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Portion distortion is growing problem
By Scott Parrott
Times-News Staff Writer
April 22, 2007
Portion distortion. Never heard the phrase? You're not alone. But you've seen it. Or maybe SEEN IT. It's one of the leading contributors to the epidemic of overweight and obesity in the United States, the North Carolina mountains included.
The simple definition: The portions of food diners consider one serving, in reality, equal two, three, four. That's because the size of food Americans scarf down grew in recent decades.
The eight-ounce sodas of yesterday fizzed out, replaced by colas two, three, four times bigger.
The burgers adults ate when fast food restaurants first fired up the grills 50 years ago are now children's meals.
The list goes on, from chocolate bars to bagels.
Add less active lifestyles and more meals prepared and eaten outside the home, and you're reading a recipe for bad health.
Portion distortion carries weight beyond the belt, helping feed the string of health problems associated with obesity -- diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, cancer.
It even hits taxpayer wallets, hard.
"Bigger is not better," says Terri Wallace, the executive director of the Henderson County Partnership for Health.
But bigger it is.
Super Size
Portions are growing, from soda pop to pasta plates. The calorie count is following suit.
The Cornell University Food and Brand Lab traces portion distortion back to the 1970s, when the number of fast food restaurants boomed. The restaurant chains needed to set themselves apart to make money, so they adopted new strategies. Offering "value" to their customers -- more fries and cola for the money -- was one of these strategies, the lab says. After one fast-food chain took the step, the others followed.
The standard fast-food burger in the 1950s carried 200-plus calories squeezed into a single meat patty, topped by ketchup, mustard, onions and pickles, stuffed between two buns.
But those one-size-fits-all burgers are kiddy meals today.
Restaurants are now dishing out burgers loaded with nearly a full day's worth of calories, from Hardee's 2/3 Pound Double Bacon Cheese Thickburger (1,300 calories) to Ruby Tuesday's made-to-order Colossal Burger (1,943 calories).
Those figures, by the way, don't include the side of fries and soda pop, which have grown too.
But the jumbo trend is not just limited to fast food restaurants.
The phenomenon extended to the grocery aisles, the Cornell study showed. For example, one potato chip company made larger bags to provide a greater "value," and the competitors followed. Consumers bought the bigger bags, so the "value" size stuck around.
Bagels doubled in size. Chocolate bars did too. And the horror flick's not the only frightening thing at the cinema. Sweethearts shared 3-cup bags of popcorn and 174 calories when they went to the movies in the 1950s. Today, moviegoers munch 21-cup bags smothered in butter and loaded with 1,700 calories.
"Our portion sizes have just gotten bigger and bigger and bigger," says Amy McCall, a dietitian and nutritionist for the Henderson County Department of Public Health.
But they might not get any bigger.
The Cornell Lab says portion distortion has reached the limit. Package sizes can be only so big before they become too bulky to lift, pour and store. The same goes for fast food dishes.
As American culture changed portion sizes, the portions repaid the favor. A study found automobile manufacturers are now installing larger cup holders in cars and trucks, McCall says.
"Plates got bigger, cups got bigger, bowls got bigger," Wallace says.
Even the 1997 version of the Joy of Cooking, the staple of American kitchens, received a rewrite to accommodate the nation's growing appetite.
"Serves Four," may have rung true in 1975, but not anymore.
The cost for children
In the war on childhood obesity, Phyllis Jones stands on the front lines.
She's the cafeteria manager at Bruce Drysdale Elementary School, where 420 children and adults eat lunch each day.
One morning, Jones looks over two trays in the cafeteria.
The tray on her right holds two flapjacks, one sausage patty, diced fruit, hashbrowns, a scrambled egg and milk. Jones makes sure the children receive these proper portions when they pass through the line.
She avoids the portions on the left tray, the servings becoming more common. Double the flapjacks, double the eggs, double the sausage, double the fruit, triple the syrup, double the hashbrowns and a 16-ounce drink to wash it all down.
Adults often carry on the eating habits they pick up as children. So for two meals a day, Jones and cafeteria managers at the county's 21 public schools make sure students eat a healthy balance of food. Her favorite tip for parents: "Give them fruits and vegetables."
But she and the school system's Child Nutrition Department make sure children eat the correct portions, too.
They have good reason to be concerned.
