How
To Turn Super Sizing, Dietary Displacement and Portion
Distortion To Your Advantage!
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Ever since
the independent film, Super Size Me was released, research
on the relationship between increasing obesity and increasing
portion sizes has skyrocketed and the results have been
virtually unanimous.
There have
been numerous well-designed studies published just in
the last several years which confirmed exactly what we
suspected (and much of what the movie suggested):
-
Portion
sizes have increased in restaurants and fast food
venues on a major scale over the last several decades
-
We self-serve
ourselves larger portions in the home than we used
to
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When
more food is put in front of us, we almost always
eat more
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Most
people underestimate how many calories they are eating
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All
of these factors have contributed to the growing obesity
problem and the related health problems that come
along with it
The obvious
solution would seem to be to decrease portion sizes across
the board, and indeed awareness of and control over portion
sizes in general is important.
However, research
has demonstrated that perhaps an even better solution
is to keep the portion sizes generous, but decrease the
energy density (calories per unit of volume) in the foods
you put on your plate.
Several studies
revealed that eating more low calorie density foods, especially
green vegetables, salad vegetables and other fibrous carbs,
as well as very lean proteins, maintains a feeling of
fullness while reducing energy intake.
In other words,
large portions of highly nutritious, low calorie foods
displaced the less nutritious, calorie-dense foods! Most
people allow the bad foods to push out the good foods,
but you can actually do the same in reverse!
In a study
published in the Journal of The American Dietetic Association,
researchers fed one group a compulsory first course salad
which was kept low in energy density by using very low
calorie dressing with no high calorie toppings no bacon,
cheese or croutons, etc).
After the salad,
the subjects were allowed to eat as much pasta as they
wanted.
A second group
was also allowed to eat as much pasta as they wanted but
was not given a compulsory salad to eat beforehand.
The results:
As you might guess, eating a low energy density first
course enhanced satiety (fullness) and reduced the overall
amount of calories that were eaten during the whole meal.
Since the research
has repeatedly discovered that almost everyone will eat
more when served larger portions from a larger plate or
container, and there is obviously a serious issue of "portion
distortion" occurring, another group of scientists
and psychologists decided to test this even further by
providing larger plates or containers of low energy density,
high nutrient density foods before the main course and
or in between meals.
When more
of the low energy density foods were made available first,
the subjects ate even more of these healthy foods, which
filled them up even more and decreased the amount of high
calorie density foods eaten in the main course.
Reporting their
findings in the Journal of Nutrition Education And Behavior,
the researchers said that there is a silver lining to
all the negative findings about super sized portions and
overeating that we have discoverd inrecent years:
That is, although
we eat more when more is put in front of us, We can use
this phenomenon in reverse by serving large plates, bowls
or containers of healthy, low energy density foods like
fruits, salads and raw vegetables as snacks and first
courses.
"While
a small bowl of raw carrots might make for a good afternoon
snack", said one of the researchers, "a large
bowl might even be better."
You can learn
more about calorie density, low energy density foods (thermogenic
foods), and choosing your portion and meal sizes with
precision inside the Burn
the Fat, Feed The Muscle book.
About
the Author:
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Tom Venuto is a lifetime
natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal
trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning
specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling
e-book, "Burn
the Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom has
written hundreds of articles and has been featured
in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN,
Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise
for Men and Mens Exercise, as well as on hundreds
of websites worldwide.
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Articles By Tom Venuto
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