America and food portion sizes

[Rail Tracer]

Quite frankly, that deep-dish pizza is enough to fill me up (probably to the point I feel bloated,) but maybe because the image taken makes the pizza look small.

Depending on what part of America you are in, they do have places where they post the calorie content while you are in the restaurant. It is quite common to see a restaurant around here with calories posted right next to the item.

I'm not a big eater, but if the portion size of the pizza is bigger than the image taken, I would definitely save it for home. Usually in a typical restaurant, I skip the Appetizers and go straight for the Entree (I usually skip the desserts too.)

 

[Halla74]

Just Super-Size Me!!!

It does seem like the whole damn continent is barreling towards obesity at warp factor one, doesn't it?

There are a few lifestyle choices that I use on an on-going basis that serve as an immediate check and balance, if not a hardcore counter measure, against unwanted weight gain.

They are:

(1) Regular exercise, and I mean exercise, not a 20 minute lolly-gag around the block. Bust your ass and break a sweat 4 days per week and you have a HUGE insurance policy against unwanted weight gain.

(2) Drink water all day long. It helps keep you full, and it maximizes the rate at which you burn fat (Lipolysis = Fat Burning that Requires Water!)

(3) Cut your carbohydrate portions down 50% or more. No French Fries! No garlic bread! No huge plates of pasta or rice! These things bloat you!

(4) Drink a protein shake once to twice per day instead of snacking on God knows what. It will keep your nutrition content high,. and keep your calories down.

(5) Don't drink beer, it is liquid bread. If you want to drink, don't fuck around, drink vodka. Don't lie to yourself and say you like the taste, just go for the buzz and get it over with and stay lean.

(6) Eat 5-6 SMALL meals per day, instead of three BIG meals per day.

(7) When you do eat out, split the portion in half, and take the rest home for later. Or, split the entree with someone and pay the restaurant an extra $2 for splitting the lpate. It will save you a bit of change over the full entree, you won't have anything to cart around with you, and you'll stay fit & trim.

(8) When you do fuck up at 3 AM and eat half a bag of Double Stuff Oreos and 2 huge glasses of milk, don't worry about it, just return to your normal ways the next day and it will all average out in the end.

-- We're animals, we need to eat, but we also need to exercise.

-- We were not designed to live ina world of air conditioning and never ending food.

-- If we embrace BOTH FOOD and EXERCISE, there is balance, health, and fitness in our lives.

umpyouup:

-Alex

 

[Rail Tracer]

[MENTION=6109]Halla74[/MENTION]

Got advice for someone who has trouble gaining needed calories?

I've tried eating more, but I can't.

 

[Halla74]

[MENTION=6109]Halla74[/MENTION]

Got advice for someone who has trouble gaining needed calories?

I've tried eating more, but I can't.

Hey there!
My from the hip advice for hard gainers is as follows:

(1) If at first you don't succeed (eating more, more often, etc.) then try, try again. (I'm not being facetious, I'm serious).

(2) If EATING is difficult for you, whether it's feeling bloated, tired, etc., then you can always try to DRINK the extra nutrition you need. There are two easy to consider options: (a) Buying a "Hard Gainer" type fitness/bodybuilding shake/meal replacement powder, etc., or (b) Buy a good quality Whey Protein powder (vanilla or chocolate can be doctored into all kinds of concotions) add 2 scoops of it, and add soymilk, peanut butter, honey, a banana, berries whatever in the world you want to make it way higher in calories than if you just used the protein powder alone, but most importantly - make it yummy!!! That might be a way to get past your historical inability to eat more...

(3) OK, let's say you're drinking a couple of monster shakes per day and you still need more calories. Fine. Eat more calorie dense foods! You have the opposite problem of everyone else, you are TRYING to GAIN WEIGHT, so to hell with Smart Balance - opt for butter! Who cares about ultra lean cuts of meat? Eat a double burger and LOVE it! Oh my, that dish doesn't have bacon and cheese on it, it must taste horrible, HERE YA' GO!!!

If you adopt all of these strategies on an ongoing basis, at some point you will have to gain weight.

If you do all the above, and you don't gain weight the only thing I can think of is that you have some type of endocrine imbalance (thyroid is more common than you think) and you might want to go see your physician and get some bloodwork done.

Good luck, I hope my response was useful to you.



-Alex

 

[Mal12345]

I've just been watching an awesome episode on TV about some American who visited Chicago and ate what seems like a family meal for himself.

