A Chopstick Catastrophe! -Portion Size in America

Portions, Pool Boys, and Pad Woon Sen.

By Brittany Turner

The Fitspirational Blonde

Did you know, the portion sizes that we are served in America today, are DOUBLE what the ACTUAL portion sizes should be? So, that means if you are served a full plate of spaghetti, you are technically eating a meal that was originally meant for TWO people! However, American's don't usually know or talk about it. 

Yesterday was my best friend's birthday, so we spent the day together lounging by our beach side Marriott's pool, basking in the warm sun, sipping on Virgin Margaritas while simultaneously checking out the gorgeous pool guys who brought us everything we could have possibly desired!

Ok, I have a confession. We secretly kept sending our beautiful pool-side waiter to the kitchen for more drinks and napkins just so we could watch his beautiful butt strut back and forth! Come on ladies, you KNOW you would have done it too!

Anyway, sitting pool side (feeling great in my bikini by the way after just coming back from the hotel's gym) of course I was reading the latest issue of Shape Magazine. As I read I became particularly engaged with an article about portion sizes! Like I said earlier, in most restaurants we are served DOUBLE what we should be eating for each meal. Scary right? What's REALLY scary is if we finish it every time!

Ever since we were little, we have been TRAINED to eat everything on our plate. Didn't your mom used to yell at you saying, "Honey, you can't have dessert until you finish EVERYTHING on your plate!!" (so you'd secretly feed your broccoli to the dog under the table.) Then they wonder why their children are obese… and yell at them for being fat. Have you ever noticed that before? Life is a vicious circle. I was lucky enough to have parents who let me eat what ever I wanted, but I know I was just lucky kid. 

When we grow up, mentally our bodies are already trained to eat EVERYTHING on our plates because that's what we've always know to be correct. So now when we have grown out of kid's menus and have been thrown into the real world of oversized portions, we feel the need to finish every little thing served to us!

Back to the pool, I still laid out gazing at our hot waiter and reading my Shape Magazine (While SHARING a Caesar salad with my best friend) and continued reading the article on portion sizes. The article suggested eating your meals with a dessert fork to slow down the eating process. I've read that it takes approximately 20 minutes for your brain to tell your body that it's actually full. 

Something I usually do is stop about 1/2 way through my meal, drink a glass of water and wait a few minutes to decide if i'm still hungry or if I've already eaten enough to be satisfied. Usually though, if I wait the right amount of time it usually ends up being that I am infect full and glad I stopped when I did. I think people forget to take the time to stop and actually ENJOY what they're eating. Food is such a beautiful part of our daily lives, and if we eat the right foods in the right portions, having meals should be a perfect delightful experience every day. 

Advice- next time you eat, take your time and don't rush through it. Have a RELATIONSHIP with your meal! Chew each bite 7 times and shut your eyes and think about how incredible what you're munching on actually tastes! Shutting your eyes will help you block out other distractions around you and help you focus on what you're eating. Not only will your meals be more enjoyable, but you will eat slower and get full quicker. I bet you'll be VERY glad to avoid that "OH NO I ATE TO MUCH WAY TOO FAST" feeling. EVERYONE has felt that before, I know I did overtime the words "free unlimited breadsticks" slipped the waitresses lips at the Olive Garden. I swear they're trying to kill me over there, "unlimited" and "free" are such a dangerous combination of words when it comes to food. 

On my way to Starbucks (to write this article actually,) I walked by a new Thai Cuisine that I had never been to before called "Bai Yook". The smell of my favorite Thai Dish (Pad Woon Sen) pulled me in like a girl with her first credit card passing a shoe store. I got SUCKED in and within seconds sat down and ordered it JUST for me. Choosing water instead of soda, and passing on the appetizers I was ready to eat my vegetarian dish filled with delicious proteins and vegetables and not feel guilty about a single bite! BUT I had just read the article about portions, and when my "Pad Woon Sen" arrived in front of me I remembered what I had read yesterday about larger portions. It was completely right, I realized they had served me enough food for me AND my 2 best friends… who weren't with me. So I needed to make a choice.

I could either finish the HUGE plate of food ALL BY MYSELF… or I could take on my ultimate enemies…. CHOPSTICKS. I knew using chopsticks would definitely slow me down.

Can someone please explain to me, why I can knit an entire closet full of scarves, but can't handle picking up ANYTHING with chopsticks without unintentionally vigorously flinging it across the restaurant at the poor waitress? (Yes, if you're wondering I HAVE accidentally done this on more that one occasion.) 

I'm a BLONDE CHOPSTICK CATASTROPHE!

BUT if you've been following me for long enough, you KNOW I don't give up that easily. I was DETERMINED to control my portions, so I sucked it up, ripped open the chopsticks like they were a new pair of my favorite Jimmy Choo stilettos, and began attacking my Pad Woon Sen with them.

This helped!

After about 1/2 hour of fighting to get EVERY noodle/vegetable in my mouth, and having been offered a fork about 12 times by my waitress (who I could see laughing hystarically at me with ALL the cooks in the kitchen), I succeeded, and finally felt full! I had only eaten 1/2 of my food and I had already began feeling satisfied! 

Chopsticks, you've got NOTHING on me! 

I felt GREAT! I didn't eat too much, didn't feel overly stuffed, and to top it off I had some left over to eat for lunch tomorrow! 

Eating smaller portions more frequently throughout the day, has yet again been proven to be the best way to eat. I hope you remember this post next time you eat out and are served WAY too much. Don't listen to ANYONE, you DON'T have to eat everything on your plate!

Have a Fit and Fabulous day everyone <3

Xox Brittany

The Fitspirational Blonde