portion sizes

[Obsessed]

I don't generally eat in big chain restaurants, but this weekend I happened to go to both Ruby Tuesday and Cheesecake Factory, and I was absolutely appalled by the portion sizes. On the kids' menus.

At Ruby Tuesday, we ordered grilled cheese "minis" and hamburger "minis" for the kids. Each "mini" was what I might have referred to as a "sandwich," and there were two per order. At the Cheesecake Factory, the kid-sized pizza was about a 12" pie. It was quite an eye-opening experience. I never thought I'd be so happy when my kids didn't finish their lunch!

[jsrdrnr]

Wow...unbelievable. Something for me to look forward to down the road I guess.

[thunderball]

After living in Japan for over 10 years now, I am constantly amazed at the sizes of the portions in North America when I'm home on vacation. Little wonder then at all the problems concerning obesity.

[SiBurning]

They do serve large portions at the cheesecake factory. It's pretty appalling if you go and eat the whole thing. Especially when you realize there's no more room to eat that oversized slice of cheesecake.

[Mr_Amazing]

They do it so they can charge more.

[Venom8431]

Unfortunately, moderation and self-control are virtues many people are starting to completely abandon.

[Leche]

Claim Jumper is like that. One meal would feed you forever it seems. Enough left over for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the next day.

[tgarza]

You can always ask the server what the portion size is like, most will oblige. Most restraunts can "tailor" a meal to fit any appitite.

[michiganlover]

All American restaurants serve over-sized portions. If they served correct sized portions, their average patron would feel ripped off.

The best option, is to order the large portion meal, and immediately place half of the meal into a to go box for later.

[rth97601]

My wife and I split a BBQ plate from a local joint (Dinosaur) tonight, and it was still more food than either of us needed. We're both uncomfortably full, there's enough leftovers to fill a fat sandwich, and our meal (though admittedly on the large side) is still intended for a single person.

[Abdiel]

Tell me about it, especially here in the land of the BBQ joint. All but one place gives an ungodly amount of meat on the standard sized plate. And that one place still gives a good portion. But as mentioned above, the average American would feel ripped off with less. We are a culture of more more more! And less then that is simply not acceptable.

It creates the false illusion of value. "Look at all that food!" but the point they miss is they are paying twice as much for twice as much food, and often it's of lesser quality to be able to shove more on the plate. It's the buffet syndrome. Golden Corral "where else can you get all this for around 10 dollars!" Tea, all you can eat steak shrimp and whatever else they have that day. The fact they leave out is it's all crap covered in who knows what to hide the fact it tastes like crap.

But a reasonable sized portion of quality food for the same price leaves most Americans feeling like they didn't get their monies worth.

[WittyAg]

In my opinion there is nothing wrong with portion sizes in America. All you have to do is box half of it to go and you get two meals for the price of one.

[Uber Goober]

My wife and I split a BBQ plate from a local joint (Dinosaur) tonight, and it was still more food than either of us needed. We're both uncomfortably full, there's enough leftovers to fill a fat sandwich, and our meal (though admittedly on the large side) is still intended for a single person.

Probably a matter of perception but if ate at a place called "Dinosaur" I`d expect the BBQ plate sizes to be absolutely huge, it`s just so hard to find a small cut of Brontosaurus nowadays:biggrin:

[David in Boston]

After living in Japan for over 10 years now, I am constantly amazed at the sizes of the portions in North America when I'm home on vacation. Little wonder then at all the problems concerning obesity.

Dated a woman from Japan years ago.

It was an "eye opener" in that when we when to restaurants her eyes would open wide:eek:when the food was presented.

She just couldn't get over the portion sizes.

[Obsessed]

You can always ask the server what the portion size is like, most will oblige. Most restraunts can "tailor" a meal to fit any appitite.

Honestly, it just didn't occur to me that the kids' portions would be so big. Next time, of course, I'll know to inquire.

[DSB]

I don't generally eat in big chain restaurants, but this weekend I happened to go to both Ruby Tuesday and Cheesecake Factory, and I was absolutely appalled by the portion sizes. On the kids' menus.

At Ruby Tuesday, we ordered grilled cheese "minis" and hamburger "minis" for the kids. Each "mini" was what I might have referred to as a "sandwich," and there were two per order. At the Cheesecake Factory, the kid-sized pizza was about a 12" pie. It was quite an eye-opening experience. I never thought I'd be so happy when my kids didn't finish their lunch!

I recommend you stay away from Claim Jumper They make the portions at Cheesecake Factory look like appetizers at a weight watchers meeting. They are definitely all about quantity over quality. I don't get it. I'll take a nice, small meal over an average trough of food any day. I blame 7Eleven -- it all started with the Big Gulp.

