Surviving a "Supersized" Society

by WiredBerries Editors — December 28, 2007

Portion sizes are growing across the board. It's not just the fast food industry that has doubled the acceptable size of a serving--grocery store items and even healthy cookbook recipes are making serving sizes expand. For example, identical recipes for cookies and desserts in latest editions of classic cookbooks such as Joy of Cooking bake up the same amount of food as they did years ago, but now the recipes say they serve only four rather than the six it used to feed. Basically, this means that what is considered an individual portion is heftier than ever and our collective waistlines are following suite.

Experts say that the only way to reliably keep track of weight is to compare how much we eat each day with our activity output. "No longer can you fly blind, indulging without thought in today's hefty food offerings...it is really up to you to be accountable," warns Harvard's Health Watch.

Setting up an "accounting system" that works with your lifestyle is essential, but there are some general ways to cut portions down to size. Don't assume that a supposedly single serving can't serve two. For example, those gigantic sandwiches from your favorite lunch spot might be best split with a coworker.

Restaurant portions are notoriously bloated. Often you can get full by eating just half of the portion served by chewing slowing and engaging in conversation. Then you can bring the other half home for another meal. If you want to spare the environment the extra packaging, plan on bringing a reusable plastic storage container with you when you eat out. After all, what good are all these trendy oversized purses doing us if we don't take advantage of the roomy interiors?

Don't feel guilty for not finishing your plate. The ideal solution is to not put more food on your plate than you need, or cut the portion in half yourself as in the above-mentioned tip. However, in some circumstances, nearly everyone is faced with more food than they need, and no convenient way to save the extra. When this happens don't slip into the trap of "stuffing" yourself to avoid being "wasteful." Yes, there are children starving in Africa, but the sad truth is that giving yourself a bigger butt isn't going to feed them. It's better for your health to throw the excess food away rather than cram it in. You can ease your conscience in a way that will actually help with a donation to a charity like Children's International .