Portion sizes (rant)

[Kimmyt]

OK, so this is a bit inspired by the Fish thread, because I was reading it the other day and I just got to craving tilapia. So yesterday I went to the store to get some for dinner.

I was cooking for myself since the house is all mine for the next 6 mos while the Boy is in CO for work. I really wanted a nice healthy meal, so I was planning on making some fish, rice and a bunch of asparagus.

So I went to the store and bought just one tilapia filet. The guy behind the counter was like, 'well, these are pretty small, so maybe you want more than that'. I told him it was ok, one was fine. Since it was just me I was cooking for I didn't need multiple filets (and I'm not very big to begin with). OK, so they were on the small side of all the filets for sale, but to my eyes they were perfect for a serving size (and a lovely $1.30 in price!), and plus I would be eating lots of yummy asparagus and rice.

Then as I was leaving the counter person was like, 'well thats a nice alternative to a meal'. I was so pissed off.

Because I felt like he was calling me anorexic or something, and here I am just eating healthy. I just feel like, especially in some regions of America, there is just this huge focus on quantity of food. If you eat less than a pound of meat in a sitting or something, people look at you like you're crazy.

I mean, most restaurants.... don't get me started! I enjoy to eat out as much as the next person, in fact I love it. And if I'm at a good restaurant, I'll get appys and entrees and desserts and probably go home stuffed when I shouldn't, but what normal person needs to eat a 20 oz. steak? I mean, even after I had my dinner I was flipping through channels and got caught by The Biggest Loser on tv and my mind kind of made the connection between all these obese people in America, and these huge serving sizes at our restaurants. Because when I was little we had a 'clean your plate' mentality, and now as an adult I find it hard to leave leftovers (especially those I've paid for) on my plate, though mostly I will take them home if they will be good for lunch the next day.

It's very frustrating, you know?

K.

[CyclChyk]

See, this is where I usually get myself in trouble cuz I would have said something to the fellow to put him in his place. Who the heck does he think he is?? His job is to get you what you ask for and nothing else.

I think your rant is justified.

[limewave]

Kimm--totally understand. It is frustrating, like its illegal to try and eat healthy. For lunch the other day I had an apple with cheddar cheese slice and some trail mix. It was really good, but my cubicle neighbors made comments about how I was eating like a squirrel. And, when I go to restaurants and I only eat 1/3 or 1/2 of what's on the plate, I always get asked if there was something wrong with it. Yes, it was a TON of food. Of course I don't say that, I always feel like I have to overly compliment the chef to assuage them "really, it was great! Loved it! . . . just not that hungry" I say sheepishly. And I wonder if I get these compliments because I'm not so small and they are surprised I haven't scarfed the plate.

[jobob]

um.... fish is perishable and perhaps he was just hoping to sell more if it? That's his job, after all. Just sayin'. :cool:

[Geonz]

"Too bad healthy thinking is so "alternative' around here... Maybe I need to find a nicer alternative for shopping."

[mimitabby]

I buy the bigger cut of fish and then eat the leftovers for lunch.
the same at a restaurant.
they feed me enough for 3 meals, I take it home with me and have 2 lunches out of it.

At work, i am trapped for 8 hours and can't leave. I need a good lunch of leftovers 5 days a week.


I can't stand the portion sizes either, but no one can guilt trip me into eating
more than i want!

[snapdragen]

I find the guys at the meat/fish counter usually think a serving size is anywhere from 10 to 16 ounces of meat. :eek: I really caused a problem when I made him cut me tenderloin fillets an inch thick. He couldn't understand why I didn't want the 3" thick, 12 oz each fillets.

[Kimmyt]

True enough. And he was a bigger guy, so maybe he just couldn't fathom getting full off of a little filet of fish.

I mostly filled up on asparagus anyway (mmm leftovers for lunch).

There's something I really just don't enjoy about reheated fish though, so I usually won't take it as a leftover.... :confused:

[DarcyInOregon]

K, you posted about my favorite topic, which is being heart healthy and portion control.

I am not tiny. I am 5'9" and I have about 40-50 pounds of too much body fat. I've been working on my weight loss for many years, and I lost quite a bit of weight already, slowly, over time, with permanent behavior changes. Every day my focus is portion control and choosing my foods carefully, and so I've noticed the same things you have.

