FDA’s Blab About Flab: Restaurants Need Smaller Portions
You go out to eat and it’s the perfect meal.
You have some appetizers — preferably fried. Lots of them. Then maybe a huge dinner salad, with lots of croutons and a sea of creamy dressing. Then a super-super-super-duper sized entree. A mountain of french fries with that (or a pyramid of mashed potatoes and gravy). Then a BIIIIIIIIG hot fudge sundae for dessert.
And then the next day you get on the scale and wonder: why didn’t that Lean Cuisine I had for lunch help me reduce my weight?
America is no longer living off the fat of the land; it has become the land of the fat.
And the FDA, in a report, has a suggestion about one way to help combat the epidemic of big butts and super-sized thighs: smaller portions. The AP reports:
Those heaping portions at restaurants — and doggie bags for the leftovers — may be a thing of the past, if health officials get their way.The government is trying to enlist the nation’s eateries in the fight against obesity.
With hamburgers, french fries and pizza the top three eating-out favorites, restaurants are in a prime position to help improve people’s diets, a government-commissioned report said yesterday.
The report, funded by the Food and Drug Administration, lays out ways to help people manage their intake of calories from the growing number of meals prepared away from home, including at the nation’s nearly 900,000 restaurants and other establishments that serve food. One of the first things on the list: cutting portion sizes.
“We must take a serious look at the impact these foods are having on our waistlines,” said Penelope Royall, director of the health promotion office at the Department of Health and Human Services.
The 134-page report, prepared by the Keystone Center, an education and public policy group based in Colorado, said Americans consume one-third of their daily intake of calories outside the home. And as of 2000, the average American took in 300 more calories a day than 15 years earlier, according to Agriculture Department statistics cited in the report.
Realize: that’s essentially the equivalent of eating an additional meal. And where’s the additional exercise in current lifestyles to compensate for that? MORE:
Today, 64 percent of Americans are overweight, including the 30 percent who are obese, the report said. It pegged the annual medical cost of the problem at nearly $93 billion. Consumer advocates increasingly have heaped some of the blame on restaurant chains such as McDon ald’s, which bristle at the criticism while offering more salads and fruit. The report does not explicitly link dining out with the rising tide of obesity, but it does cite numerous studies that suggest there is a connection.
But anyone who has traveled abroad knows that there IS a connection: in many countries with people who have far fewer chins than many Americans, portions are notably SMALLER. This is the fact not only in many fine restaurants abroad, but in many not-so-fine eateries and many fast food outlets as well.
Reuters adds this:
The FDA commissioned the Keystone Center, a non-profit policy center, to gather information from industry, government and academic experts as part of its anti-obesity initiative. About two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese.The experts recommended that restaurants market more of their low-calorie choices. They should also adopt certain cooking methods to reduce calories. Easy-to-understand details on calories should be readily available, they added.
While the FDA can regulate food package labels, it does not have the legal power to control information that restaurants provide. Officials said they hope the report will spur companies to make voluntary changes but stopped short of saying the FDA would seek authority to intervene.
Offering similar label information in restaurants would give consumers the “same kind of information to make those same kinds of (food) decisions away from home,” FDA Acting Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach said.
Prepared foods account for 46 percent of consumers’ food budget and 32 percent of their calories, the report found.
But there really are no simple solutions. Consider:
- As anyone who has been on a serious diet knows, it isn’t just about changing INTAKE — it’s about changing ATTITUDE. A whole advertising culture has hammered in the idea that bigger is better (remember: we are talking about just FOOD here…). “It’s a greater value for all of you hearty eaters.” The advertising wouldn’t work if it proclaimed “It’s a greater value for all of you fatties.”
- Offering lower calorie food to help consumers make healthier decisions is OK but the way restaurants change menus it might be tougher to make it cost effective. In addition, in many restaurants lower calorie has come to signify for many consumers bland or inferior tasting. Healthier eating can be tasty; restaurants have to start offering fare the competes in terms of taste.
- Is it REALLY necessary for a hamburger chain to offer a package of french fries that requires a fork-lift to get back to a customer’s table? Or a container of Coke that could supply entire high school Grad Night?
And then there is the element of CHOICE: the Department of Homeland Security is not sending agents into restaurants forcing Americans to gobble miles of french fries or a plate of pasta that could feed the state of Rhode Island and two islands off Italy. Americans are making choices.
To many Americans, more is better and so they’ve gotten more — more flab, more waistline-inches and more double, triple and quadruple chins.
Pants manufacturers are doing a booming business with their “Relaxed Fit” (i.e. Fat Ass) sizes.
To be sure, if you’ve been to American restaurants and restaurants abroad, it’s clear that U.S. restaurants have played a role.
But what’s wrong with that?
