UK vs. US portions and nutrition

I lived in the UK for a few years, and visited the US recently. I'd say the range of food is bigger in the US, on both ends of the scale (healthy, and not so healthy), and to accomodate all types of dietary requirements.

Portion size isn't an issue - you shouldn't feel the need to eat everything you're given wherever you live and eat. I didn't find the US portions ridiculous, but we were eating at nicer places most of the time.

Kcal and cal are the same.

You can eat meals whenever you like, but "traditional" meals are the same.

The food is the same in the UK. Probably healthier overall. It's up to you to make the right choices for your goals.

What part of England? If you're in a big city you'll find the dining options very similar to those of the US, and I personally haven't noticed much difference in the portion sizes. Of course your frame of reference will depend on what you're used to at home, but you shouldn't be thrown for much of a loop. I've eaten at chain restaurants in the UK that served large portions and yes, offered to-go boxes, and there are also lots of small restaurants and cafes, coffee shops, farmers markets, both small and large grocers, etc., which are all options I'm used to having at home. London has some great outdoor markets with farmers market type foods so you should check those out if you get a chance (Borough Market, Camden Lock, and Covent Garden are some cool ones).

My friends I've stayed with in the UK all seemed to eat toast with Marmite or butter/jam on top for breakfast, which might be a smaller breakfast than you're used to having, but again depends on your habits. Their lunch and dinners were the same as what I'm used to.

You will likely be walking a lot more which will help with any extra food intake. You should be able to find a good calorie estimate in the MFP database for anything you're unsure of. Also, food is considerably more expensive over there so that might help with eating moderately. Sounds like a great time though and I hope you have fun! As long as you don't go totally crazy on the food you'll be fine, but then again same applies here in the US.

Just watch out for beer or alcohol calories. Students are known for liking a drink or 10 and it can be too cheap to resist.
You can eat healthily but stay away from "healthy" sandwich shops which actually can have more fat and calories than a burger...
I agree with the others, you will be walking a lot more and taking public transport unless you buy a car...
Pub meals are generally going to be high in calories, but I did love a Sunday roast when I lived in London :-)

It can be too easy to get home delivery takeout food in everything you can imagine. You get all these pamphlets through the letterbox and they are usually quite cheap.... I knew I had had too many Chinese takeaways when I would ring and they wouldn't even need to ask who I was or what I wanted... sigh...

I don't know what size you are in clothes, but a good shop is www.yoursclothing.co.uk (they are online AND have shops depending on where you are) and lots of the "regular" high street shops do go to bigger sizes too.

EDIT: Just looked at your profile and you don't look "plus size" for the UK. You will be able to shop your heart out

Where are you going in England?

When I went to New York... Everything was HUGE portions and all processed greasy stuff. Although the Applebee's breakfast we had was amazing. Anyway...

I live in the UK. We eat smaller portions. We don't all live on tea and crumpets like they will have you believe. We have Supermarkets which sell plenty of good fresh produce. To help you out... Lidl and Aldi are great on a budget as is Asda (Not as naff as Walmart but close ha ha) then you have stores like Morrisons and Tesco which are more expensive. Sainsburys is amazing but not always cheap. So depends on your budget really.

Most "pub" chains supply dietary information on their websites so it's easy to plan a meal. I usually have Pasta Pomodoro at Wetherspoons. It's lush and only 401 calories for a decent sized portion.

We are mostly a friendly bunch in the UK and if you have requests like no sauce etc they will happily oblige.

Most important thing to remember and relish is... We don't need tipping

Hope you enjoy yourself over here. Youll love the history. Nothing much more to add about portions etc.

in our great nation, tea solves most problems. What it doesnt solve, alcohol will. Id definitely be aware of the strong alcohol based student culture. Student life isnt great for the average persons weight.

I've never been to the US so I'm going by what I see here, and on TV. I get the impression that meat is cheaper in the US. We do eat a lot of meat in the UK, but not quite so much of things like chicken breasts which I see people eating. I think minced beef and sausages are more common family food.

