If you’re not a bodybuilder who’s getting ready for a show and
on a strict diet, you probably go out to eat once and a while. Going out is
great! You don’t have to cook, there’s no cleanup, and you can just sit back
and relax with maybe a drink or two. When you go out, however, you no longer have
complete control over the food or portion sizes. In this post, I want to touch
a little on said portion sizes.
I’m sure you’ve noticed that when you go to a restaurant,
all the portion sizes of the menu items are the same. Yes, some places offer small,
medium, and large options but for a considerable amount of establishments they
are relatively the same. People, however, are not all the same. This is
especially true between men and women, in terms of body size and lean muscle
mass.
It’s not uncommon for a couple to have a 50 to 100-pound
weight difference between them. The guy, for explanation’s sake, could weigh
200-220 pounds and the girl 100-120. I’m a little weird, so when I go out to
eat I take a look around and notice portion sizes and the types of oils and
stuff that are being put in the food. If you’re at a dining establishment that serves
large portion sizes and you’re a guy, that’s great, but if you’re a girl who’s
not trying to put on any pounds then this isn’t the best scenario. It’s
especially tough sometimes to stop eating halfway through a meal when your mind
is programmed to finish what’s in front of you. Think back to when your parents
told you to finish what was on your plate when you were a kid. It’s literally
been programed into our minds since we were little children to finish the food
in front of us. Going back to the explanation above of the nice couple on their
date; do you think that the girl who is half the size of the guy needs the same
amount of food as he does? No, probably not. Considering the amount of lean
muscle mass, she could probably get away with eating half of the plate of food,
and have leftovers for the next day. Lucky her, unlucky him. He’ll have to cook
for himself the next day.
These large portion sizes make it difficult, especially for
women, because there is not an established portion size for either gender. It
would be interesting to see a restaurant menu that had distinct portion sizes
for men and women. I’m sure the women’s rights activists might be up in arms
about that, but objectively speaking, it may be suitable to have varying
portion sizes to account for differences between people. Customers might also
gain a better understanding of the importance of portion control.
So next time you are out for dinner, or lunch, or brunch,
take a look around and see if you notice this. Sometimes it’s too easy to just
set your mind on autopilot when you are out to eat and not pay much attention
to what’s actually on the plate in front of you, because after all you went out
in the first place to not have to worry about making your meal. That’s one of
the nice perks to cooking at home; you know what exactly goes into your food
and control how much of it gets served. This is just a thought to consider the
next time you go out.
Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments
below.
Ryan Goodell, CSCS
If you enjoyed this and would like to help me out please share this article!
New posts every Sunday!
If you are interested in other content from Weights and Stuff you can find it at:
Website: http://www.weightsandstuff.com/
Instagram: @weights_andstuff
Twitter: @weightsnstuff
No comments:
Post a Comment