Portion distortion has overtaken America. Soft drinks that were 8 fluid ounces a serving are no 20 fluid ounces   a serving, an increase of 160 calories. A bagel used to be about 160 calories or two servings. Now it's close to 5 servings, or 400 calories. But people still consider it one serving since it is one bagel. Many items that appear to be one serving since they're in a single package, or container are actually two ore more servings when one reads the food label. Restaurant foods are more difficult to estimate and few resturants readily provide nutrition information.

Keep in  mind that a 'portion" and a "serving" are not the same.  A "portion" is the amount you decide to eat. A "serving" is a standardized amount of food. We do know that people will eat more, no matter how hungry, or how full they are, if the food is on the plate. The double whammy here is that our plates have gotten bigger over the years so we are putting more food on them.

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