[FLTiger]

At the Cheesecake Factory, the kid-sized pizza was about a 12" pie. It was quite an eye-opening experience. I never thought I'd be so happy when my kids didn't finish their lunch!


They do serve large portions at the cheesecake factory. It's pretty appalling if you go and eat the whole thing. Especially when you realize there's no more room to eat that oversized slice of cheesecake.

All of the portion sizes at Cheesecake Factory are way too big. We usually split entrees there. For my son, we order the buffalo chicken fingers and ask them to leave the sauce on the side. Of course they bring so many that I have to help him out. :rolleyes:

[Robxcarlson]

I used to wait tables several years ago, and I once waited on a Japanese couple who asked to split an entree, so I had the kitchen prepare it on two separate plates. When I delivered their meal, they couldn't believe that I brought them only one order because it was still so big in their eyes.

I do think it's a problem when dining out. The temptation is always there to finish the whole meal. My wife and I used to be pretty good about splitting entrees ourselves, but lately we haven't agreed on what to eat so we haven't shared too well.

[Lynchmeister]

I'm in agreement that our (American's) perceptions on portions are completely out of whack. My wife and I are by no means obese, but we have steadily put on about 30lbs (each) of pudge since we met. I blame myself mostly as being the bad influence as when we met, we were in college and I had been living the typical male college experience. You may be familiar with it - a steady diet of fast food, alcohol, and cigarettes. :rolleyes: While she abhors tobacco in any form, she came around to the burgers and booze.

Once college ended and reality set in, we cut down our bar and restaurant visits considerably, but or portion sizes remained...large. We've been unhappy with how we look and feel for a couple years now and just recently (as in about a week ago) decided to get a couple of those Weight Watchers Points calculators as a means to not necessarily change our diets, but trim our portions down to an acceptable size and be more conscious of our food choices.

An example: Do I really want to tack on another 3 points out of my daily allotted 23 and drink this Pepsi? Or do I want a glass of ice water? It makes you think, which is what we needed.

We're on day two and, while it's early in the game, we're doing well. This morning, I *gasp* ate the recommended serving size of cereal (3/4 cup cereal, 1/2 cup milk) and I feel...full. Wow.

Here's to a healthier and happier lifestyle, gents!

[Venom8431]

The best option, is to order the large portion meal, and immediately place half of the meal into a to go box for later.

I think my grandmother is the only person I know that does this. For some reason it seems like most Americans feel that a meal NEEDS to be finished in one sitting.

[chainfire]

My wife and I have gotten to the point of either sharing one entree or getting a couple appetizers...we're usually in a situation where we can't box the food anyway and the portions are too large otherwise.

[gone down south]

When I first moved to the US, I was appalled by the practice of getting a doggie bag at the end of a meal - that just reeked of old ladies loading up their purses at the buffet line! It's not a common tradition in other countries, and it's definitely not a sign of being a sophisticated diner :)

Then I started to see how much food is stacked on the plates in a typical restaurant and it all made sense. My wife can sometimes get lunch the next day AND a snack out of your average entree.

[langod]

... For some reason it seems like most Americans feel that a meal NEEDS to be finished in one sitting.

My guess is that this stems (for those of us over 30 anyway) from growing up in less-affluent times, and when not wasting hard-earned food dollars resulted in the regular dinnertime mantra from Mom, "finish what's on your plate, there are starving kids in China!"

[Abdiel]

My guess is that this stems (for those of us over 30 anyway) from growing up in less-affluent times, and when not wasting hard-earned food dollars resulted in the regular dinnertime mantra from Mom, "finish what's on your plate, there are starving kids in China!"

"Well then let them eat it!"

Yeah, that didn't go over well. Though it was the last time that argument was made :biggrin:

[Obsessed]

Here's to a healthier and happier lifestyle, gents!

+1 Sorely needed on my end!

[tg16]

In my opinion there is nothing wrong with portion sizes in America. All you have to do is box half of it to go and you get two meals for the price of one.

I agree. I'm happy to get dinner with enough left over for lunch or dinner the next day. With prices and the economy what they are, I like to get a little bang for my buck.

[Amyn]

Any time I travel to an international country I realize how big portions are here in the North America. Much of the food is wasted if not consumed.

I would hope we could control ourselves a little better or atleast serve right size portions.

Bigger does not mean better.

[big1096]

Portion control was the first hurdle I had to overcome in my personal "Battle of the Bulge". It can get totally out of control. I try to stick to the "closed fist = one portion", roughly.

[Echo]

One problem a lot of people have is eating too fast too. People get so hungry that by the time the meal comes, they've already scarfed down 3/4ths of it before they start to feel hungry.

