Our gigantic problem with portions: why are we all eating too mu...

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/25/problem-por...

Our gigantic problem with portions:

why are we all eating too much?
We are consuming ever bigger portions on ever larger dinner plates. Food
manufacturers keep pushing us to eat more. Can we learn to control our
helpings? Plus: Jay Rayner, Gizzi Erskine and Tamal Ray on their struggles with
cutting down
Bee Wilson, Jay Rayner, Tamal Ray and Gizzi Erskine
Monday 25 April 2016 15.05BST

f you want to see how inated our portion sizes have become, dont
go to the supermarket head to an antique shop. You spot a tiny
goblet clearly designed for a doll, only to be told it is a wine glass.
What look like side plates turn out to be dinner plates. The real side
plates resemble saucers.
Back in a modern kitchen, you suddenly notice how vast everything is
28cm has become a normal diameter for a dinner plate, which in the
1950s would have been 25cm. Just because we are eating o these
great expanses of china does not of course mean that we have to serve
ourselves bigger portions. But as it happens, we usually do. Brian
Wansink is a psychologist (author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat
More Than We Think) who has done numerous experiments to prove
what you would hope common sense might already tell us: that
oversized tableware makes us consume bigger portions. A large
ice-cream scoop makes you take more ice-cream; a short, squat glass
makes you pour more juice. Because it doesnt look like much, we still
feel we are consuming roughly the same amount. Wansink calls this
the size-contrast illusion. The real danger of these kitchen traps,
writes Wansink, is that almost every single person in the world
believes theyre immune to them.
In fact, it seems that the only people who are immune to big portions

1 of 7

25/04/2016, 21:27

Our gigantic problem with portions: why are we all eating too mu...

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/25/problem-por...

are tiny children. Up until the age of three or four, children have an
enviable ability to stop eating when they are full. After that age, this
self-regulation of hunger is lost, and sometimes never relearned. This
is a cross-cultural phenomenon, from London to Beijing. One study
from the US found that when three-year-olds were served small,
medium and large portions of macaroni cheese, they always ate
roughly the same amount. By contrast, ve-year-olds ate a lot more
when the portion of macaroni cheese was oversized.
In a world where food is ever-present, many of us have become like
Alice in Wonderland, controlled by cakes that say Eat Me and bottles
that say Drink Me. As the nutritionist Marion Nestle remarked 10 years
ago in her book, What to Eat: It is human nature to eat when
presented with food, and to eat more when presented with more food.
The trouble is that we are pushed more food, more often, every day. In
2013, the British Heart Foundation published a report called Portion
Distortion on how portion sizes in Britain have changed since 1993.
Back then, the average American-style mun weighed 85g, whereas
20 years later it was not uncommon to nd muns weighing 130g.
Ready meals have also ballooned in size, with chicken pies expanding
by 49% and the average shepherds pie nearly doubling in size since
1993 (from 210g to 400g). To overeat in such an environment may be
less about lacking willpower than being set in your ways. Food
psychologists talk about unit bias meaning that we are inclined to
think that a portion equals one of something, no matter what the size.
Even when its the 2,000-calorie single slice of pizza that nutritionists
managed to buy in New York City: a whole days worth of calories in a
single snack.
But while portions in cafes and restaurants are often now gargantuan,
the recommended portions on food packets may be unrealistically
small. For most breakfast cereals, the serving size across the EU is
30g. In a Kelloggs Variety pack, the Corn Flakes are just 17g. To my
16-year-old son, this is hardly more than a mouthful (admittedly, he is
6ft 11in). A couple of years ago, I interviewed a spokesperson for
Kelloggs, who said that these tiny recommended sizes are aimed at
children but admitted that adults do eat a bit more. They certainly
do. A study in 2013 found that when 140 British adults in Southend
and Birmingham were asked to pour out a normal bowl of cornakes,
88% of participants took more than 30g. The average was 44g.
2 of 7

25/04/2016, 21:27

Our gigantic problem with portions: why are we all eating too mu...

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/25/problem-por...