There are loads of bakers (or maybe that's because I'm in the north). Baked goods are good value calorie-wise (not necessarily health-wise!) for fast food - about 80p for a big sausage roll. I think Greggs is the big bakers chain but there are others depending on what area you're in. (Independent one-shop bakers are rare now, I think). They sell bread, cakes, and a lot of savoury things made with pastry: meat pies, cheese straws, pasties, pork pies, etc. Where you are in the UK will determine what sort of pies and cakes are on offer. If I visit a new part of the UK, I love visiting the local bakers and seeing what they've got! (Even if I don't buy - as I said, cheap but high calorie goods!).

I don't think people eat out quite as much in the UK - it's an occasional thing, rather than a regular thing. It's quite expensive to eat out. Takeaways are expensive and high calories, as a rule - mainly Indian, Chinese, pizza/kebab/fried chicken/Turkish, fish and chips. You probably do need to have fish and chips at least once! Preferrably with mushy peas, gravy or curry sauce, and scraps (pieces of deep-fried batter which are normally thrown away, but considered a delicacy). Indian and Chinese food are usually British versions. British Indian food tends to have fatty sauces, and huge portions of bread (naan). British Chinese food tends to have a lot of fried rice, deep-fried things, and sugary sauces. But depending where you are, you could find some more low-calorie and authentic cuisine.

So yes, I think there is a lot of high-calorie food here, but it's usually more of an occasional indulgence. Almost everybody I know cooks homemade meals in the evenings, brings in food for lunch at work, etc.

Mealtimes often depend on worktimes, but pretty much breakfast, dinner and tea. However, some people have a supper late in the evening. And some people with children serve an earlier evening meal to the children and eat a grown-up evening meal later on. As mentioned above, most people have a light breakfast or none at all (porridge, toast, cereal). A "full English" breakfast isn't usual, except for treats at the weekends or in B&Bs, but a smaller version (bacon sandwiches, etc.) is more common, and often offerred by takeaway sandwich places.

"Elevenses" used to be common (@samgamgee above made me think of that!), and a lot of people do still have a cup of tea and a biscuit midmorning - again, depends on work, etc.! Afternoon tea became fashionable again a few years back - it isn't what people would normally eat, but another occasional weekend treat (sandwiches, scones, cake and tea at a teashop).

Personally, I find it quite easy to find fresh vegetables and so on, so cooking for a diet isn't a problem, unless you're in a rural area. Public transport isn't brilliant but seems to be used more than the US from what I've read, and there are a lot of places that deliver - the big supermarkets, Ocado, organic veg deliveries, even local shops.

I noticed you're coming over to study, and student life can be a bit different. Lots of heavy drinking, I mean really heavy drinking, by my standards - usually going to clubs with student discounts and drinking strange drinks that are on offer! And eating seems to involve a lot of things like cereal, beans and toast and takeaway pizza. Not that everybody lives like that, or that you have to, but quite a lot of students seem to when they first leave home! From what I've seen the places to eat on campus aren't particularly cheap. But it should be easy enough to find, cook and make healthy food.

I hope you have a wonderful stay!

I disagree about the food in the US being all greasy, processed and huge serves. You can find whatever food you like.... Healthy food and fresh, often organic produce was plentiful and easy to find (and cheap compared to Australia) , both when eating out and shopping in supermarkets. I don't understand how people struggle to stick to healthy options...

This thread has made me think that perhaps I'm living on some strange far flung planet in another galaxy...

Don't worry, we do have food on planet Britland. Most of it is edible but not all. We eat what we want when we are hungry (or bored), pretty much like the rest of the world.

MonsoonStorm wrote: »

This thread has made me think that perhaps I'm living on some strange far flung planet in another galaxy...

Don't worry, we do have food on planet Britland. Most of it is edible but not all. We eat what we want when we are hungry (or bored), pretty much like the rest of the world.

We only eat crumpets and drink tea. That's all the world thinks we consume! Ha ha

I used to work in a pub/restaurant chain and our breakfasts could be anywhere from 1000 to 2000 calories, so if you're eating out, be wary. If you're ever in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, see how many branches of Greggs (kind of a bakery version of McDonalds) you can see. If you go more than a couple of minutes without seeing one, you're not in Newcastle anymore.