Regarding the huge portions in restaurants - it is unbelievable. Not only that, it seems to me that restaurants are looking for ways to make food more fattening. For example, a local restaurant chain added hash browns filled with different cheeses and sour cream to their menu. Menu items that used to have ordinary hash browns, maybe 150 to 300 calories, now have hash browns that are probably around 1500-2500 calories because there are two layers of potatoes, not just the one, and between the layers are gobs of cheese and sour cream. And I look around, and people are eating it!

Then how about sitting down and watching t.v. and up pops the fast food commercials. I refuse to eat at fast food restaurants because they are so unhealthy; indeed I've eaten at fast food restaurants fewer than one dozen times in my life and I am 52. I think the Kentucky Fried Chicken commercial is the worse. The commercial shows the mother bringing home fried chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy, cole slaw and biscuits and putting it down on the dining room table and announcing it is dinner time. What mother in her right mind would feed her family that high-fat, high-sodium, low-nutrition, high-calorie food? Yet Americans see those commericals on t.v. and they think it is how everyone eats, and so children grow up fat. Not only that, young children now have hypertension and high cholesterol, meaning before too much longer they will be diabetics with heart disease. How sad is that?

I can go on and on. This is my favorite topic. But I better shut up before I offend a whole bunch of people.

Darcy

[roshelleuop]

I agree about the reheating fish thing and I also hate when people look at you weird for not eating all your food at a restaurant. :D :D :D

Whenever I eat out (which I LOVE to do) I always get my food and ask for a togo box right away. I put 1/2 (sometimes more) in it right away so I only allow myself to actually eat one serving. 99.99% of the time, I am MORE than full after eating the one serving so it works for me! But them I get the question, was everything ok??? I've even had waitresses take my meal off the bill becuase they thought I was trying to be nice and lying about not eating it all :mad:

Roshelle from Milwaukee

[chickwhorips]

i can't believe he said that to you. i would've done the same thing as CyclChyk and would've gotten myself in some big trouble.

i have some sockeye salmon in my freezer that is portioned small, but has two portions in it. (this is one reason why i like processing the fish instead of BF doing it) so you don't have to put up with this dumb@ss again would you like me to send you some?

[snapdragen]

Darcy - have you seen the ads for TGIFridays?

Deep Fried Macaroni and Cheese:eek: I kid you not......

[oxysback]

Darcy - have you seen the ads for TGIFridays?

Deep Fried Macaroni and Cheese:eek: I kid you not......

I'm not Darcy, but I don't live very far from her. They show that commercial regularly in our area....and...AND...to top it off, they have fried green beans, too!!! (sorry for overdoing the elipses)

Poor green beans, you taste wonderful just the way you are.

[mimitabby]

K, you posted about my favorite topic, which is being heart healthy and portion control.

Yet Americans see those commericals on t.v. and they think it is how everyone eats, and so children grow up fat. Not only that, young children now have hypertension and high cholesterol, meaning before too much longer they will be diabetics with heart disease. How sad is that?

I can go on and on. This is my favorite topic. But I better shut up before I offend a whole bunch of people.

Darcy

Mine too! I am very concerned about the next generation; kids that don't move around like they should and then eat horrible fatty diets!! I can go on and on. Watch the children trudging home from school (the few whose mothers don't pick them up in their cars) it makes me sick!
then they go home, do homework and watchtv playonthecomputer.

[cherinyc]

For example, a local restaurant chain added hash browns filled with different cheeses and sour cream to their menu. Menu items that used to have ordinary hash browns, maybe 150 to 300 calories, now have hash browns that are probably around 1500-2500 calories because there are two layers of potatoes, not just the one, and between the layers are gobs of cheese and sour cream. And I look around, and people are eating it!
Darcy

I think the same thing about IHOP. I actually like their omelettes (egg-white) and their multi-grain pancakes (though I can barely finish 1, and they give me 3 WITH my huge omelette).
But the big promotion there will be something like "Rolled-battered-stuffed-puffed-caramel...double dipped-stuffed and smothered in whipped cream- French Toast.
What in the world is up with that? How could anyone in their right mind consume something like that for breakfast?