Our confusion over portions in Britain is linked to the fact that we have
lost so many of our basic instincts about cooking. When the
Department of Health tells us that the ideal portion of broccoli is two
spears whereas for cauliower it is eight orets, it doesnt bear
much relation to ordinary meals. By contrast, a 2010 survey of nearly
1,500 elderly South Koreans found that there was still a remarkable
level of convergence over how much to eat of particular foods, because
of traditional cuisine. Almost all the Koreans in the survey agreed that
a portion of polished white rice was 75g; sweet potato was 120g;
spinach was a hefty 40g; and roasted white sesame seeds was 1g.
Without this kind of shared knowledge to guide us, we remain at the
mercy of the food industry. In a state of overabundance, food
companies have two possible strategies. One is to sell us smaller
portions at higher prices this January, Unilever announced that it was
cutting the size of ice-creams such as Magnum and Cornetto by up to a
third (though, needless to say, it did not bring the prices down by the
same margin). The other, more universal, approach is to attempt to sell
us more food. In 1988, you could only buy a Cadburys Dairy Milk
chocolate bar in a single size: 54g. Now, you can buy it as 49g, 110g,
200g and 360g. Compared with the truly colossal 360g bar, the stillmassive 110g looks almost modest.
Our problem with portions is partly this: no one likes the concept of
less. We are conditioned from childhood onwards to yearn for the
overowing glass and the laden table. An easy way to address this at
home is simply to use smaller tableware. Often at the end of a meal, I
am not really hungry but yearn for something sweet. I nd that if I get
a tiny dipping bowl and pile it high with whatever I desire dense
chocolate brownies, sticky halva I feel satised, even with a tiny
portion. When I rst tried this, it felt silly. Could I really be fooled by a
plate? Yes. I could. And so could you.
Last year, researchers at Cambridge University led by Theresa Marteau,
director of the behaviour and health research unit, conducted an
experiment in a local Cambridge pub called The Pint Shop. The
researchers found that when larger glassware was used (370ml
compared with 300ml), sales of a standard 175ml measure of wine
went up by 9%. Marteau, whose research focuses on how people can
be encouraged to adopt healthier behaviours, noted that the larger
3 of 7

25/04/2016, 21:27

Our gigantic problem with portions: why are we all eating too mu...

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/25/problem-por...

glasses made people feel they were drinking less, and so they gulped
the wine faster. Marteaus hope is that government will look at studies
such as this and adopt policies to reduce the availability of large
portions. The short-term eect of the study has been rather dierent,
however. Having seen the impact on sales, The Pint Shop is now
permanently serving its wine in larger glasses.

Confessions of the food experts

Jay Rayner: I have no idea what reasonable portion control is
My approach to portion control is, like my sizable thighs, entirely
hereditary. I got it from my parents. They were both raised in meagre
surroundings during the second world war, with food in short supply
and so, when they became parents, they went the other way. They
made sure the table was always full. This was combined with the
Jewish tendency even among those Jews with no interest in God or
his weird picky dietary laws to overcater. Somewhere deep in the
DNA is imprinted the message that tomorrow the Cossacks might be
coming and so now you must eat, and who knows whether the
Rosenbaums might be coming round needing to be fed, too.
Certainly, my late mother regarded enough food just for the members
of the family as not quite enough, and I cant help feeling the same
way. I freely admit to having no idea what reasonable portion control
is. When dinner involves individual items a pork chop each, say, or a
llet of sh I end up feeling edgy, for there is no excuse to cook more
of them than the number of people eating. I am happier when its a
one-pot dish, a stew or a ragu for pasta, where volume is allowable and
leftovers an absolute certainty, even if as a family we do it justice. I did
not get to where I am today by being blessed lavishly with self-control.
What kind of restaurant critic would that be?
To be fair, mine is a house of home workers, so nothing gets wasted;
last nights overcatering is merely todays fridge lunch. That said, there
are irritations. I should by now know how much rice or pasta to cook
for four people. They even tell you on the side of the pack. Do I pay
attention to such things? Do I hell. Our fridge is always stacked with
little white bowls of last nights carbs. One day Ill learn. Possibly.

Jays typical food day

Breakfast will usually consist of granola, yoghurt and milk. And a
4 of 7

25/04/2016, 21:27

Our gigantic problem with portions: why are we all eating too mu...

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/25/problem-por...

bucket of coee (milk, no sugar), followed by a second bucket of

coee. For lunch, Ill have some leftover roast chicken and salad, if Im
feeling virtuous. Cheese on toast, if Im not. For dinner, Ill typically
make something like a Thai green curry, using four chicken breasts,
cauliower and green beans, and serve it with white rice, which I tend
to avoid myself. I cook too much, so some ends up in the fridge. If its a
drinking night, Ill denitely have three 175ml glasses of white wine.
And then, if Ive had the wine, a mini-Magnum. One leads to the other.

