Parents have been weighing in regarding whether or not the size of portions being served in restaurants are larger than they should be, and whether they are contributing to the epidemic of children and adults becoming overweight or obese.
Well, let me chew the fat on the subject of portion distortion and provide some information on this topic.
As it turns out, overeating is easier done than said nowadays.
Overeating or supersizing our portions of saturated fats and sugars can not only contribute to excess weight gain, but also to high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, bone and joint problems, and up the road — heart disease and stroke.
Since children will tend to eat what’s on their plate — as portion sizes have gone up, so have the calories consumed.
While every food you buy now has a food label that tells you the serving size, this just tells you the calories and nutrients in a particular amount of food. It does not necessarily show how much should be served or what should be served — and often the amount served is far greater than the serving size listed.
Ways to Control Portion Distortion and Reduce Overeating
• Use either your hand or your child’s hand as a guide to how much is enough.
• A clenched fist is about the size of a cup, which is the amount recommended for rice, cereal, vegetables and fruit.
• The portion of meat served should be as big as your child’s palm.
• The amount of butter, mayo, or salad dressing the size of the top of your thumb with the size of your child’s hands resulting in smaller portions than that of an adult.
• Salads and fruits can help fill them up and control a sense of hunger without high calorie intake.
• Serve food on smaller plates so the portions appear larger rather than on a big dinner plate where they look smaller.
• Serve portions onto plates in advance rather than allowing people to serve themselves from big serving plates or open bags of chips or other snacks.
• When food is less readily available, family will not automatically reach for seconds.
• If you are worried about portion distortion, please do not insist your child finish everything on their plate.
Finally, parents set a good example. If you don’t eat extra portions, your child won’t either.
Hopefully, tips like this will portion out just the right amount of information when it comes to avoiding portion distortion.
Lewis First, MD is Chief of Pediatrics at The University of Vermont Children’s Hospital and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine. You can also catch “First with Kids” weekly on WOKO 98.9 FM and NBC5.