People need to take time and enjoy the food. Savor it it, chew it, just take your time. You'll soon realize that you're getting full way before you've eaten most of these jumbo portions.

[Hreafn]

Here in the midwest portions are filppin huge the term small steak just dont fly and if you look at what a serving is for steak and then you look at what we get they are no where near the same animal.

[blantyre]

My mother in law lives in assisted living and it's the same there - the meals are enormous. The quality is quite decent too - often roast lamb, turkey or fish with a selection of vegetables and sides. No one eats close to half of what's served so enough food to feed a a good parts of a 3rd world country gets dumped every mealtime. It's an expensive place to stay there, so I figure that its costed in and cheaper than offering seconds.

[synapticmisfires]

If there's any doubt about the whether or not portion size is an issue, just think about the pricey steak on the menu at a restaurant. Generally, we're talking 12+ oz sometimes a lot more. 4 ounces of very lean meat is a serving, and given the preparation, I dunno if it's fair to count a restaurant steak as being as "lean" as a well trimmed, grilled chicken breast. Already we're talking about 3-4 servings worth of meat (adjusting for fat content) in a sitting and even the FDA recommends no more than 3 in a whole day.

As to the cause of the problem, I think it's as simple as we as a nation got rich and started eating meat, and then when nutritionists advocated sticking to complex carbs it became an add-on. Well, I can have this steak, as long as I'm good and have these nutritious carbs with it. Same happened with vegetables and fruit: "I'll have a big delicious breakfast, and then a grapefruit and some OJ for my heart". And the same thing happened with high-protein, high-fiber backlash against carbs. For whatever reason, maybe political, few people spoke and said "no, I meant instead not in addition".

I went to a Christopher Cook lecture once and he seemed to have some interesting ideas on this (I never read his books, YMMV). Basically such-and-such lobby is too influential for a food to be explicitly blackballed, so the FDA instead approaches it as showing the contrast between healthy food and unhealthy. All that does is make us view it as eating enough good food to absolve us from eating whatever bad food we want. When really the optimization problem is to eat the right amount, AND THEN worry about making that food healthy.

[Venom8431]

If there's any doubt about the whether or not portion size is an issue, just think about the pricey steak on the menu at a restaurant. Generally, we're talking 12+ oz sometimes a lot more. 4 ounces of very lean meat is a serving, and given the preparation, I dunno if it's fair to count a restaurant steak as being as "lean" as a well trimmed, grilled chicken breast. Already we're talking about 3-4 servings worth of meat (adjusting for fat content) in a sitting and even the FDA recommends no more than 3 in a whole day.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's leave those juicy, over-sized steaks out of this. Have you ever tried just eating 4 oz of steak? Might as well try getting full off of Tic-Tacs. :biggrin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBko_3wT44Q

[TimMechEngr]

My guess is that this stems (for those of us over 30 anyway) from growing up in less-affluent times, and when not wasting hard-earned food dollars resulted in the regular dinnertime mantra from Mom, "finish what's on your plate, there are starving kids in China!"

Our Mom told us the same thing, but they weren't just kids (adults too) and they were from South America.

Several years ago while at lunch with a fellow employee who happens to be from Columbia, South America, we were discussing this very subject. "Our Mom always told us we had to clean our plates because there were starving people in South America". He responded with, "Our Mom told us we had to clean our plates because in America, they think we're going around hungry!" :w00t::lol::lol::lol: I just about blew the food in my mouth all over the table from laughing!


"Well then let them eat it!"

Yeah, that didn't go over well. Though it was the last time that argument was made :biggrin:

:ohmy: If we had told our Mom that, we would have been smacked backwards out of our chairs and found ourselves getting up off the floor wondering what had happened! Our Mom didn't stand for backtalk of any type!

[Wendy]

I think most restaurants serve way too much. My husband and I only order one meal and an appetizer him, our son and myself and the girls split a kids meal. We usually still have leftovers.

[Doc4]

It's pretty much the same up here in Canada, too.


(True story ... there once was a local restaurant that 'spe......ed' in pasta ... lots and lots of pasta. Not 'good' or 'tasty' pasta, but lots of it! In fact, finishing your plate was something of a challenge, and if you DID finish your plate, they'd give you a second half-order for free.)



I think one of the biggest problems is that, when we eat, there's a big time in between when we no longer "feel hungry" and when we finally "feel full". We tend to think that we ought to eat until we 'feel full' rather than stop when we've had enough to no longer feel hungry.

And yeah, the big portions prevent the 'ripped off' feeling. Let's say it costs a restaurant $5 to bring an empty plate to your table ... wages, overhead, profit, stuff like that. So they can put $5 of food on your plate for $10 or they can put $10 of food on your plate for $15 ... hey look I got twice as much food for only $5 more!!