1. Portion sizes are smaller. It's the same in Germany (where I lived when I was young). Soda? You get 6 or 8 ounce cups sometimes.
2. 1 kcal = 1000 calories (with a small c) = 1 Calorie (with a capital C)
3. I've never encountered anything that led me to believe there are differences between the UK and US
4. Nope. It would rage from about the same to slightly better. There is so much variation it's hard to really say. Nutrition information is easier to come by and the numbers are more accurate. (In the US for example, if the Calories are under a certain number (~5?) then the manufacturer can claim 0 since it's within tolerance.

scottacular wrote: »

I used to work in a pub/restaurant chain and our breakfasts could be anywhere from 1000 to 2000 calories, so if you're eating out, be wary. If you're ever in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, see how many branches of Greggs (kind of a bakery version of McDonalds) you can see. If you go more than a couple of minutes without seeing one, you're not in Newcastle anymore.

I love that there's even one in Newcastle station!

I usually use Cooplands or Thomas's. Greggs do seem to have bigger portions of everything - thicker slices of bread, bigger sandwiches, bigger sausage rolls, bigger doughnuts, etc. Not the most calorie-conscious of bakeries! Thomas's do a lovely low-GI bread - I imagine it's high calorie, but it's delicious!

aimeerace wrote: »

MonsoonStorm wrote: »

This thread has made me think that perhaps I'm living on some strange far flung planet in another galaxy...

Don't worry, we do have food on planet Britland. Most of it is edible but not all. We eat what we want when we are hungry (or bored), pretty much like the rest of the world.

We only eat crumpets and drink tea. That's all the world thinks we consume! Ha ha

When we go back to visit family (have lived in Canada for 12 years now - dual citizens) tea, various bread-type products like scones and, yes, crumpets seem to be a major part of our diets. As well as fish and chips and decent curries! You can't deny there's lots of tea!

I live in the UK and worked in Michigan in the US for a few months (not sure how representative that is of the states?).
There were a few differences I noticed:

- Portion sizes when I ate out were larger in Michigan - maybe as much as double
- Food seemed to have a lot more sugar in than I'd find in similar items in the UK - e.g. bread tasted sweet, chocolate was far too sweet to eat and coffee seemed to be automatically pre-sweetened. I couldn't get over that sweet bread! I thought I must have picked up brioche or something by mistake, but I tried a few different brands and it all tasted like that.
- There was a lot less variety of fruit/veg available than I'd see in supermarkets in the UK (but I suspect this was because I was in a poorer town and would not generally be the case in the US)
- It was harder to cycle places (the town was designed more for driving, so things were further apart) and I didn't see any cycle lanes

I'd say it's probably more expensive to eat out in the UK - but don't forget staff wages are already factored into the price, so tipping isn't required to the same extent it's expected in the US.

On a non-food note, people were really nice in Michigan! I went into a Wendy's (which we don't have in the UK, as far as I'm aware) - I mentioned to someone in the queue that I'd never been to one before - and ended up being bought three ice creams by different people

Depends where you are in the UK, of course, but I'd suggest portions would tend to be smaller, food might have a little less added sugar and more towns are navigable via bike or on-foot.
And, yes kcal=calorie

Enjoy your visit!

Haha - @phill_143 you just said EXACTLY everything I was going to say... right down to the "everything is much sweeter in the US, especially the bread" comment! I'm a Brit but I've been all over the US for work and every time I forget and see a nice piece of bread - then take a bite and it's like a mouthful of sugar!

To the OP, I would say expect portions to generally be smaller and many foods (bread, milk, juice (orange, etc.), chocolate, yoghurt, etc.) to taste less sweet. There's a really good selection of fresh produce in all reasonably sized supermarkets - aimeerace has listed a few good examples above.

I too would offer a word of caution about the drinking "culture" as well - there's a lot of what I believe in the US would called "hard liquor", and many UK drinks contain a lot more alcohol by volume than US equivalents. Also US "keggers" or "tailgating" are nothing compared to UK drinking sessions in some cases (btw tailgating means something else in the UK - it means driving way too close to the back of the car in front )

MarziPanda95 wrote: »

"snip"

Also, for those talking about baps/cobs/bread rolls/breadcakes/barms/etc... let's not start that debate! I'm at university in Derby, right in the middle of the country, and my class have spent hours arguing over which is right...

You forgot "oven bottoms" LOL - that used to get me every time when I lived in Preston!