Oversized portions, unbalanced meals, more time spent in front of the TV and less time exercising are causing the instances of childhood obesity to rise, with serious consequences.
Henderson County is no exception.
Nearly 19 percent of children between ages 2 and 20 are overweight here. Another 19 percent are at risk of becoming overweight, according to the North Carolina Nutrition and Physical Activity Surveillance System. Statewide, 17.4 percent of youths in the same age range are overweight.
Across the nation, children are coming down with illnesses once common among only adults, such as Type 2 diabetes.
The long-term consequences are grave.
"This is the first generation raised with a lower life expectancy than their parents," says Margaret McKinnish, a registered nurse and Project Coordinator for Fit Together in Henderson County.
So the public school system is trying to teach the children proper eating habits before they grow up.
The Child Nutrition Department, led by Christina Dodd, counts calories. Nutritionists ensure children receive the proper portion sizes, based on requirements established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"Teaching kids right is easier than changing adults," Dodd says, as she stands in the Bruce Drysdale cafeteria.
For a second year, Bruce Drysdale Elementary School is offering pupils free healthy snacks of fresh fruits and vegetables every day. The school received a $44,000 USDA grant for the program."I think if you make these types of things available to them, they will eat them," Dodd says.
As she speaks, four fifth graders prove the point. They race to the nearby salad bar and scoop up lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli and other veggies.
The cashier double-checks the trays to make sure they hold the proper portions and healthy balance, and the kids are off to eat.
Adults, take note.
Beyond the belt
More than half of the adults in the mountains are either overweight or obese, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says.
Portion distortion is not the lone factor, but it plays a major role.
As portion sizes grew, so did the waistlines of Americans. The formula's simple: more calories plus less exercise equals weight gain. Only 41 percent of adults in the mountains get enough physical activity, the CDC says.
But good looks aren't the main concern -- health is.
Obesity opens the door to a range of serious ailments, boosting the risk factor for cancer, heart disease, arthritis. North Carolina's rates for overweight, obesity and related health problems are some of the highest in the nation, often exceeding national averages, according to Eat Smart, Move More North Carolina.
The results hit the taxpayer pocket book. In 2005, problems associated with obesity and being overweight cost $2.24 million in Medicaid in Henderson County.
Clearing portion distortion
The blame can't be placed squarely on the shoulders of food manufacturers and restaurants, Wallace says.
"We all need to take responsibility and control for our own health," she says.
The value meal may seem like a deal, but those extra fries and ounces of soda pop cost plenty down the road.
"It's not a value," Wallace says.
Taking the steps:
Terri Wallace, the executive director of the Henderson County Partnership for Health, recommends consumers take simple steps to avoid the health hazards of oversized portions.
Those baby steps lead to a lot of steps, she says. Among those steps:
Think before you order.
Before you go get the food, take a minute to think, Am I really that hungry? says Amy McCall, a dietitian and nutritionist for the Henderson County Department of Public Health. Thinking ahead might make the difference between ordering the proper meal, or the super sized meal.
Swap the big size for the smart size
Save calories eat a kids meal
Order an appetizer as an entree
Take home part of your meal.
Drink water, milk
Enjoy healthy options
A lot of fast food restaurants are trying to offer healthy options, McCall says. McDonalds has apple slices, Subway has apples or raisins, Wendys has mandarin oranges.
Start with a salad when eating at a buffet
Eat slowly
Double check serving sizes on labels.
Chain restaurants, both fast food and sit-down, often list nutritional information on the company Web sites.
Soda bottles, chip bags, and other packaged foods list the information on the label. Its extra work performing all that math, but it can pay off in the long-run.
Share a meal with a family member or friend
Measure the correct portion sizes using common household goods.
For example, a 3-ounce piece of meat should be the same size as a deck of cards, or the palm of your hand.
Order salad dressing on the side. Instead of pouring on the dressing, dip the fork into the dressing and then eat the salad.
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). In fact, my teachers in elementary school used to give me their extra cookies, bread-and-butter, etc. because they knew or suspected I was not being fed properly at home. Judging people by their weight reminds me very much of the ECV threads on the Theme Parks board where people speculate and criticize people for using electric carts at Disney "when they are not really disabled."
Geez, you'd think my dad would've at least stopped me from saying it!!
