So my mom had the Today show on this morning (God knows why), and they had a report on so-called "hidden fats" found in the standard American refridgerator. They started by mentioning 5 common household food items and mentioning how "unhealthy" they are. Of those 5, 4 of them exist in my home, and 1 of which is "worse." These "unhealthy" items are: 2% milk (we drink whole), white bread, fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt, juice boxes (I don't drink them, but they're there.), and applesauce. To remedy this, they suggest 1% milk (Half the fat, half the taste!), whole grain bread (Mmm, fartilicioius.), plain, fat-free yogurt (Yeah, because plain yogurt tastes good...), 100% juice boxes (No complaints, really.), and sugar free applesauce (Sugar-free is BS).
The main point was the "fact" that childhood obesity is becoming a problem. The question is, is it the products that's causing it?
Now I grew up on all those. I might be a tiny bit overweight, but I'm not obese by any standards. (I could try to find a decent picture if you're really interested, but laziness will probably get the better of me.) And I have no intent on changing. The main reason (and they did touch on this) has to do with meal portions.
Now obviously, American families are not only stupid but also extremely lazy. Thus, families don't cook and therefore eat out often. Now when they're not clogging their arteries at <insert fast food joint here>, they might sit down at a nice family restaurant. But even there, they serve ridiculously huge portions. Today (the show) did a comparison on "standard" food portions and restaurant ones. Among others, they showed one standard-size turkey sandwich and this one sandwich that was at least 4 times the size of it. And we, as Americans, are dumb enough to eat all of what's served to us. And in-house portions are apparently bigger too, so it happens at home as well.
I do have this syndrome, I'll admit. I'll eat everything on my plate. But see, there's a little trick to this. It's going to sound quite obvious, but use a smaller plate, dumbasses.
We only use our large "dinner" plates for special occasions, i.e. a steak dinner or Thanksgiving or some other major holiday. You know, the ones (like Thanksgiving) where you're allowed to overeat. We don't keep serving dishes on the table. So if you want more, you have to get up, walk to the counter/stove, serve yourself more, walk back to the table, and sit down.
Laziness postulate kicks in again, obviously. I'll admit, there are only a few situations where I go for seconds. But usually I'm full after one portion anyways.
Thoughts on this problem that shouldn't be a problem?
