First, some housekeeping (as I write that, I know my loving husband would love to hear me say that about the housekeeping in our home!): as of yesterday, I am certified by the Institute of Integrative Nutrition as a Health Counselor!
Even more housekeeping (sorry, Hank, still this kind, not the mopping floors kind): Congratulations to Sandy for winning the Michael Pollan book "Food Rules" in the raffle.
And now, without any further ado, today's post:
The amount of conflicting, confusing, sometimes over-simplified, sometimes overly-complicated diet and nutrition news we Americans get is startling. And it's constantly changing.
The US Department of Agriculture and the US Department of Health and Human Services revise their guidelines every five years BUT their guidelines differ from those of the FDA! For example, according to the USDA a serving of pasta is 1/2 cup cooked. However, according to the FDA, which is the agency responsible for food labeling, a serving of cooked pasta equals one cup.
To make matters even worse, a typical restaurant serving of pasta is 3 cups!
Most people never check in with these government agencies anyway (and, believe me, I'm not advocating that you do so). We get most of our food views, especially when it comes to portion sizes from package sizes in supermarkets and all the many other places food is sold, advertising, cookbooks, and restaurants.
If over-eating is an issue for you, either for weight or digestion issues, I ask you to consider the following:
The USDA recommends 6 servings (or 6 oz.) of grains a day for the average adult (2000 calorie diet). As I wrote above, a serving equals 1/2 cup of cooked pasta or the same amount of rice. A typical bagel is 5-6 ounces, which is the equivalent of 5-6 slices of bread, 6 slices (of thin) bread being the daily allowance. One bagel is really the equivalent of 2 1/2 English muffins. A typical bran muffin is the equivalent of 6-7 waffles or 6-7 cups of bran flakes. Kind of gives you pause, doesn't it. (And, I'm not even getting started here on what that typical bagel or bran muffin is made with!)
In the 1975 edition of the classic cookbook "The Joy of Cooking", the brownie recipe made 30 brownies. The 1990 edition had the exact same recipe, but now the instructions had the brownies cut into only 16 pieces! Likewise, in 1984, on the Nestle's Semi-Sweet morsel package, the recipe for chocolate chip cookies yielded 100 cookies. In 1987, the same recipe was said to make 60 cookies. Whenever portion sizes are bigger, people eat more.
When Hershey's first marketed their candy bars in 1908, they were sold only in the 1/2 oz. size. This is now the Halloween fun size. Now, you can buy a Hershey's candy bar in a 7 ounce size.
Which brings up this staggering statistic, Americans eat, on average, 156 pounds of added sugar a year, which adds up to 5000 pounds of added sugar over a lifetime.
How much we eat has been skyrocketing over the past twenty years. Of course, as we eat more, obesity rates have skyrocketed right along with it. If you're confused about not just what to eat, but how much, it's for good reason.
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