[cherinyc]

Mine too! I am very concerned about the next generation; kids that don't move around like they should and then eat horrible fatty diets!!

On a personal note, I have a younger (not little) sister. She just turned 18, so I have been out of my parents house for most of her life. My parents seem to have grown lackadaisical since my brother and I, because there was no enforcing of "no you can't have another Coke" or "no you can't have a TV/DVD player for your bedroom" or "get off the computer and go do something outside". So in turn, she has had a weight problem since she was 12 (by about 70 pounds now).
The last time we all had dinner, I watched her go through about 7 restaurant lemonades. (I work for a pharmaceutical company that specializes in Diabetes Treatments) Seeing her consume all that sugar just killed me.
My brother and I - for years - tried talking to my parents about this, but their response was that when they tried to say something that she got upset. HELLO??? What's the price of sitting by while your daughter develops type 2 diabetes right in front of your eyes?
Don't get me started on how our society is going to slowly kill itself off.

[chickwhorips]

But the big promotion there will be something like "Rolled-battered-stuffed-puffed-caramel...double dipped-stuffed and smothered in whipped cream- French Toast.
What in the world is up with that? How could anyone in their right mind consume something like that for breakfast?

i think thats just one meal for the day kinda promotion. so you would be saving money in the long run, right?

[Eden]

So I've been sitting here reading this thread and the TV is on. So far in a about 10 mins there have been at least 3 commercials about food - ribs, deep fried chicken nuggets and MickeyD's. Yup we put way too much emphasis on bad food in this country. When was the last time you saw a commerical about tofu?

[emily_in_nc]

I'm not Darcy, but I don't live very far from her. They show that commercial regularly in our area....and...AND...to top it off, they have fried green beans, too!!! (sorry for overdoing the elipses)

Oh yes, that TGIFridays ad is one of the very few restaurant ads that actually inspired me, after first viewing it, to run downstairs and rant to my husband about their three new appetizers. How incredibly artery-clogging and unnecessary are fried mac-n-cheese and fried green beans?! WHO THINKS OF THIS STUFF???

Sick, really sick. :eek:

Emily

[emily_in_nc]

For lunch the other day I had an apple with cheddar cheese slice and some trail mix. It was really good, but my cubicle neighbors made comments about how I was eating like a squirrel.

They're just feeling guilty about their own eating habits so are trying to make you feel bad about your healthy ones.... When they say stuff like that, just smile inwardly and think about how much healthier you are than them. :D

Emily

[solveig]

One of my favorite rant topics, too!

What gets me is that people feel comfortable critiquing my food choices or body size as a slim person, where they'd never do that if I was overweight. (And I know this, because I spent most of my life overweight!) At a recent wedding reception, a woman I peripherally know and hadn't seen for a couple years said, "Hi! Good to see you! You're too thin." So I could have responded, "Great to see you too! And you're still too fat." She would've been really offended - and with good reason, because I would've been totally out of line.

This happens all the time - and I usually end up saying something like, "Well, I feel healthy..." or something like that. But it always makes me feel uncomfortable...

We need to give - and seek - acceptance and friendship and respect as PEOPLE, not just bodies or images. And that's easy to lose sight of in this image-conscious society.

Stepping off soapbox...

[tygab]

I find it very disturbing that we modern humans are so disconnected from the food generation process, myself included, though I am attempting to relearn what I can.

We don't know how what we're eating will affect us, we don't know how to eat small portions, we don't know where our food comes from, we don't know what's in it and how it came to be, and we don't know how to pick/prepare healthy food even if such food is available to us.

>>Watching tv, on now, a commercial for a subway sandwich chain where the 'good' sandwich is piled with meat, and the 'bad' sandwich is mocked by supposedly unbiased random people as not having enough meat which surely wouldn't be what they choose. And the commentors are almost all big heavy guys.<<

Here's an interesting portion size analysis from a few years ago:

http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/ftoct02.htm

I feel as though those of us who exercise and pay some attention to what we eat are not only in the minority, we are considered quite odd by those who do not!


an estimated 17 percent of children and adolescents ages 2-19 years are overweight from the CDC health stats page.