After all: the U.S. constitution promises every American life, liberty and the pursuit of obesity.
4 Responses to “FDA’s Blab About Flab: Restaurants Need Smaller Portions”
Restaurants offer food choices; it’s up to patrons to decide what and how much they’re going to eat. I always immediately divide my meal in half (or thirds) and doggy-bag the rest for future meals. Actually, by the time I’ve finished the salad or soup, I’m pretty much full and usually end up taking most of my entree home for tomorrow’s dinner (and often, lunch the day after). I usually have them hold the potato and substitute more veggies or fruit.
In other words, it’s not up to the government to control the size of portions we eat, it’s OUR choice to eat wisely or get fat. If I pay $30 or more for a nice dinner out, I want “my money worth.” If restaurants downsize servings, the prices had better downsize, too.
It’s always nice when “half-size orders” are offered. (But they usually charge at least 75% of full size cost – making it more economical to order full size and take half home for another meal.)
I agree with you the half size. For instance I’m five foot one. I love to eat but the food can only go in one direction (sideways)…well, TWO (down, too). I’m on a perpetual diet, althought that doesn’t stop me from still eating. Last night I had a half order of Ravioli — which is about an order and a half in Italy. On the other hand, the point the FDA is making is that you can still offer good food and a value without serving a whole cow when someone orders a steak. I’ve found that if I don’t finish the food when I eat out I feel better..and look better. (Another thing I do is almost never buy another pants size. I may buy one one inch bigger but I save the old ones when I gain weight and have to get back to the original size)
Will Americans wake up?
Restaurants have been enlarging portion sizes since WWII, when portion size mattered, as the stuff you ate might be rationed. Since then, restaurants have used increasing portion sizes as to justify many price increases.
Americans might be able to justify $20 for one person’s meal that is a modern day feast that has enough food for 2-3 meals, but when they see what 1 portion of food sized for 1 person looks like, they’ll freak over the $20 price tag.
The problem, I’ve heard from restaurant owners, is that the cost of the actual food is usually a minor part of the cost of hosting a sit-down meal in a eatery. The restaurants are still limited to feeding “X people/hour”, and servers, cooks, etc, all cost a fixed amount/hour. So if you serve smaller portions, you can’t really charge less or you won’t break even.
As the article mentions, if you travel overseas, you’ll see the difference. In non-obese countries like France, where eating is a cherished and treasured tradition, the portion size is just right for 1, normal-weight person. The French figure’s (men and women) show the results of that portion size (among other factors, like better public transit, so people more often do without cars and thus walk more). As a single meal comparison – breakfast, I ordered a scrambled egg, a slice of toast w/jam and orange juice. In Paris, I got exactly what I ordered. Nothing more: 1 egg, scrambled, 1 slice toast w/jam and 1 glass of OJ at a cost of around $6.
When I went to London — England is only outweighed by America in terms of a growing obesity problem. There, meals were sizes were inflated. There — same order, but I was delivered 2-eggs w/ ham chunks mixed in – very greasy, a half a plate’s worth of thick, greasy fries, 2 slices of toast and the one glass of OJ. I explained I didn’t want the ham, I didn’t eat meat — I was told it was included at no extra cost and it would take an extra 10-15 minutes if I wanted my scrambled eggs w/no ham (because the eggs &ham were pre-made). I explained I didn’t want half plate of fries. They said they could take those back, but they were included as well and the price would be the same. Nevertheless, I had no room for them. The server &cook looked at me like I was from Venus (or France, more likely) with annoyance. The meal cost in London: $11.50.
I’ve had similar experiences in America, though — they usually bring enough food for 2-3 meals to justify a higher price.
It seems in America, we go for quantity instead of quality in food.
-linda
Excellent post.
Granted, I’m not one that eats out very often (it costs too much these days! Plus I enjoy cooking)
When I first began on Weight Watchers (disclaimer: I’m a lifetime member), one of the first things they taught was that at restaurants, to get your portion halved (half served; half to go). That way you eat less of the oversized portion–and you’ve conveniently got yourself a meal for later.
Another thing we were taught was to make “smart choices” when it came to what we ordered (self explanatory).
In my opinion, I think that there may be a market out there for more diet-concerned diners. One example from recent memory is how Applebee’s paired w/ weight watchers to have 10 items on the menu, which had ther “points value” listed. The portion-sizes for these dishers were also reduced in comparison to some of the more “normal” dishes. I’ve also seen some other restaurants begin listing their nutrition information right on the menu so patrons are aware of the caloric/fat contents of a dish–which I assume is a sign of people caring about their nutrition.
But what it ultimately boils down to, as Joe said in the original post, if you want to lose weight, you have to make a lifestyle/attitude adjustment. Sadly, I don’t think too many Americans seem ready to make that kind of committment.
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