"portions" news and stories

For years, binge-eating has been thought to be an almost entirely secretive, private habit, but some new research by Dr. Gayle Timmerman of the University of Texas at Austin's School of Nursing shows that binge eating may be more likely to occur in restaurants, especially for women. Binge eating is overeating compulsively and in a restaurant that can translate to ordering an appetizer and a dessert when you might only otherwise have been hungry enough for one main course. Women tended to take in an extra 200-300 calories and about 15 grams of fat when they ate out.

The frequency with which the study participants, as well as people in general, eat out is one of the biggest causes for concern. The participants went to a restaurant or got take out on half of all the days they were in the study and when meals out get that frequent, they are no longer "special occasions" calling for indulgence, though that is the mindset than many still have. Another problem is portion size which, when combined with restaurants' "ample delicious food cues," can cause even a disciplined eater to press on with eating when they should have stopped.

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The single biggest factor that prompts people into overeating is portion size, and when more and more meals are eaten outside of the home, it is restaurant portion size that can cause a problem. Not only are the portions often huge, but they set a benchmark that distorts what people perceive as an appropriate amount of food.

An obesity researcher at Penn State University had 300 chefs from fine and casual dining restaurants take a survey that asked what things influence what size they make their portions. 4 out or 5 served more than the recommended portion sizes. 70% said that presentation was the biggest concern, getting a "wow" factor into the dining experience that might cause a customer to return. Value and portion size are often connected in the minds of the consumers, so larger servings come into play more than the actual plating. 65% said that cost influenced how much food they served, and 52% cited "expectations, which was primarily true of chain-restaurants and categories (like steakhouses, for example) that are known for being generous. Only 16% considered calories.

Chefs are not necessarily dieticians and their job is not to tell you what to eat or how much of you plate to clean before taking the rest home. It does make you wonder, however, if our priorities and theirs are in the right place when a 1-pound "serving" of pasta starts to look normal.

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In the NY Times last week, professor Brian Wansink talked about some of his research on how people have relatively little concept of what they're eating and usually take visual cues from outside sources, rather than from their own bodies about fullness. He mentioned a test that involved giving participants stale and fresh popcorn in different-sized containers that showed people would eat more from the larger container - even if that was the stale popcorn. That is not the only experiment that he and his colleagues did to support their position, however. They have a whole repertoire of experiments that demonstrate the same results. The tests answered these questions:

• Do even educated eaters fall prey to mindless eating based on container size?
• Does a food or a wine label affect how people feel about their meal and how much they eat?
• How hard is it to correctly estimate portion size based on container size, and how can the shape of a container make you consume more?
• Does how food is described change consumption rates?
• Do visual clues help slow down mindless snacking?

The answer is "yes" to each of these questions and they way they got to that answer in each case was interesting. Re-naming peas as "power peas" got kids to eat more. Educated eaters still binged when given oversized bowls and color-coding chips so people could see exactly how much they were eating helped them to eat less. The tests don't necessarily tell us anything new, but it's always interesting to see how people react in these different situations anyway. In fact, it's sort of tempting to try them out on coworkers in the break room or, if you have a child that needs to do a science project, questions like these could be a good starting point.

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The best place to get a cheap meal is no longer your local McDonald's, Burger King or other fast food establishment - it's Costco. The warehouse store, known for its enormously sized products and low prices, is also known for good eats at even better prices.

The first way to eat there, and certainly the least expensive, is by stopping in for free samples. The store gives out samples of many of its products every day, with the highest concentration of sampling stations set up around meal times. The range of foods is huge, form coffee (roasted in-store) and cookies to crab cakes and beef taquitos. Even without making a second round through the tables, there is a lot to eat.

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Lately, the problem of portion size has been all over the news. Unsurprisingly, the general consensus is that in order to curb the "obesity epidemic" and improve the heath and nutrition of most people, especially Americans, portion sizes need to be kept under control.

Great idea - but how can it be put into effect?

Since it is impossible to control how much people pile onto their plates when they're at home, thoughts are turning to restaurants to monitor how much they dish out to patrons. The theory is that if a diner isn't served 3 pounds of pasta, s/he can't eat 3 pounds of pasta. But this means that every single restaurant would have to reduce their portion sizes and risk losing customers, because customers are attracted to whatever they feel is a good value. If only one restaurant did not reduce portion sizes, customers would continue to patronize it because the temptation of a good value (and thus the opportunity to overeat) is incredibly hard to resist.

Though it make take more time, continuing to educate people about proper nutrition and healthy eating habits is a better way to go. Trying for force people to accept smaller portion sizes won't resort in happier, healthier people, but in a lot of people who resent being told what to eat. Once everyone wants to maintain a reasonably healthy lifestyle (one without 3-pound dishes of pasta), things like portion size will sort themselves out. Value will be in the quality and taste of the food more than the quantity.