Haha. I can see it now. "Eat Healthy. Try our new USDA approved portion
controlled meal for only a $1 more."
By the way Bear, the last posting I saw from you, was a continuing stall at
271. Glad to see you poked through and are losing again.

   Tom
210/186/180

Interesting; thanks for the link, Bear.  The photo accompanying the article
was from a "Cheesecake factory" Restaurant - I had lunch at one of these on
a recent business trip, and I was horrified at the size of the portions they
served.  I ordered a caesar salad and I got a positively enormous plate with
a humongous mountain of salad piled on it.  It was almost obscene, and would
have illustrated the point of the article even more starkly than the
hamburger plate they showed there.

I think that many of us can think back to the portions we were served at
home as kids, and recognize that servings are completely out of control.
Another example springs to mind - the cafeteria at my office has placards
around that list nutrition information for various items that are served.
(They don't list out net carbs or fiber, which annoys me, but that is
another complaint.)  You have to read them carefully, however, because the
"serving size" listed along with the nutritional information bears no
relationship at all to the amount they actually serve you.  It's horribly
misleading.

I do believe, however, that people have to take responsibility for paying
attention to what they shove into their maws.  McDonald's recent decision to
pull "supersize" portions off the menu has been much talked about in the
media.  But, McDonald's added those portions in the first place because they
could make money off them.  You can bet your bottom dollar that they
wouldn't pull them if they felt it was more profitable to keep them there.
That they are being pulled could be a good sign that folks are starting to
realize that eating humongous portions isn't such a great idea.  It's more
likely, however, that for some reason (changes in the base price of
supplies, for example) McDonald's can no longer afford the slimmer profit
margins that come from doubling a portion while adding only a quarter to the
price.

carla