Weight Misconseptions

Well it has been a long time since i wrote a topic but i got this in my mind and i just have to share it :P!

There is a mistake most people make when they eat healthy food. The mistake is in the amount (weight) of their serving, and, as i noticed, a lot of people have problems with that; if you have large bowls in your house you are likely to put a lot of cereal in the bowl making two or even three servings on the plate. Anyway, my point is that, for example, all bran has 280 kcal per 100g while coco pops has 350 per 100g, but the difference is the amount of coco pops per 100g compared to the amount of all bran per 100g; a box of 350g of coco pops is the same size than the one of all bran of 750g, so people might just serve themselves the same amount of all bran as they did with their coco pops serving themselves with more than 2 servings, at the end making their breakfast with tons of calories instead of having a low calorie breakfast.

Ok thats it =D

It's a very good point.  Portion-size is very easy to get wrong and if someone with an ostensibly  healthy diet is overweight, the chances are that portion-control is the root of the problem.   It was certainly at the root of my weight-problem in the past... and that's why I keep my kitchen scales next to the chopping board and check-weigh portions quite frequently.  What you describe about the difference in volume of various breakfast cereals rather supports why scales are better than 'cups' when judging quantity

Yea exactly, and for most silly it sounds having smaller plates and smaller bowls would improve your servings and portions by making them smaller, even unconciously.

So true! When I started trying to lose weight, I switched to my kids plates and bowls because they are so much smaller than our adult place settings. Now the only time I use the "grown up" plates and bowls are for salads. At first I switched because it was less pitiful to look at a small plate full of food, than the same amount of food on a huge plate. Now I just keep using them because I can look at the plate and judge a serving much more realistically.

I bought small plates and bowls for this very reason.  Alas, I am the only one in the family that gets it!  My husband just says "these bowls are too small".

Gack!  I wonder when he will have his aha moment?

I know, but that is one of the things that you have to learn by yourself, if not you just wont do it :P... and most ppl just dont get that aha moment xP

The Dollar Tree has some very small white china plates atm... at least they did a few weeks ago. I have to go back and see if they're still there (and buy some). We used to have an absolutely HUGE dinnerset with big plates and a two-inch pattern around the edge, and I always found myself putting way too much food on the plate just because it was so big. I got rid of that set and just kept a couple of plates to use as saucepan lids (yes they really were that big!) and got a 'regular-sized' one. And then I got one with slightly smaller plates again and I always use that because it automatically shrank our portions. Anyway, smaller plates and bowls really work. My biggest secret is dishing icecream/pudding into a cute little cup, not a bowl at all. A ramekin would work too.

Ice cream in a ramekin is exactly what I do.  I've also started using them for savoury snacks and the denser cereals.  I'm also a huge fan of small cutlery and have started using 'salad plates' instead of regular plates.  (The smaller plates that come with some dinner sets that most people never use.  They're perfect, and they're about the same size as regular dinner plates used to be.)

haha yea

u kno something?

When i eat, idk, cereal for example, i use a small spoon and i know this is silly, but actualy i do enjoy more my cereal cus i have mooore bites than the ones i would have with a larger spoon :L:L

Great point.

Weighing my portions has made me very aware of the relative densities of the foods I eat.  A small "bowl" of cereal can be one serving of one variety and three servings of another.  Then, factor in the size of the bowls in the average Western household and you a solid foundations for systematic overeating!  I bet the processed food industry loves this!

I've found that IKEA has a pretty good selection of small bowls, plates, and cups.  I also agree with others that little souffle ramekins are great for rich things, as are those little Pyrex custard cups.

i do that, too - eat with a smaller spoon, haha. everything, yogurt, ice cream, oatmeal, cereal. it helps me enjoy it, and it lasts longer, so i generally feel more full and thus eat less!

Original Post by coreyander:

Great point.

Weighing my portions has made me very aware of the relative densities of the foods I eat.  A small "bowl" of cereal can be one serving of one variety and three servings of another.  Then, factor in the size of the bowls in the average Western household and you a solid foundations for systematic overeating!  I bet the processed food industry loves this!

I've found that IKEA has a pretty good selection of small bowls, plates, and cups.  I also agree with others that little souffle ramekins are great for rich things, as are those little Pyrex custard cups.

I apologize if i sound offensive:

Id say obesity is a combination of ignorance (Moms feeding their children with crap making habits on them, or showing that greasy food is always better) with a BIGGG involvement on food industries as they prefer to sell quantity over quality.

 

I apologize if i sound offensive:

Id say obesity is a combination of ignorance (Moms feeding their children with crap making habits on them, or showing that greasy food is always better) with a BIGGG involvement on food industries as they prefer to sell quantity over quality.

Don't apologize - I'd go one step further - generally, obesity in kids and adults is a combination of parents ignorance, parents lethargy, parents laziness, social pressures, and... parents in general. 

It defies sense when you see parents feed and exercise their dogs better than they do their kids - but look around.  

On the same topic - I wonder if the parents here teach their kids to weigh their food, and count calories, and grade their food choices and all that... teach basic nutrition 101...

Original Post by legaleli:

 

I apologize if i sound offensive:

Id say obesity is a combination of ignorance (Moms feeding their children with crap making habits on them, or showing that greasy food is always better) with a BIGGG involvement on food industries as they prefer to sell quantity over quality.

Don't apologize - I'd go one step further - generally, obesity in kids and adults is a combination of parents ignorance, parents lethargy, parents laziness, social pressures, and... parents in general. 

It defies sense when you see parents feed and exercise their dogs better than they do their kids - but look around.  

On the same topic - I wonder if the parents here teach their kids to weigh their food, and count calories, and grade their food choices and all that... teach basic nutrition 101...

 Obesity is a combination of things....but I do tend to blame parents (right or wrong).  Parents are the ones that bring the groceries in the house.  Parents are the ones cooking the meals (hopefully).  Portion control IS a learned thing...Im still learning! 

In general, I think kids need less junk food, no fast food and plenty of good old fashioned exercise (instead of the tv or video games).  Get out and jump rope, play cops and robbers, play tennis, go swimming, go bike riding.....get out and move that body!

Portion control is certainly a fundemental mistake I made during my weight loss phase...particularly breakfast...I used to pour myself what I thought was a 50g bowl of Muesli or a 30g bowl of Special K and was way out, probably pouring 3 or 4 portions in one bowl...food scales saved me and got me used to "eyeballing" portion sizes.

I'm amazed to think back to the size of portions that I once consumed.

I noticed this because the kids I babysit eat really, really slow and we're generally on a tight schedule, so I started using smaller bowls to make sure I gave them less. Their parents and I both try to teach them to eat healthy. When they get home from school, they have fruit and vegetables and then I ask if they're still hungry. I actually had a conversation with them about calories, because they were like, "I thought calories were bad and make you gain weight?" and I explained how they give their bodies fuel.

My parents, well, my mom, had an issue with all of us being overweight because of the unhealthy food she cooked and how she tried to overcompensate for a lot of things my dad did with food. When she lived here, we ate so much processed junk, and now my dad's like, "OUTSIDE OF THE STORE ONLY, NO JUNK, GET REAL FOOD!"

and I totally agree about smaller spoons.