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page 2

While you become aware of the fat & calories in your meals, it is an opportune time to familiarize yourself with portion sizes.  This is particularly important if you eat out often.  In restaurants, even the most innocent of foods come in jumbo portions.   Bigger portions mean more calories!  Take a look at a bagel.....

If you look in calorie books, a bagel is listed as containing approximately 160 kcals.  A closer look, however, reveals this bagel weighs a mere 2 oz.  The average bagel you pick up in a deli is anywhere from 4 to 6 oz - or 300 to 480 kcals!  Quite a difference, wouldn't you say?!  And that doesn't even include the butter or cream cheese!  Now don't get me wrong - bagels are actually a good, low-fat healthy food as long as you acknowledge how much of it you're eating.

Let's take the same bagel & order it with butter or cream cheese.  The average deli plops a great big 2 to 4 Tbls of fat on top.  Each Tbls of butter or margarine adds 100 kcals of fat.   You have just turned an innocent bagel into a 600 to 800 kcals dietary disaster.   (Cream cheese is slightly better, weighing in at 50 kcals per Tbls & 90% fat).  

Without sacrificing taste, you could ask for half the regular amount of spread & save yourself about 150 kcals.   On the other hand, if you're really serious about your health, opt for jelly or fruit spread.  Both have less than 50 fat-free kcals per Tbls.

Since we're on the topic of breakfast food, there is one more dietary disaster worth mentioning.  The "Costco" muffin.  Again, the calorie guide puts a mere 250 kcals on a 2 1/2 oz muffin.  But wait - weigh the "Costco" muffin & you'll see a 6 oz. muffin topping the scale at 600-plus kcals, depending on the variety!  To make matters worse, they are usually at least 50% fat!  Maybe there is some truth to "from the lips to the hips".

Now can you see why it's important to familiarize yourself with portion sizes? I could go on about all of the various restaurants & fast food joints but I'd take up the World Wide Web.   Instead, don't take my word for it.  One rainy day, when you have nothing to do, take out your measuring cups & food scale & start playing around with various foods.  Look on food labels to see what the company constitutes as a portion size.   Put this amount into a bowl & then put a typical restaurant potion into a bowl.   You should definitely see a difference.

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