He went to Gino's East which is a pizza place in Chicago and ate a deep pan pizza which was 3 inches deep .. The bread dough weighed 2lbs alone .. Fucking hell.

Then went to Al's #1 Italian Beef and munched his way through a sandwich

And at Luckys sandwich place ate 3 of these to get his picture on the wall

So being in the UK and having a stomach the size of a baby gerbil .. Are all the portion sizes large in the USA?

I don't want to say that all Americans are fat but whilst the chap was dining in the above places, almost all of the customers were on the large side. Not bloody surprising when you see the portion sizes but what is America doing to reduce the amount of obese people?

I went out on Tuesday with some friends and for the first time i'd noticed that in the restaurant they had put the calorie content on the menus which was a good idea (i had starter and dessert only), is this common in America?

I am not trying to offend anyone but am genuinely curious.

I look forward to your responses.

*I am now hungry*

I'm guessing the name of the program was "Man Vs. Food."

 

[Vasilisa]

I think that is maybe the biggest problem, when you associate volume with quality.

The quality of sheer quantity: yield.

We live at the end of a massive and convoluted industrial-agricultural system that operates to produce a singular excessive amount of biomass ever more cheaply. Its not surprising this mindset has gone on right on down the line from the farm to the feedlot to the feasters themselves.
Thats only a small part of the blowback, too.

It does seem like the whole damn continent is barreling towards obesity at warp factor one, doesn't it?

There are a few lifestyle choices that I use on an on-going basis that serve as an immediate check and balance, if not a hardcore counter measure, against unwanted weight gain.

me too Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants

 

[prplchknz]

but i don't like healthy food, i eat it and try to like it, but I just don't. and when i was eating unhealthy I was 130 5'7" which is the lower end of normal for my height and now i'm 122lbs 5'7" and still losing.I think even though I try to eat at least a serving of food i always feel like i'm going to barf half way through than i'm oddly hungry an hour later like stomach growling hungry and i usually don't bother to it.I think I'm built to be a grazer

 

[wolfy]

The quality of sheer quantity: yield.

We live at the end of a massive and convoluted industrial-agricultural system that operates to produce a singular excessive amount of biomass ever more cheaply. Its not surprising this mindset has gone on right on down the line from the farm to the feedlot to the feasters themselves.
Thats only a small part of the blowback, too.

Actually, I think the concept of what is quality and what is worthwhile goes a long way in explaining waste and a lot of the problems. Maybe moving to a different mindset of real quality and life as experiences would be better serving us. But now I am waxing philosophical. I need to get myself another copy of Zen and the art... where did that go?

 

[Saslou]

Seriously.

I dunno. Always been the type of person who while enjoying food, only ate until I was comfortable. Even today, I eat one meal a day and graze the rest. Also forget to eat sometimes. Cannot understand the food fixation, even though my family's fixated on food. Stuffing myself silly doesn't give me comfort. If anything, it makes me really uncomfortable. Strangely enough, never had a weight problem either. Go figure...

Makes sense .. I also forget to eat meals but that's only i'm so engrossed in something else. My weight does fluctuate but i think that may be down to stress (however never to extremes, just enough to make my jeans hang off my hips).

 

[ceecee]

but i don't like healthy food, i eat it and try to like it, but I just don't. and when i was eating unhealthy I was 130 5'7" which is the lower end of normal for my height and now i'm 122lbs 5'7" and still losing.I think even though I try to eat at least a serving of food i always feel like i'm going to barf half way through than i'm oddly hungry an hour later like stomach growling hungry and i usually don't bother to it.I think I'm built to be a grazer

I think most people are, they've just been conditioned to do the three meals a day thing. I break mine into 4-5 meals of about 300-400 calories each. That's all I can eat anymore. Higher protein like greek yogurt, lean meats, fish, eggs and cheese, whole grains, vegetables and fruit. I meet ENFJ man for dinner some nights and we often split one or two appetizers and salad. No one said you can't have a fried mozzarella stick once in awhile but we just try to stay with the healthy stuff most of the time. The other thing is, having the bigger meal midday vs in the evening. Then you have the afternoon and evening to digest it and burn it off. We do that nearly every weekend.

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

If I eat over 1000Kcal per day, I get fat.

