestyle’s drastic effect on Spurlock’s physical and psychological well-being, and explores the fast food industry’s corporate influence, including how it encourages poor nutrition for its own profit. (wikipedia) . Not much has changed since those days: the food industry has just found “cleverer” ways to mislead us consumers. Just look at how supermarket chains sell bars as containing “less than 3% fat” and “high in fibre” but do not equally obvious label their sugar and calorie content.

Governments regulate the sale of what are called licit drugs, legal drugs, like alcohol or cigarettes, New York has just introduced salt warnings on salty foods sold in restaurants, they’ve banned trans fats from restaurant meals, so when are those warnings coming for oversized portion and high sugar content?

But read the Independent’s article yourself and look at the graphs showing you how portion sizes have grown. And check out your own plate next time you eat out.

Posted on December 03, 2015 by Luitgard Holzleg

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