Portion Distortion – Bigger Plates Leads to Bigger Bellies

It is a sad truth nowadays that a lot of people are troubled with obesity.

One common reason for this near epidemic problem is portion distortion.

Portion distortion is not a permanent problem that is impossible to resolve.

In fact, all it takes is some portion control in your eating habits and a little effort in maintaining a healthy, balanced diet.

What exactly does it mean and how can it lead to gaining excessive weight?

Portion Size

Technically, a portion size refers to the amount of food that an individual chooses to eat as a meal or snack.

On the other hand, portion distortion on a personal level is certainly not a positive concept because it means eating more than the correct serving size of food at any given meal, essentially overeating.

Portion distortion viewed from a timeline perspective, describes the gradual increase in serving sizes over the last few generations.

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute or NHLBI interprets this practice as a result of the dependency many people have in fast food dining.

ince eating outside the home costs extra, people tend to look for more ways on how they can maximize every cent they spend.

For the fast food restaurant, they are also looking for more methods on how they could make their business progress.

So, they tend to create meals that allow customers to get more servings at lower costs.

Hence, with bigger serving sizes and more affordable prices, people tend to order much more than what they should be consuming.

In effect, more and more people are getting used to these larger serving sizes they eat every meal.

That is why, even when they come home and prepare food in their own kitchen, they still end up eating more than what their body can normally handle.

Portion Distortion Quiz

Go take the NHLBI portion distortion quiz if you want to see the difference in portion sizes from twenty years ago compared to today’s serving sizes.

Overeating

Our body can only digest and burn a certain amount of calories.

When there is too much food being shoved in our bodies, everybody knows; the excess food is stored as fat.

Since we also tend to eat too often, the stored fat remains stagnant and is no longer burned.

Over the years, extra pounds will accumulate and this results to obesity.

Now, the question is: Is there no way out of this problem?

Portion Control

You do not have to force yourself to stop eating big amounts right away. Starvation or crash dieting is not the key.

The simplest method to stop portion distortion is to seperate your large meals into smaller, more manageable meals.

Do not eat all of them in one sitting. Instead, put at least a 3-hour interval in between meals and snacks.

It could mean eating more frequently within a day with the portion sizes being much smaller.

By doing this, your body could digest and burn the food you eat properly thus the amount of stored fat will be reduced.

To gradually reduce the amount of food you eat, the best thing to do is to eat more fruits and vegetables.

Reduce your calorie intake and focus on foods that are rich in fiber.

By doing this, you will be able to satisfy your hunger and still feel full without the need to continue with your old poor eating habits of stuffing too much food into your body.

The next step really is to educate yourself to the correct serving sizes of each food.

You have to be aware of the nutritional value and healthy benefits derived from each of the foods you eat.

It is a fact that different body types require varying amounts of nourishment so you have to be able to identify what your personal energy expenditure.

Money Saving Tip – Eat for Two for the Price of One

If restaurants want to serve massive helpings, I take full advantage.

When eating out with your significant other or family members, order less entrees and share.

Save money, eat less, win, win.