This from CNN back in Sept:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/09/06/diet.portion.ap/index.html

Fernstrom, who was not involved in the study, said as portions have gotten larger, it has been harder for people to estimate what a standard portion should be. The amount people should eat seems puny compared to the mounds of food we have become used to seeing on our plates, she said.

"This is showing human foibles. It's hard to estimate food. And it's really hard to estimate huge portions," Fernstrom said.

Fernstrom suggests people eat smaller portions, use a smaller plate so the meal looks larger, and downsize -- not super-size --meals when they eat out.

I know, I'm talking to the wrong audience here... but this is a problem!

[DarcyInOregon]

And what is with all of the fried chicken products being created and produced in the last few years? I don't get it. The food producers are taking chicken, which is quite healthy when it is grilled, baked or broiled, and creating dozens of new ways to make it unhealthy, invovling changing the shape, coating it, frying it, saucing it, and so on. Go to a restaurant and look at the entree salads, and the chicken on the salads are all coated and deep fat fried. It isn't just that portions are getting bigger, but the food producers are actively trying to put more unhealthy calories into the food by creating new ways to add fat and salt to regular food, and then we see the resulting commercials on television.

Yes, that sandwich commercial is the worse, the one with the meat piled up. A portion size in a sandwich is 1-3 ounces, depending on what else is in the sandwich, not piled up inches thick.

The original poster mentioned the show "The Biggest Loser." I like that show because it shows how the overweight people got heavy, mostly for some of the reasons discussed in this thread, and I think it is important for people to understand how they got overweight. A person can't lose weight permanently until they understand how and why their body got big and make the permanent life-time behavior changes that will allow them to successfully lose the excess pounds. As the participants on the show are taught basic nutrition and exercise, so do the viewers in the television audience learn nutrition and exercise, and that is a good thing. I think the show is positive and affirming, and hopefully gives hope to many people to learn proper heart healthy nutrition and exercise behaviors.

One thing that many people don't know as they flounder around trying to learn about nutrition is that almost every hospital in North America has a three-month program teaching heart healthy nutrition to anybody who signs up for the class. A person's health insurance will pay for the fees if the doctor says it is ok, like if a person has hypertension, or insulin insensitivity, or is overweight, or if there is a dependant person in the household with similar problams. If not, pay the fees and go through the course anyway. These classes are not diet programs, but instead are designed to teach people how to be healthy with their nutrition and exercise, and how to recognize that measuring their cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar can be even more important indicators of their overall health than their weight.

If a person eats and exercises so as to keep their cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar as healthy as possible, then eventually a lot of the excess body fat will burn off until the body reaches a fat/muscle/bone density ratio that is appropriate for that person's sex, age and activity level. So what if the time line is years, and not months. It is better than dying decades early because your body is clogged with cholesterol. For the record, I had two friends die in the last year because their bodies were so clogged with cholesterol the doctors couldn't even do a bypass surgery. Both individuals had a total cholesterol of around 220, and were not even on a statin drug. When I told them repeatedly that their cholesterol was too high, they said oh no, that 220 was a good number. Huh? And now they are dead.

Darcy

[tattiefritter]

I used to think it was just the Scots that has a penchant for deep frying everything! Growing up in Scotland it was normal to me to get lots of deep fried foods at the chippy (only occasionally though), when I moved to England I realised that perhaps it wasn't quite normal at all. My user name is actually a battered deep fried thing I used to eat as a teenager but can't stomach now (you can take the girl out of Scotland but you can't take Scotland out of the girl!)

Good (??) examples of artery clogging crap available from any Scottish chippy all battered and deep fried: sausages, haggis (naturally), black pudding, hamburgers, chicken, pies and pizza (I kid you not). Nothing is as bad as the deep fried Mars bar (I think they are called Milky Way in the States) or other chocolate bars. Add to that the proliferation of McDonalds etc. Food portions aren't quite up to American sizes yet but they are heading that way.

I did my degree in Glasgow and would regularly see school kids popping into the chippy at lunchtime and picking a chocolate bar off the shelf and asking the guy behind the counter to put it in the fryer for them :eek: It could be anything (I once saw a girl ask for a Creme egg to be fried - yuck), sometimes two of them would go halfs on a double finger bar like a twix and then spend the rest of their lunch money on cigarettes (another problem Scotland has - yay for the smoking ban :D ).

