Our culture is set up for obesity.
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Eating meals has become all about convenience and taste.
Is that not how it's always been?
Not really. Long long ago when I was growing up it was about family eating and having vegetables that had to be eaten. The convenience and taste part came with the very small portions at fast food places, where you'd have to buy 3 to equal the size of one today.0 -
I was eating out with my 10 year old daughter. Her and shared a meal at Chili's because we know the portions are huge. I looked around at all the busy tables and was stunned to see every person at every table had two plates each in front of them. Portion size is way out of control.0
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I completely agree! I don't think it helps either when your parents tell you 'eat all that's on your plate- don't be rude!'
Sounds like an excuse to me... I'd rather be rude and healthy than polite and not be able to fit through doorways.0 -
Massive is AWESOME... it means not only do I get dinner that night, but I get lunch the next day too!
Just because it comes to you as a single meal doesn't mean you have to eat it all, or all in 1 meal.
I can't do massive, either. I don't stop eating until the plate is clean. I can go for days, if there is a never ending supply of food, and I know a lot of people like this. I've purposely paid extra to not get served a full portion. I called it my health taxes.0 -
I love these facts!
) 0 -
I completely agree! I don't think it helps either when your parents tell you 'eat all that's on your plate- don't be rude!'
Yes!!! My dad used to make us eat everything, even if we didn't like it or were full. "There's starving kids somewhere!" My brother started the "clean plate club" with my niece, but has since backed off of that realizing that he often gives portions that are too large and she's only 4. I'm an adult and he gave me portions too large. So they have backed off of that and for that I'm proud of him!0 -
On my recent trip to New Orleans, when I asked for people's recommendations for restaurants, I would get same comment from more than one person -- people rave about restaurants, because the portions are "MASSIVE". I felt that it would be a waste of time to explain to them that "massive" is not necessarily what I am looking for in a meal.
You don't have to eat all of it.
True Point, you dont have to eat it all....
But ... "Massive" often negates FLAVOR (flavor I believe is different than taste - which can by manufactured and faked - you cannot favke flavor and the right play on ingeredients) , QUALITY, attention to cooking etc.
I would much rather eat one smaller, quality flavorful meal where there has been effort put into making it with the best ingredients possible.
Than eat portions of a crappy giant meal two or three times over.....
Just sayin'0 -
Massive is AWESOME... it means not only do I get dinner that night, but I get lunch the next day too!
Just because it comes to you as a single meal doesn't mean you have to eat it all, or all in 1 meal.
I can't do massive, either. I don't stop eating until the plate is clean. I can go for days, if there is a never ending supply of food, and I know a lot of people like this. I've purposely paid extra to not get served a full portion. I called it my health taxes.
I'm totally that way. I've literally eaten until I was sick before. But that's on me, not on the restaurant.0 -
On my recent trip to New Orleans, when I asked for people's recommendations for restaurants, I would get same comment from more than one person -- people rave about restaurants, because the portions are "MASSIVE". I felt that it would be a waste of time to explain to them that "massive" is not necessarily what I am looking for in a meal.
Massive is AWESOME... it means not only do I get dinner that night, but I get lunch the next day too!
Just because it comes to you as a single meal doesn't mean you have to eat it all, or all in 1 meal.
Yep this!! ^^^0 -
When it's been pounded into you from the time you were born, it isn't so easy to take that attitude.I completely agree! I don't think it helps either when your parents tell you 'eat all that's on your plate- don't be rude!'
Sounds like an excuse to me... I'd rather be rude and healthy than polite and not be able to fit through doorways.
Thankfully, my parents didn't do that to me. But my grandmother did it to my mother and she has been overweight her entire life and is a binge and emotional eater.0 -
I think that's part of the problem, but also a lot of people seem to not have an internal switch that tells them they're full and they just eat and eat. And not just in restaurants.
I think it is very important to understand that in our consumer culture consumption is not based on need but rather on satisfying desires (seeking pleasure).
I would wager that most of the time when people today eat it is not out of true hunger but out of pleasure-seeking.
And people have always wanted to get the most bang for their buck.
When you go out to eat, you aren't paying to sate hunger, you are paying for a pleasurable meal, and many, many people are seeking to maximize the pleasure.
Sure, you don't have to eat all the food given in a portion, but this makes the assumption that 1) you are aware of the calories you are consuming and that 2) you have the willpower to stop the pleasure that is sitting right in front of you only half-consumed. Then on top of this you have the guilt of wasting food or the knowledge that heated-up left-overs are never as good as when it was fresh.
Yes, our culture is very much about maximizing the pleasure of the food for the dollar spent on it.
