Not us. Them. Are you thoroughly confused?
I got to thinking about the fact that what was once a normal portion is today miniscule compared with past sizing.
The 6 ounce Coke seems tiny compared to the 12 ounce can or 20 oz. Bottle.
That is a single example….I’m sure you can come up with a gizillion.
We had less of a weight problem as a society when a single serving was smaller.
But, marketers stepped in and showed manufacturers how they could increase their profits. Charge us more for the same product but increase the size of said product to justify the cost increase.
The result? Forced spending. If we want “it” we have to buy more than we need.
Such is the case in restaurants. We look at the menu and think “that’s a pretty expensive lunch meal”….but….it’ is a huge portion. Hence the justification: we are getting a lot for our money.
Oh really? I don’t think so. We are just being forced to buy more food than we may want or need to eat. Why is that a plus?
If we want to beat these restaurants at the marketing game, we’d do best to share meals with an eating companion, or if we are solo, intentionally taking a good portion of the meal home to be eaten as a second meal.
When it comes to the foods we buy to eat at home it is a little more difficult. Why?
Well, who wants to eat just half. Regardless of the fact that half is plenty, it is still half.
Who wants to drink a half a can of soda and leave the rest to defizz? Who is going to stop at half a 20 ounce soda and leave the rest languishing in the fridge?
Who wants to eat a half a pita? Or a half a candy bar. Or half of anything for that matter? Eating half requires packaging what’s left and eating it another day, or a second time, as in left overs. Eating half requires restraint when that huge portion is a giant muffin or decadent brownie.
My main point is to remind us, each and everyone, that those who produce our food play a profoundly influential role as to how much of their product we will eat. They are indirectly controlling our portions. So, as we practice portion control lets not let the subtleties of those controlling portions thwart our efforts.
The funny side to this is “they’ve” discovered we will pay more for less, because we do have such a hard time with portion control. All those 100 Calorie packs--they “ain’t “cheap. I think it’s time we beat them at their own game.
I got to thinking about the fact that what was once a normal portion is today miniscule compared with past sizing.
The 6 ounce Coke seems tiny compared to the 12 ounce can or 20 oz. Bottle.
That is a single example….I’m sure you can come up with a gizillion.
We had less of a weight problem as a society when a single serving was smaller.
But, marketers stepped in and showed manufacturers how they could increase their profits. Charge us more for the same product but increase the size of said product to justify the cost increase.
The result? Forced spending. If we want “it” we have to buy more than we need.
Such is the case in restaurants. We look at the menu and think “that’s a pretty expensive lunch meal”….but….it’ is a huge portion. Hence the justification: we are getting a lot for our money.
Oh really? I don’t think so. We are just being forced to buy more food than we may want or need to eat. Why is that a plus?
If we want to beat these restaurants at the marketing game, we’d do best to share meals with an eating companion, or if we are solo, intentionally taking a good portion of the meal home to be eaten as a second meal.
When it comes to the foods we buy to eat at home it is a little more difficult. Why?
Well, who wants to eat just half. Regardless of the fact that half is plenty, it is still half.
Who wants to drink a half a can of soda and leave the rest to defizz? Who is going to stop at half a 20 ounce soda and leave the rest languishing in the fridge?
Who wants to eat a half a pita? Or a half a candy bar. Or half of anything for that matter? Eating half requires packaging what’s left and eating it another day, or a second time, as in left overs. Eating half requires restraint when that huge portion is a giant muffin or decadent brownie.
My main point is to remind us, each and everyone, that those who produce our food play a profoundly influential role as to how much of their product we will eat. They are indirectly controlling our portions. So, as we practice portion control lets not let the subtleties of those controlling portions thwart our efforts.
The funny side to this is “they’ve” discovered we will pay more for less, because we do have such a hard time with portion control. All those 100 Calorie packs--they “ain’t “cheap. I think it’s time we beat them at their own game.
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I thought I'd come back to blogging sooner as later, but I won't be posting as often. I going to shoot for 2 times a week until I get caught up around here. That will take some of the pressure off for now. I'm reading your blogs and continuing to be inspired by your experiences and thoughts.