portion sizes

So I was reading those yahoo blogs/news article things again and there was one about how the FDA is going to make companies change the portion size on things like a bag of chips. They want to do this because the portion size is about an ounce and an ounce is about six chips and who portions out only one ounce, and they want to change it to the portion sizes that most americans eat.

Americans are fat, let's face it. But this is stupid. Maybe instead we should just put on the front how many portions sizes there are in it. Actually I don't know what to do but I will never be able to figure out how many calories I'm eating if they change it to the average American's portion intake. Because I can assure you it's more than I eat. I can figure it out based on the ounce (about six chips). I know I'm going to eat more than six chips and I can easily guesstimate at how many chips I am going to eat because I portion them out into a bowl and don't snack out of the bag.

Maybe instead of worrying so much on putting all this information on food we should teach people how to understand it. Teach in schools healthy eating and portion control and how to read and understand a nutritional label. Because changing it isn't going to help if no one knows how to use it. No one really knows how to use it now. No one is suddenly going to learn how to use it unless they are taught.

It's law now to have the calorie count provided at food places. So we have it on our menu board. No one is like...oh hmmm, let me think about it. They all just groan and say, I don't want to know, why is it there. But it's law, as I keep telling people. And it's good for you to have some idea of how many calories you are putting in your body. That's how American's got fat, or at least in my opinion, not paying attention to what they were eating and stuffing their faces full of everything.

I like the law. I rarely go out to eat, so when I do, it's alright for me to splurge a little. Anything that is way too much calories I ask about the portion size. If it's huge and I know I'm only going to eat half of it, then that's alright. If we are going to change calorie counts on bags of chips they should just put the calorie count for the entire bag somewhere. THAT would be easily understood by all. Put it on the front too. That wouldn't be confusing. I can divide in order to find out what my portion is. I can guesstimate how much of the bag I'm eating. The stupid people would know as well.