The trend to super-sizing or value-added meals started with fast food restaurants and quickly spread – along with our waistlines.
It seems everything we eat is getting bigger. Since 1982, the standard size of a hamburger has increased 112 percent. Bagels are 95 percent bigger. Servings of pasta have gone up a whopping 480 percent. As the size of portions increased, so did the size of people. According to Statistics Canada, 59% of Canadian adults and almost 28% of children are either overweight or obese.
The International Obesity Task Force warns that "excess weight gain now seems to be fundamentally linked to a range of cancers."
So-called portion distortion has not helped. In fact, one survey of eating habits shows that people continue to eat everything they are served without even knowing that the serving sizes are double or triple what they used to be. The larger portions offered by fast food restaurants, which are often a better deal economically, seem to make people resistant to change. Professor Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity Task Force says "Unwittingly the food industry, by going for a super-marketing process, has contributed substantially to the problem."
So how much should we eat?
Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide tells us how much we should eat each day - it varies depending on our age and sex.
Order a copy of the Food Guide. Try to get good at estimating the number of servings in food and drinks too. For example, a large submarine bun may be 4 grain product servings. A juice bottle may be 3 or more servings of vegetables and fruit. When you get good at estimating serving sizes, it's easier to know if you are eating an amount that's right for you. And that all adds up to a healthier you!
Our fast-paced lifestyle has caused many people to lose touch with what their bodies are telling them, so we eat when we're not hungry and sometimes skip meals when we should eat.
It seems few people want to carry excess weight. A report from NPD Group Canada on national eating trends showed that 64.1 per cent of adult females and 35.9 per cent of adult males were on a diet in this country in 2001.
It takes time and some planning ahead to develop good eating habits. But nutrition experts say most weight loss success stories center around reduced portion sizes. It's a simple fact, if you eat less, you'll lose excess weight.
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