Things are slowly returning to normal for me and I’m glad to be blogging again. I’ve missed you all!! I’m not back in Brazil yet. I still have about a week left to spend in the US.
Of course, it is that time of year when everyone seems to get a little more focused on health and I’ve had a topic on my mind that really presented itself during our travels the last few weeks – portion sizes.
You probably know all there is to know about portion sizes and how the US in terms of restaurants and unhealthy eating has a really skewed view of what is appropriate.
If you do any traveling outside of the US, this is when the whole portion size issue really becomes quite baffling. I don’t think all countries have a good grasp on proper portions. For example, I think Brazil is almost as bad as the US when eating out. However, the majority of other places in this world serve a lot less food than we do.
A big reason why this came to mind is because of our trip to Jamaica. We stay at Sandals Resorts when we are there. Despite the fact that many people think all-inclusive resorts are all buffets, we know this isn’t true and I can’t wait to show you some of the amazing food we had in my post tomorrow.
When I read travel reviews about these resorts I almost always find a large majority of people complaining that the portions were too small at the resort. We even witnessed a couple ordering two entrees each.
I guess people don’t understand the idea that there are supposed to be 4 to 5 course meals and you are supposed to order all courses. This means each item is small. Personally, I love this because you get to try a lot of different things. We are beyond stuffed after all the courses which makes the small-portion complaint unbelievable to me.
It reminds me how our ideas of an appropriate amount of food to sustain our bodies are so amazingly far off.
When we came back and then arrived in Vegas we were greeted with the massive amounts of food USAmericans have become accustomed to. Below is a picture of my LUNCH-sized Asian salad from Grand Luxe Café in the Palazzo. Look at that thing! It is huge! It was awesome for sure, but it should have been about ½ the size.
Now here is a picture of my lunch salad in Jamaica. A much better size. It was amazing by the way. It had curry chicken, toasted coconut and mango chutney on top.
It can be quite interesting if you get into a conversation of who’s at fault for this distorted portion problem. Consumers blame restaurants and companies. Restaurants blame the fact that the customer demands it so they give them what they want. My perception is we are all at fault.
If you have ever struggled with weight loss I am sure you know that our stomach can be trained regarding how much food you need to be full. No, at the moment, I don’t have the scientific evidence to support it, but from personal experience I know my stomach will expand and shrink over time.
If we train ourselves to stop when we are full and to eat less food our body and stomach will eventually be satisfied with less. I go through this each year around the holidays. I go into them needing only small portions to fill me up. Then, after several weeks of eating too much, I find I can eat more and more before feeling too full. The beginning of the new year is spent getting things back to normal.
I guess my question is, how in the world are we going to solve this problem? I don’t see restaurants giving smaller portions anytime soon and I don’t see people without health at the front of the priorities to eat less. Sure, you can order a ½ salad at places or take ½ home, but not everyone is going to do this. Basically the people who need to do this for their health are not doing it. How are we going to retrain ourselves as a society to eat normally again? Will we?
Things just seem so far out of control that this issue truly worries me. Not only is it a problem for our health, but also our environment. We use a lot of resources for these mega portions.
What is your opinion on the issue?
