In a previous post, I made the point that meal components and serving sizes are contributing to a huge increase in obesity in the US. With no offense meant to my friends in the South, this especially seems to be the case in that part of the country.While waiting for an airplane at the Tampa airport last week, I decided to order the vegetable omelette for breakfast, figuring it would be the healthiest thing on the menu at the Sam Snead Tavern near my departure gate. What showed up was this behemoth!
Sam could never have done so well if he ate this way!
Yes... but we don't have to eat it all.
ReplyDeleteAnd what fraction of it did you eat?
ReplyDeleteAnd what is the reason for the increase in portion size? Higher revenue and more profits. By giving more food, purveyors can increase the price of the average purchase with little to no effort, but consumers don't care because they are getting good value!
ReplyDeleteLooks like breakfast for the whole weekend!
ReplyDeleteAbout half, Michael.
ReplyDeleteIronic and timely post since today I joined others across the country in a fast. My fast - though not atypical for a relaxed catholic on a Friday during Lent - is to align myself with the Women, Infants, and Children who may lose the help they get to find food and nutrition during the critical early stages of human growth and development.
ReplyDeletehttp://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/why-were-fasting/
I appreciate your readers' comments that the diner does not have to eat all that is served. But what happens to the other half of all that food?
20 yrs ago a young suburban Philadelphia boy made up some PB&J sandwiches and drove into the city on Thanksgiving to share with the homeless and hungry.
Maybe we can all make ourselves healthier by requesting smaller portion sizes (ask for a kids portion), more reasonable food prices, and sharing a little of the burden for those who do not have enough to eat (ask the restaurant where u are dining if the participate in a food pantry program).
Oops! I think I may have left my comment (about fasting & saving WIC) under my daughter's (Grace) gmail account which she had signed into on my pc.
ReplyDeletePeople's sense of what constitutes a portion has definitely changed. I include myself in that.
ReplyDeleteTo what Grace says; I work in a food pantry program, and while most of our clients are technically living under the duress of "food insecurity", most have 3 to 4 times the girth that they should. It's an interesting conundrum.
Problem is ....most have no clue what is good nutrition and what to eat and why they are eating it. Much needed is education. Look in the nursing homes and the hospitals that have sweet and low, equal, splenda as artificial sweeteners that are poison, they do not have a clue it is poison and they think if it is on the table it has to be good for them. Same with food, processed food etc. They never read labels, never know what ingredients to avoid either. It is a known fact that food has certain ingredients placed in the food to make them keep eating, a proven fact.because it causes cravings. This is a proven fact. I say get educated and proper nutrition and stop the diet drinks and food. Diet foods have aspartame which turns to formaldehyde in your body. Do your research people.
ReplyDeleteTori, go to the grocery store and price macaroni & cheese (generic) a smoked sausage and a can of green beans .. you're going to have a dinner for 3 or 4 for under $5.
ReplyDeleteThen price chicken breast, fresh green beans, whole grain rice and whatever you would need to put in those to make them tasty. You're going to be well over $10
And if you live in my region of the world ..something vegetarian will be outrageously priced with tomatoes being about $3 a pound, bell peppers at $1 each, red/yellow/orange peppers close to $2 each and banana's being the only fruit under $1/pound.
I spent a week at a food pantry once doing a project for school and what we handed out was the stuff that people had in their pantries that got passed over ... and little of it healthy.
The lady across the street from me has 3 kids (her husband died, she didn't do anything to 'put' herself in her position) the older 2 are twins and have special needs from pre maturity. She makes roughly $1100 /month and gets $180 in foodstamps ... that $180 goes incredibly fast in healthy foods .. if it costs $13 for dinner that will last about 13 days and hasn't bought milk, eggs, bread (at $3 a loaf for the healthy bread)