Portion Sizes in Diet

What is a portion size? Don't feel bad if you don't know the answer. There really isn't one. Portion sizes range from the minuscule artistic renderings at fine dining establishments to gargantuan pancakes flipped with a shovel at the now out-of-business Royal Canadian Pancake House in New York City. What is indisputable is that the expansion of our waistlines has suspiciously coincided with the swollen portions we have come to expect from food manufacturers and restaurants.

Difference Between a Portion and a Serving

The amount of food you eat at any one time is considered a "portion," whether bought in the market, ordered at a restaurant or created in your own kitchen, according t the National Institutes of Health. Clearly, this can vary significantly. A "serving" is considered to be the amount of food analyzed for display in the Nutrition Facts section of the packaging.

Significance of Increased Portion Sizes

Portion size is a crucial part of weight control. It affects the number of calories you eat during a meal, and often this excess of calories goes unnoticed. A survey by the American Institute of Cancer Research noted that most people do not pay attention to the portion size of their food when they are trying to lose weight. Because 3,500 calories equal a pound of body weight, over time this could have a significant impact on your waistline.

Time Frame

Portion sizes began to grow in the 1970s, according to research by Lisa Young, PH.D., RD, of New York University. This evolution accelerated during the excess-driven 1980s and remains bloated today. In her research, published in the "American Journal of Public Health," almost all of the foods her team evaluated exceeded the serving size standards recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. The largest offender was a particular chocolate chip cookie that was 700 percent above the USDA standard portion size. The National Institutes of Health says that a bagel 20 years ago was 3 inches in diameter and had 140 calories. A bagel today is 6 inches and has 350 calories, providing you with an extra 210 calories. The Harvard School of Public Health says you just added another 30 minutes to your tennis workout to burn off that larger bagel.

Identifying a Standard Serving Size

By understanding how large a standard serving is, you can understand how the portions you choose are affecting your intake. One of the best ways to measure an adequate serving size is to do it visually. For instance, a cup of cereal or a small baked potato serving is about the size of your fist. A serving of rice, potato, fresh fruit, ice cream or pasta is about one half of a baseball. Approximately 1.5 ounces of low-fat or fat-free cheese is the size of four stacked dice, and a 3-ounce serving of meat is about the size of a bar of soap. Knowing how to visually assess a serving size will help you estimate the number of calories in your portions of food.

Implications

USDA statistics indicate that Americans' total daily calorie intake has increased from 1,854 calories to 2,002 calories in the past 20 years. According to the American Institute of Cancer Research study, 62 percent of survey respondents believed that restaurant portions are equal to or even smaller than those served 10 years ago. Because food is eaten outside the home much more frequently today than it was 40 years ago, this can be a significant increase. Clearly, portion sizes are an important part of the weight control puzzle.