Don't get me wrong, I love Scotland, its a beautiful place but it deserves its title as the "Sick man of Europe".

[chickwhorips]

how in the world do you fry chocolate? wouldn't it melt?

my stomach got upset just reading about all that stuff being fried. :eek:

[xeney]

Ha. This thread is making me hungry.

-- Xeney, who might have once beaten a couple of UCLA football players in an impromptu Dodger-dog eating contest. Only they were drinking beer and I wasn't.

[tattiefritter]

how in the world do you fry chocolate? wouldn't it melt?

:

They cover it in batter first which "protects" the chocolate somewhat. Its still gross though.

[skibum]

Following in the Scottish tradition of frying things, some Americans came up with The Deep Fried Twinkie (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_fried_Twinkie). Apparently, it's quite popular at state/county fairs. My arteries harden just thinking about it.

[Kitsune06]

It's an interesting study in diet vs. lifestyle.

For awhile, my roommate and I in Eugene would bike *everywhere* (not a car between us) but eat out for virtually every meal. Red Bull and a bagel every morning for breakfast, super-oily quesadillas with chicken, salsa, sour cream and soda, some kind of snack, then chinese or some kind of salad, soup or lasagne for dinner, in relatively large portions. I had a regular checkup with my Dr. (blood tests and the works) and my cholesterol levels were low, my blood pressure on the low end of 'normal' and my 'resting' heart rate around 74 (It's always been a little fast)

Fast forward a few months, when I move and start taking my car everywhere, eating the same stuff, but just driving- sadly never taking my bike to work because I had the car.

I gained 15#, lost all my endurance, and though I don't have any way to 'prove' it, I'm sure my cholesterol/bp went up as my heart started skipping beats again.

I'm back to my pre-move weight and muscle mass, but it really 'laid it out' for me... the traditional bacon 'n eggs, sausage, gravy, biscuits 'n fried tatties came about and were very practical for those getting up and feeding/milking the cows as the sun rose, then having breakfast before heading back into the field to sow/bale/fork/fertilize/harvest. It was a time when people worked HARD and burned enough calories to be thin and wiry despite the huge caloric uptake...

Now, with our sedentary work and home lives, we find ourselves craving the soul-mending foods of our predecessors (come on, what's more soothing than a creamy thai soup with coconut milk and ginger or a morning-after breakfast of biscuits and gravy, with eggs and bacon?) but our lifestyles just can't process it...

I'm a person who will order the biggest entree I can for the lowest price and just take what I need/want and box the rest. I'm with Mimi- if I'm trapped at work, darn straight I'll want a good lunch. :D

[DarcyInOregon]

I'm a person who will order the biggest entree I can for the lowest price and just take what I need/want and box the rest. I'm with Mimi- if I'm trapped at work, darn straight I'll want a good lunch. :D

Kit, I think you have the attitude of most people, but the majority of the people who order in restaurants eat it all and they don't bike a zillion miles. That is why you are healthy and they are not, because you have portion control and you are an athlete.

Years ago I gave myself an attitude change about how I select food when I am eating out. Yes, the majority of people order restaurant food so as to maximize calories for the lowest cost. Instead, select food using the criteria of health so as to eat wisely from the food groups, and don't use cost as a consideration unless you are really broke. For example, I like small portions and a variety, so I might make several selections from the apptetizers along with a dinner salad, perhaps a shrimp cocktail, Asian salad rolls, a cup of soup and the dinner salad. That is more than enough for me and I don't have leftovers. I have also gotten very aggressive over the years about the side dishes that may come with a sandwich. French fries are empty calories, so I refuse to eat them. I ask for a salad or soup instead of the fries. If the restaurant can't make the substitution, I leave the fries on the plate untouched.

The original poster mentioned her purchase of asparagus. Here is my contribution regarding asparagus. Cook it in the microwave or steam it. Pour a vinaigrette of your choice over the asparagus and chill overnight. Serve the chilled asparagus on a plate with fresh sliced tomatoes, a portion of fresh cut fruit, and a selection of healthy protein, such as a grilled filet of fish.

