My husband and I decided that is was time to get rid of the hodgepodge of various plates and bowls that were chipped, held together by super glue, or just the last one of the bunch left. We found a set we liked and brought it home. When I opened the box I was shocked by the size of the bowl. I pulled out our old bowl, put them side by side and saw this…

20130706_085310

Then I was curious, so I took one of the kid bowls and put it beside the other two and saw this…

Three empty bowls

That was mind blowing! I usually eat out of the kids’ bowls (sorry, it’s not a health conscious choice, it’s laziness…it is the easiest to reach) and now was very curious about what the same measurement looked in each bowl. So, I took a cup of cereal (yep, the Super Cereal), put it in each bowl and saw this…

Three bowls filled with 1 cup cereal

I always understood the saying “We eat with our eyes”…but to see it first hand was pretty impressive. One cup of cereal in the big bowl look like it just covered the bottom, while in the kids’ bowl it filled it up. (Kind of made me feel good about being lazy…lol) If I were to have large bowl to look as filled as the small bowl I would have had to put 3 times the amount of cereal! Yeow…so that 150 calorie bowl instantly became 450 calories and you had no idea because the bowl looked like it had a normal amount in it.

Our eyes speak to our brain. So when you see the 1/2 cup of ice cream (a standard serving size) in the big bowl, you’re probably wondering who stole the rest of it. Since your eyes see a disparity in size, it tells your brain that there should be more in there…so we add another scoop (or two).

And restaurants are not helping the cause. The plates are huge! You may notice it, but it your eyes are saying “Hey, it looks like the right size for the plate…go ahead and chow down!”. Go to a pro-sport game and the hot dogs are foot long, pretzels are the size of your head and they stick an entire 1/2 gallon of ice cream on a cone. Here in San Antonio, there are a ton of these self service yogurt shops popping up. We’ve gone a couple times and I chuckled the first time we went in and I saw the “small” bowl was big enough to nearly sit in. We just put a swirl to fill the bottom and a couple toppings and shared with the kids. As we watched other people we could see the yogurt filled to the rim plus toppings…and no one was sharing.

Am I telling you that you now have to measure all your food…yes and no. I think it is important you become familiar with what a portion size is and that may entail measuring your food here and there. I used to look at something, guess what size it was, then measure it. Now, I’m pretty good at eyeballing what a cup, 1/2 cup, etc…is.

Something else to remember…the small size tastes the same as the large size. Years ago, my husband and I went to a fair and ordered ice cream. I got a small and he got the super ginormous. I asked why he got one so big and he responded “because it tastes good”. Hmmm…so I asked him if that meant the small tasted bad? He didn’t have an answer for that. Recently, we took the kids out for ice cream and we all ordered the kids cup size. I jokingly asked him if he thought he could eat a large ice cream now and he responded with “no way”…he thinks the small tastes just fine.

So, before you go fill up that plate/bowl/cup be familiar with what the proper serving size is. Once you become a pro eyeballing quantity, it will not matter what size it is in…because you eyes will be relaying the right message to your brain. But until then, use the kid’s bowl…

3 comments on “Excuse Me…Size Does Matter!

  1. Mandy Tyler

    You make a great point Donna! There was actually a study conducted not too far back that looked at the growth in size of dinner plates. The study found that between 1960 and 2007 there was a 36% increase in the size of the average dinner plate! The question is why???? At what point did someone look at a plate and decide it just wasn’t large enough? When working with parents concerned about their child’s weight, one of the first recommendations I give them is to make sure their child is eating off of a child-sized plate. Probably a recommendation that we could all be following!!!

  2. Jenn Bergeron

    I went out and purchased smaller plates for dinner because “dinner plates” are too big. I could not control the serving size my family takes (though I try) but I can reduce the total size they have to use. They are special plates – clear. Just a little bit bigger than a salad plate but they don’t mind. They just know those are the dinner plates. The other plates are only used for platters.

    I will never buy a plate set again. Never use the cups and saucers and the sizes are ridiculous. Save money and go to Christmas Tree shops or another store like it where you can buy pieces separately.

  3. Jenn Bergeron

    Oh and I use a custard cup for my cereal!

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