Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Size Matters

Great piece in SHAPE Magazine about how the size of food portions will make or break your diet.

Check this out: 64 percent of Americans are overweight, as opposed to 47 percent 25 years ago. But consider this: 25 years ago, a "cookie" (that is, their idea of a cookie) was 1/8th the size it is now, a "serving" of pasta was 1/6th as big, a steak was 1/3rd the size. Our portions are exploding, like our bodies.

"A University of Memphis study found women who ate out 6 to 13 times a week consumed 300 more calories per day than those who ate out five or fewer times."


Add up the times you've eaten out this week -- it will probably shock you. Call a week 3 meals X 7 = 21. It's not really fair since this is a holiday week. I ate all my meals out last Wed, Thurs, not Friday, Sat, Sun, Mon, then not Tues, but today Wed. That means I ate out 18 times. Yikes.

Try something new -- don't eat out for a whole week, not once.