Another fantastic way to cook asparagus is to cut it up, add it to low-sodium chicken broth, and add a bit of garlic, a splash of lemon and a bit of olive oil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Using a stick beater, puree the cooked mixture. Serve hot or cold.

Everyone who loves to eat fresh vegetables and fruit should own a stick beater. Right now is when winter squash is in the produce markets, and this year there is an incredible variety. Peel and cut the squash of your choice, and cook in low sodium chicken broth. Add some other items of your choice, like a sweet potato, or an apple or pear, or garlic, or an onion, or nutmeg, and so on. Simmer until done. Get out the stick beater and puree right in the pot. Serve hot. This soup is like the asparagus soup, exceptionally low calorie, and extremely delicious and nutritious.

You can use the stick beater on almost any vegetable or bean. For example, garbanzo beans puree nicely into a soup, or carrots.

By the way, the fried chocolate in Scotland, I think that has to be the most disgusting food choice ever, worse than anything at the burger fast food restaurants in North America. The only thing that comes close is if you get caught in a buffet type of restaurant and you look around you and everyone is eating plates piled high with nothing but fried food, and you are the only one eating from the salad bar. Ever been there? I have.

Darcy

[Raindrop]

Portion sizes have been quickly enlarged over the last twenty years. Just google what a serving of french fries was in 1983 vs 2006. Likewise, the huge increase in high calorie drinks and I'm not just talking about carbonated beverages, but the high-energy and smoothy drinks that come across as "healthy".

Add to that our "time saving" devices (garage door openers, remote controls (for EVERYTHING!), light vacuume cleaners (We wouldn't want to actually work at our housework!), dishwashers, clothes dryers, automatic sprinkler systems etc. etc.

Then, we drive to work, drive to the store, drive our kids to their organized sports and/or play dates, school etc. etc.

I know most of us here try to commute by bike when possible, but for many, unsafe neighborhoods and busy streets mean our kids can't just play outside like we used to do and we can't just walk down to the store or send our kids down when we need a quart of milk or even just get on our bikes and ride to the store without carrying our u-locks and chain cables to keep our bikes safe while we're inside.:(

For most of us...it's been an easing into our current soft life with a slow degeneration of our formerly active, safe and productive lives.

What's the answer:confused:

[Kitsune06]

I call for the complete downfall of all society. Folks will certainly lose weight when farming for themselves, pounding and drying corn/acorns/wheat and steel-cuttinog oats etc etc.

Anyone with me?
...anyone?
**Crickets**

:rolleyes:

[CyclChyk]

Anyone with me?
...anyone?
**Crickets**

:rolleyes:

Um.... count me out cuz that would take time away from me Riding my Bike...... :rolleyes:

[chickwhorips]

I call for the complete downfall of all society. Folks will certainly lose weight when farming for themselves, pounding and drying corn/acorns/wheat and steel-cuttinog oats etc etc.

Anyone with me?
...anyone?
**Crickets**

:rolleyes:

here here!!!! its how i grew up! hated it then, but miss it now.

[Kitsune06]

Woohoo!
Oh- D'oh~ I hijacked the thread. Back on topic, though,
After thinking about it a little more, there's such emphasis on 'eating until you feel full'.
Two separate thoughts come out of that...
1. If you do that often enough, wouldn't the stomach stretch to accomodate more and more food, so you need more all the time to get that sensation?
2. If you're eating until you 'feel full' (and I don't mean 'sated' I mean 'if I eat anymore I'm going to burst', because that's were a lot of people go) and then hop on your bike to get home, you'll hurl. (pardon the graphic speech) but it's alright to eat that much, then waddle out to your car, sit down, and drive home, then take a nap while you wait for things to digest (and go straight to your butt and thighs- thank you, Thanksgiving dinner...) so maybe biking to/from restaurants for meals isn't such a bad thing, either. Certainly enforces the take-out box mentality.

[HipGnosis6]

I have to throw in my two cents here... portion sizes are all kinds out out of whack everywhere. Ever been to the gas station convenience mart and found a bag of chips that's actually ONE serving? Most of them are more like three or four servings. People think a liter of Coke is OK to drink with their lunches. Super-Sizing is happening everywhere, not just at McD's or at the local greasy spoon.