Gizzi Erskine: Feeling full makes me feel sane

I get kicks from feeding people. But Im intrinsically greedy, too, so I
need to be quite careful when serving up at home if Im feeding
myself and my boyfriend, Ive been known to look at our dinner plates
and take the more heaving of the two plates. Even serving the same
amount on each plate is actually crazy I may be stocky and need a lot
of fuel (Im quite buzzy and run around a lot), but hes 6ft 6in.
When I eat at home, my plate is mostly whole grains, pulses and
vegetables. I eat lots of nuts, mostly cashews, an avocado a day. Im
getting more into things like tofu and tempeh, too, so serving size is of
less importance there. I eat sh a couple of times a week and each year
Im eating less and less meat and dairy. Once a week Ill make a Sunday
roast with a big joint, or a whole chicken, and then use the remaining
meat in dishes throughout the week. Im really good with leftovers and
I take solace in batch cooking, specically to gauge how much food Im
meant to be eating so, if Im making a stew, I will portion it up into
cartons to store in the freezer. But as a rule I dont have food left on my
plate I pretty much always nish what Ive served, eating until Im
bursting. Feeling full makes me feel sane.
Eating out is a mineeld. I tend to go overboard my friends have
stopped me ordering now as I want to try dierent things and I can put
food away at a jaw-dropping rate. I never really question whether this
is going to aect my weight or health because when I line it up with
how I eat at home, it ends up pretty balanced. I question my alcohol
consumption, but thats it.
Gizzis typical food day: For breakfast Ill have two eggs, normally fried
with half an avocado, and either a spicy tomato sauce and small corn
tortilla, or loads of sauted spinach and mushrooms with a spot of
5 of 7

25/04/2016, 21:27

Our gigantic problem with portions: why are we all eating too mu...

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/25/problem-por...

creme fraiche. And a cappuccino. Mid-morning, I have a green juice,

and I drink lots of water. Lunch is pasta with either a tomato-based
sauce such as puttanesca or a cavolo nero, chili and anchovy pesto (I
weigh 80g of good durum wheat pasta but add too much sauce and
cheese). I dont really snack but feed occasional epic chocolate
cravings when they come. For dinner, Ill have a recipe Ive been
developing maybe a chicken stew with chorizo and barley and a
green salad. And a decent glass of wine, four or ve days a week.

Tamal Ray: Its difficult to not end up comfort eating in front of

the telly
Being a bit of a chubby kid, portion control wasnt something I was
particularly good at, and even now, I havent really nailed it. Im totally
incapable of self-control anywhere that has free food or a buet,
hoovering it all up like Im still a hungry student surviving on baked
beans and bits of stale bread. Im terrible in restaurants, too. I still get
really excited at the prospect of eating out, so I nd it dicult not to go
the whole way and have three courses. Its almost a relief if the plates
of food arrive with measly portions at least I know that I wont be
leaving the dinner table uncomfortably full.
I grew up in a Bengali household, a culture where moderation doesnt
t easily with our love of food. In a Bengali meal youll typically have a
large plate with rice surrounded by a few small bowls each containing a
dierent dish: dahl, vegetables, sh and maybe some meat. Each dish
is supposed to be enjoyed individually with some rice, as eating them
together would be considered to ruin the avours.
When cooking for myself, I try to stay a bit more health conscious by
sticking to a few simple rules. If the plate is divided up into vegetables,
carbs and protein, then the vegetables should make up the biggest
section on the plate. However, a quick browse of the latest health
advice on portion control tells me something I could have already
guessed myself: I eat too much meat. With a single chicken leg
potentially being twice as much as my daily recommended intake of
meat, its easy to end up overindulging. The solution is something Ive
been meaning to do for a while: cook more meals with vegetables as
the stars rather than as the unimaginative side dish to the meat.
As I like to take my time when cooking, I tend to make large amounts
6 of 7

25/04/2016, 21:27

Our gigantic problem with portions: why are we all eating too mu...

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/25/problem-por...

that will last for a few meals. Theres an obvious temptation to overeat
when faced with a big pot of food and a hungry stomach, so I try to
decide on a sensible amount to plate up and never go back for seconds.
Honestly though, arriving home mid-week, knackered and starving,
its dicult to stick to the rules and not end up comfort eating in front
of the telly.
Tamals typical food day: breakfast: a bowl of porridge if Ive woken up
early enough. More likely to be a slice of toast eaten on the drive to
work. Morning snack: Overpriced cup of coee. Lunch: roast chicken
salad with plenty of leaves and a apjack. Dinner: lamb meatballs with
rice and a kale and butternut squash curry. Snacks: A couple of kiwi
fruit and some yoghurt with honey and raisins.
Hear Jay Rayner, author of The 10 (food) Commandments, explain how
to eat at a Guardian LIve Q&A on 24 June at Cadogan Hall, London
More features

Topics
Food & drink Obesity Health & wellbeing
Save for later Article saved
Reuse this content

7 of 7

25/04/2016, 21:27