A big, big, big part of learning to eat healthy and maintain a calorie deficit is learning how to say NO to the siren call of the pleasure of food.
People selling food know this.0 -
Just this weekend i was told how "rude" I was that I didn't eat with everyone else. I had already eaten and was joining them JUST to see them... I felt bad and started to eat some of the pizza, about 1/2 down with a slice, I ACTUALLY had to go throw up... my stomach hurt so bad from the high fat, high calories, and the fact that people make you feel bad for actually watching your weight... it is amazing. I told my boyfriend, next time I just wont' join him and his friends because they are all HUGE and although I am thinner, I want to stay that way.
So you were weak and you are blaming your boyfriends friends. That's nice. next time just say no thank you I am not hungry and move on. Just because they said it is rude is not necessary to eat with them, you had already eaten, chances are you had to throw up because you were full and were becoming over full.
not rocket science.0 -
the knowledge that heated-up left-overs are never as good as when it was fresh.
Depends. A lot of it is even better the second time.
But you make a lot of good points.
For me, though, once I'm to the point of full (not overly so), the food doesn't taste as good anymore, so the pleasure isn't as accute. My great-grandmother's cousin was a HUGE food-pusher. I remember being about 5 years old at her house and she'd forced so much on me that I didn't even want a cookie she offered. It didn't taste good anymore. I've always been that way. Not everyone is, though.
At my highest weight, I was a size 12 and it was moe to do with small meals packed with calories than just eating large amounts of food. It was pretty easy for me to cut back because of that. People with binge eating disorder or who are emotional eaters (and this seems to be becoming more and more common) don't seem to be able to do that as easily.0 -
When it's been pounded into you from the time you were born, it isn't so easy to take that attitude.I completely agree! I don't think it helps either when your parents tell you 'eat all that's on your plate- don't be rude!'
Sounds like an excuse to me... I'd rather be rude and healthy than polite and not be able to fit through doorways.
Thankfully, my parents didn't do that to me. But my grandmother did it to my mother and she has been overweight her entire life and is a binge and emotional eater.
It used to make sense. There were lean times last century. Now, "eat all the food on your plate" as a general rule is a recipe for disaster, since we have a massive caloric surplus available.0 -
If you vacuum for over an hour. Its time to hire a maid.0
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I agree. Whenever I go out to a restaurant I usually bring leftovers home, and can get one and sometimes two meals out of them.
I do this too. It's a personal responsibility to control what we eat, we don't have to pig out just because it's on our plate. It took me a long time to realize that I DON'T have to finish what's on my plate. And I made darn sure my kids grew up with that mindset. ONLY EAT UNTIL YOU ARE SATISFIED.0 -
Right. But parents still push it. Sometimes it's because they were raised that way and sometimes it's done as abuse. But it happens.
When it's been pounded into you from the time you were born, it isn't so easy to take that attitude.I completely agree! I don't think it helps either when your parents tell you 'eat all that's on your plate- don't be rude!'
Sounds like an excuse to me... I'd rather be rude and healthy than polite and not be able to fit through doorways.
Thankfully, my parents didn't do that to me. But my grandmother did it to my mother and she has been overweight her entire life and is a binge and emotional eater.
It used to make sense. There were lean times last century. Now, "eat all the food on your plate" as a general rule is a recipe for disaster, since we have a massive caloric surplus available.0 -
You know you can control what you eat at home...right?
This.
I always share my meal with my toddler if she is there and if she isn't I ask for a box with my food and box half of it up immediately.
You have to be your own advocate because at the end of the day you are responsible for yourself.0 -
Who are you to decide how many calories I need for dinner? I regularly eat 1600 calories at dinner.
If I go to a restaurant and pay $20+ for an entree, there had better be plenty of food on that plate. If you don't want all of it, you CAN take some of it home with you. If you can't control your impulses at restaurants, don't eat out. But lay off on suggesting that our "culture" should be set up with the lowest common denominator in mind. How about just try harder?0 -
You can say no!! We went to Red Lobster for dinner on Saturday night, the plate I got was the Wood-fire grilled shrimp, lobster and scallops, which also came with rice pilaf and 1 other side and a salad, I did not get the side nor the salad and did not dip the seafood in butter. So the meal was 500 calories and I had 2 biscuits 150 calories each, total 800 calories!!!
Just to add for lunch we went to a sandwich cafe, had a multi-grain roasted turkey sandwich (half size), with lettuce, tomato and brown mustard, homemade potato chips and small bowl of fruit. Total 597 calories!!
For breakfast I had a WaWa gas station, old fashion donut, approx. 250 calories!!
Total for the day: 1647 calories0
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