 

[King sns]

Yeah, I think we are used to seeing massively huge portions at restaurants, usually they serve about 3 in one plate- it doesn't even phase people. I've seen a lot of people complain when the portion sizes aren't big enough. The same is true for the size of American's themselves. When we see someone who is overweight, we see normal. When we see someone who is morbidly obese, we see big, but not morbidly obese. There's also this thing where people seem to think that eating three large meals and cleaning their plate every time is somehow the healthy thing to do. Before I go off on a huge tangential rant I'll stop.

At the end of the day, we eat a lot as a country- even our fruit is huge. And we are overweight as a country. (The OP example is a bit over the top, but the concept is still very true.)

 

[Quinlan]

I've only been to the states once but yeah the portions were huge and the food was bland.

A side salad bowl is like a proper family sized serving bowl, same with a side of fries.

 

[Beargryllz]

America is big

I, for one, am grateful for these serving sizes. Were I born in any other nation, I would have withered away by now.

 

[MacGuffin]

I've only been to the states once but yeah the portions were huge and the food was bland.

A side salad bowl is like a proper family sized serving bowl, same with a side of fries.

Bland? This ain't Sweden where ketchup is considered a spicy kick.

 

[entropie]

pictures like that help me to rationally estimate before I make or order a meal, how much food I really need:

 

[Glycerine]

Wow, I have been known to eat appetizer,meal, and desert all in one sitting.... I don't look at portions.... I just eat until I am full.

 

[SilkRoad]

Bland? This ain't Sweden where ketchup is considered a spicy kick.

I grew up in Canada and I'm half Scandinavian (Finnish). I now live in the UK.

There is a lot of unhealthy bland food in the UK too and the obesity rates are high here (though I have a distorted view of that because I live in London and people are on the skinny side). But I don't think the portions are generally as massive as in America. (Canada has a lot of similar problems but to a slightly lesser extent than America, I think).

But yeah, American food is bland, salty and fatty - and I don't think Scandinavian food is bland. It's not spicy, no, but it's tasty. Veeeerrrry tasty. If you compare good Scandinavian rye bread and bland white American bread...well, there is no comparison.

I think North Americans (both Canadians and Americans) have a distorted view as well based on too much emphasis on self-esteem and political correctness. People in North America will go on about how they're massively overweight because it's "glandular". Yes, you can have more of a tendency to become overweight than another person might. But saying it's all "glandular" and you have no control over your weight, although you're eating enormous amounts of rubbish and not nearly enough fruit, veg, etc is delusional. Europeans are more realistic about this sort of thing, in my experience. They don't tiptoe around health issues for the sake of political correctness, or not so much.


EDIT: I have had good, well-prepared food in the States too. And I quite enjoy the large portions, but I don't put on weight easily. But overall - too much bland salty fatty food and just way TOO MUCH of it.

 

[entropie]

I grew up in Canada and I'm half Scandinavian (Finnish). I now live in the UK.

There is a lot of unhealthy bland food in the UK too and the obesity rates are high here (though I have a distorted view of that because I live in London and people are on the skinny side). But I don't think the portions are generally as massive as in America. (Canada has a lot of similar problems but to a slightly lesser extent than America, I think).

But yeah, American food is bland, salty and fatty - and I don't think Scandinavian food is bland. It's not spicy, no, but it's tasty. Veeeerrrry tasty. If you compare good Scandinavian rye bread and bland white American bread...well, there is no comparison.

I think North Americans (both Canadians and Americans) have a distorted view as well based on too much emphasis on self-esteem and political correctness. People in North America will go on about how they're massively overweight because it's "glandular". Yes, you can have more of a tendency to become overweight than another person might. But saying it's all "glandular" and you have no control over your weight, although you're eating enormous amounts of rubbish and not nearly enough fruit, veg, etc is delusional. Europeans are more realistic about this sort of thing, in my experience. They don't tiptoe around health issues for the sake of political correctness, or not so much.


EDIT: I have had good, well-prepared food in the States too. And I quite enjoy the large portions, but I don't put on weight easily. But overall - too much bland salty fatty food and just way TOO MUCH of it.

There are actually people who say its "glandular" ? Omg thats great hahahaha . Silly 'mericans

 

[SilkRoad]

There are actually people who say its "glandular" ? Omg thats great hahahaha . Silly 'mericans

In my experience (and this is in Canada too, to be fair - where there is also a massive obesity problem) there are LOADS of people who will say that.