I've been to expensive French restaraunts and been shocked by the "tiny" portion sizes - and then realized that it was just one portion when I'm used to seeing two or three portions served.

Now I admit that I usually am not sated by what you ladies are talking about as a healthy meal. I'm also fat. BUT... I've been a boxer (and therefore a bodybuilder) and played field hockey at state level and miss being able to bike commute a 7 mile round trip, and I'm several inches taller than a lot of you. I consider myself to be very out of shape these days but I'm probably about 100 times healthier than the "average" American woman. My blood pressure and cholesterol and sugar levels are fine.

As somebody who has done some very, very serious training I have a pretty good grip on my metabolism and I assume that each one of you do, too. That guy at the grocer was totally out of line!!

I've known some women who were too thin. And they were as unhappy and self-aware (and self-conscious) of it as I am of being overweight. Anybody who isn't your doctor or yourself should sod right off if they say you're too thin. They're just jealous. :)

[Dogmama]

I read that toxins are stored in excess body fat. I wonder if that is why losing weight can be so unpleasant because the body is releasing toxins?

[Grog]

I read that toxins are stored in excess body fat. I wonder if that is why losing weight can be so unpleasant because the body is releasing toxins?

Very interesting theory Dogmama....

[Tater]

Portion sizes are just out of control nowdays. If we go out, my husband and I have gotten to where we will share an entree, as there is simply way too much food for either of us to consume on our own. Mr. Tater was once quite the pudgy spud. That was before I moved in and educated him on reading lables and such. Now that he's been eating low fat, low sodium, high fruits and veggies, he's lost sixty-two pounds since December of '05. He recently looked at the back of one of those little chocolate pudding pies, a favorite snack at one time, and exclaimed, holy s**t, I can eat a whole meal for the amount of calories in this!

Speaking of gross, have you ladies heard of the burger that is served between two Krispy Kreme doughnuts?! I heard that it is quite the rage at a few state fairs. Now that is just hurl worthy!

[CycleChic06]

Has anyone ever eaten at a Cheesecake Factory? Talk about portion sizes. I was there last week with friends and ordered a lunch sized salad for my meal...it was made of a whole head of lettuce! I always feel so guilty eating there because it's just the epitomy of a gluttonous society. The amount of food they serve there is just plain ridiculous.

[chickwhorips]

ahhh i miss the cheese cake factory. it was good. i always split whatever i was eating (or took it home) and ate the cheese cake. mmmmm.... cheese cake.

[Bluetree]

I rarely eat out any more specifically because of the portion sizes. I can't always put leftovers in a fridge and I hate paying for food I'm going to be throwing away.

Recently I've been doing my food shopping at Whole Foods. I like to go in the mornings so I can enjoy breakfast there in their cafe. They have a delish breakfast bar that includes scrambled egg whites, turkey or chicken sausages, grilled red peppers and other healthy alternatives. The best part is.. you only pay for what you eat! It's $6.99 a pound, but my typical breakfast only comes out to $3-4.

Now, if only more restaurants had such offerings!





Speaking of gross, have you ladies heard of the burger that is served between two Krispy Kreme doughnuts?! I heard that it is quite the rage at a few state fairs. Now that is just hurl worthy!

Yeah, I saw that on the news. That's even worse than the Skookum Chief Burger of North Vancouver... a towering burger topped with fried eggs, bacon, a sliced hot dog and gobs of cheese.

[Eden]

I don't think I saw this link anywhere else in the thread, but apologies ahead of time if its already been posted. I saw this quiz awhile ago and found it to be quite interesting. http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/portion/keep.htm

On a separate, but related note - it seems (from the media at least) that surgery - gastric bypass- is getting be more popular for drastic weight loss. When you think about it what the surgery is pretty much about, is enforced portion control. They make the person's stomach so small that they can't eat too much at once. Yup Kitsune, if you regularly over eat you can stretch out your stomach so that you need more food to feel full, but if you have the will power to eat less you can shrink it back down to a point as well - I do not know how far you can take this before its too stretched to go back -I would bet its like skin and can only take so much stretching before it won't go back.