RACHEL JOHNSON
Staff Writer
Out of all of the cute restaurants and quaint cafes in London, I found myself in the fast-food restaurant most commonly associated with the United States — McDonald’s. I didn’t have much of a choice, considering that my roommates were craving McFlurries and I wasn’t inclined to find my way back to the house on my own. What was more astonishing than wasting my time away in perhaps one of the most institutionalized restaurants in the world was what I noticed listed on the menu.
Instead of meals drenched in grease and loaded with calories, I noticed that this McDonald’s offered a lot of healthy choices. Deli-toasted sandwiches filled with roast beef, ham, chicken tikka or grilled vegetables were some of the items that were offered.
Diners were also given the option of having a side of French fries, a garden side salad, a pack of carrots or apple slices. The only similarities to American menus were the fact that Big Macs, quarter-pound cheeseburgers, Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and Chicken McNuggets remained on the menu.
Portion sizes were also considerably smaller. In fact, the Big Mac didn’t even live up to its name. I have found that this is a trend in all restaurants in London. Pasta, plates are filled halfway instead of receiving a gargantuan dish that would serve a family of five. If you get a side salad, it is actually a side dish, rather than the full-course meal.
Noticing this difference in portion size as well as in ingredient choices in turn caused me to observe something else: weight. Unlike in the United States, I have yet to see anyone overly thin or extremely overweight. Most people appear to be of healthy body weight.
How, then, do Europeans indulge in rich Italian pastas, delicious French pastries, and calorie-packed wines and beers without increasing their waistline? Portion size, it seems. Author Mireille Guiliano even went as far as to write “Why French Women Don’t Get Fat” a self-help book that reached the top of the charts in a matter of weeks, on the topic of portion control as noted in European countries. These observations are supported by conclusions made in studies conducted by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The report stated, “the problems of obesity and lack of nutrition awareness seem to have a cultural component. Take a look at fast-food restaurants. Most of these restaurants offer ‘supersize’ or ‘value’ meals. This tends to be a U.S. phenomenon, though, because many of the fast food outlets in Europe and the Far East don’t embrace or offer the concept of supersize.”
Getting used to smaller portion sizes was definitely noticeable, I’ll admit. I was hungrier than usual the first couple of days because I was so used to eating so much more in the States. But once I grew accustomed to the meals here, I started enjoying feeling comfortable after meals instead of experiencing the unbutton-the-top-button-of-your-jeans-so-you-can-breathe fullness sensation.
While obviously obesity in America is attributed to a variety of other components such as physical activity, portion size definitely plays a large role in the dramatic increase of citizens who are overweight. According to the Prevention Institute, “portion sizes started to increase in the 1970s, they grew sharply in the 1980s and have continued to increase since then. This trend has occurred in parallel with increases in overall calorie intake, available calories in the food supply, and the prevalence of overweight and obesity.”
My conclusions initially focused on outward appearances, but health risks are also a part of the problem. Diabetes, heart diseases and other serious illnesses arise from obesity. Controlling portion sizes is an easy way to prevent becoming overweight, combating disease and death.
Though indulging in snacks that aren’t necessarily healthy is not something to be entirely eliminated from one’s diet, as Guiliano points out in her book, we should watch the sizes of the snacks we choose in order to satiate our cravings without going overboard. Like our European counterparts, Americans should focus on eating what the heart desires while consuming the appropriate amount of our favorite treats.
02-02-2006