Editorial: Portion Distortion

How did it happen?
How did the sense that “volume equals value” become so much a part of our way of thinking that it has made us the world leaders in overweight, diabetes, and all the other health problems that ride on its coattails.

How did we get here?
Can we not have the presence of mind to keep from eating an entire pizza at a sitting, an entire sleeve of cookies, or an entire pie?

Maybe the reason why is as simple as our listening to clever marketers. They say 39 cents justifies twice the volume (the actor on the screen is so thin and beautiful).

Maybe the reason why is as simple as performing the right dietary calculations (if we just micromanage carbs or calories, points or proteins, we’ll be okay again).

Maybe the reason why is as simple as a nation that has drifted from the importance of the family table, moving toward a search for more important things.

Maybe the reason why is as simple as the fact that we’re filling some other yawning internal need … with food.

Maybe, in this way, our culture tends to encourage overconsumption, then punish us for the results of it, which can lead to more emotional eating.

Maybe maybe maybe.
In the end, the reason WHY matters less than what we do about it. We need a solution that solves the portion distortion problem. This approach must lead to a set of behaviors that constrain consumption.

• Practice eating small at the bite.
• Practice taking your time at every meal.
• Practice mindful eating (not in the car, for example).

When you practice these healthy eating behaviors, you find that the amount you are hungry for drops, and your portions naturally decrease.