The theme of American dining seems to be more is more. You can supersize it, you can add fries and onion straws to it, and you can get the biggest soda on the planet with your popcorn that no human being could possibly finish during a 2 hour movie.

Why the obsession with huge amounts of food?

When I look back at some of my eating habits from childhood and college, the memories are a little shocking. The college cafeteria was a place where you could eat as many burgers/sandwhiches/entrees as your heart desired. Once you swipped that card to get in it was like a non-stop buffet. Want 4 chicken sandwhiches, fries and 3 sodas? No problem! Go to most chain restaurants and you will notice many people ordering one or two greasy/fried appetizers before a meal that often consists of fries, onion rings, huge rolls and plenty of side dishes. Often to be followed by some incredibly large peice of cake shaped like an oreo with 2 scoops of ice cream on the side. Don’t even get me started on fast food chains! You would be hard pressed to get a small fry or small soda without having to order everything separately on the menu. Those meal deals are designed with larger portion sizes in mind.

Most parts of the world do not have the same eating habits as we do. So what is our deal? Where did we go so wrong?

Well obviously there is more money to be made if we over eat, that is a no brainer. Take a few products in your home, cereal, chips, cookies, whatever. Turn over the bag and check out the serving size, then take a portion that is based on the serving size and compare it to the portion you would normally take. How much bigger would your portion usually be? I know this can be a shocking comparison because I often check out the portion size to see what it really amounts to. Not a lot in most cases. The portion size in a bag of chips is usually somewhere between 10-15 chips. How many people can eat just 10 chips? Not most people!

So what do we do? Well first of all, pay attention! Many restaurants now include some sort of low-calorie menu whether it be weight watchers friendly, atkins friendly, etc. They will often list the calorie and fat content of these special items. Take note and try to compare those menu items to something you would normally eat. Many company websites will list nutritional information for their menus, so check them out before you go out to eat.

Keep in mind that when something says “low-fat” it does not mean no-fat. It doesn’t matter if you eat a low-fat bag of chips if you eat the entire thing in one serving.  Also, don’t be afraid to take home some of your meal when you go out to restaurants. I know most of us grew up with the clean your plate or else mantra, but that is not the best attitude to have. In a restaurant the portion sizes are usually double or triple what they should be, so taking home half of your meal is pretty normal. Besides, this way you get two meals for the price of one! Dinner tonight can also be lunch for tomorrow.

Never be afraid to tell the waiter to hold something. If I order eggplant parmesan I hold the pasta and often add vegetables as a side dish. Try a little sauteed ecarole with your eggplant or chicken parm dish instead of pasta. Being more conscious about what you eat can really open your eyes to some bad habits. Almost everyone has a bad eating habit or two, whether they learned them as a small child or from living in a dorm, etc. But you don’t have to carry those habits with you for life. Americans have a bad reputation for their eating habits, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. You are in total control of what you eat, so eat for good health. Maybe someday Americans won’t have such a bad reputation for over eating.

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