Super Size Me

Over the years it seems food portions served at restaurants, etc. have grown in size. Today's Small serving of Coke is as big, sometimes bigger, than the Large serving of a decade or so ago. Apparently, this is an ongoing trend.

A recent article in the Globe and Mail [03/23/10 (B7)] quotes a new study in the International Journal of Obesity that looks at how artists over the centuries have depicted the Last Supper, particularly the food served.  

The researchers, both professors who happen to be brothers, "analyzed 52 of the best known paintings of the Biblical banquet created between 1000 and 2000 AD." They discovered that "artists' depictions of the Last Supper have seen the: 

• main courses balloon by 69%,
• plate sizes by 66%, and
• bread size by 23% over the past 1000 years".

However old, this trend to bigger portions is not a healthy one.

The next time you're at a restaurant or a movie and the eager waiter/waitress offers you a larger portion for only fifty cents more, and you say, "Yes," it's going to costs you in more ways than one.

1. there's the extra money you hand over.
2. it's going to cost you extra energy to digest the additional food.
3. then there's the monthly gym fees, time and sweat to burn off the fat that accumulated from eating too much.

Just say, "No (thanks)". Your body will love you for it.

Tip: In the good old days before I decided to eat raw, I made a point of ordering the "Kids Pack" when I went to the movies. It had the usual Coke, and a popcorn, with a small treat thrown in for good measure, but at a fraction of the size (and cost).