It is a well-known fact that people are eating more and more, and with that portion sizes are forever growing. It is very common for people to be unaware of their portion sizes and most concerningly many people have never truly been shown correct portions. There is an extreme lack of guidance and with supermarkets selling ever-growing portions how are people supposed to know how much to eat?
There has been progress made to improve the labelling on food packets so make sure you take the time to read the information on these carefully. There is still an extremely varied perception of correct portion sizes and sometimes supermarkets and other brands can lack consistency. However, this doesn’t come as shock given official government information on portion sizes hasn’t been officially updated in over 20 years. The simple fact is that the bigger the portion sizes the more we are putting into our bodies and most likely consuming over our calorie requirements.
BHF (British Heart Foundation) highlighted both the growth and inconsistency in portion size. In 1993 an average portion of American muffins was 85g – today, these portion sizes vary from 72g to 130g. As a result, the different brands had ranges in calories between 280-475kcal.
(BHF – Portion Distortion)
Unfortunately, with our ever-increasingly busy lives it is unlikely people have the time to weigh out their food each meal to try and ensure the correct portion size…. therefore my main recommendations are as follows:
- Print off a portion control chart and stick it on the fridge (ask if you need one)
- Use pictures/objects to relate to sizes so you don’t need to weigh everything
- When you buy food at the supermarket, take it home and separate it into freezer or fridge bags before putting it away
Elly Rees
Better Body Group, Sevenoaks
