strongernow
09-13-2004, 08:38 AM
Dietician: Forget Diets, Focus On Portions
Supersizing Appeals To Sense Of Value
POSTED: 9:29 a.m. CDT September 10, 2004
UPDATED: 10:19 a.m. CDT September 10, 2004
OMAHA, Neb. -- Dieticians say you can skip the trendy diets and focus on the portions if you're serious about losing weight.
Brenda Bishop, a nutrition therapist in Omaha, said there is no forbidden food as long as you watch your portion sizes.
Video
"Try to keep it at a fistfull -- a fistfull of potatoes, fistfull of rice, a fistfull of pasta," she said. "Maybe a grilled chicken breast without the skin, a half plate of non-starchy vegetables, like broccoli."
Bishop said the trend toward super-sizing food has as much to do with Americans sense of the value of a dollar as with how much they want to eat.
For instance, soda pop used to be served in 8-ounce servings and, over the years, has grown. The 8-ounce size had 100 calories, but the 20-ounce sizes and up contain 250 calories or more, according to National Geographic.
The classic burger was less than three ounces and has grown to 4.5 ounces. A serving of fries used to be about 2½ ounces and now it is closer to 7 ounces.
At the theater, a serving of popcorn in the 1950s averaged out to seven times less food than the 1,700-calorie average today. But people are drawn to the larger size because it costs less, ounce for ounce.
"The more calories not balanced with higher activity means weight gain," Bishop said.
About 3,500 calories equals a pound. Two bottles of soda a day at 250 calories each means that after a week, just the soda could put on a pound if not balanced with other nutrition decisions.
Supersizing Appeals To Sense Of Value
POSTED: 9:29 a.m. CDT September 10, 2004
UPDATED: 10:19 a.m. CDT September 10, 2004
OMAHA, Neb. -- Dieticians say you can skip the trendy diets and focus on the portions if you're serious about losing weight.
Brenda Bishop, a nutrition therapist in Omaha, said there is no forbidden food as long as you watch your portion sizes.
Video
"Try to keep it at a fistfull -- a fistfull of potatoes, fistfull of rice, a fistfull of pasta," she said. "Maybe a grilled chicken breast without the skin, a half plate of non-starchy vegetables, like broccoli."
Bishop said the trend toward super-sizing food has as much to do with Americans sense of the value of a dollar as with how much they want to eat.
For instance, soda pop used to be served in 8-ounce servings and, over the years, has grown. The 8-ounce size had 100 calories, but the 20-ounce sizes and up contain 250 calories or more, according to National Geographic.
The classic burger was less than three ounces and has grown to 4.5 ounces. A serving of fries used to be about 2½ ounces and now it is closer to 7 ounces.
At the theater, a serving of popcorn in the 1950s averaged out to seven times less food than the 1,700-calorie average today. But people are drawn to the larger size because it costs less, ounce for ounce.
"The more calories not balanced with higher activity means weight gain," Bishop said.
About 3,500 calories equals a pound. Two bottles of soda a day at 250 calories each means that after a week, just the soda could put on a pound if not balanced with other nutrition decisions.