Should fast food and quick service restaurants (QSRs) be partners in solving the obesity problem or should they simply sell the foods they want, unchecked? That’s the topic of an interesting article in this month’s issue of QSR magazine (A Super-Sized Dilemma). 

 

Fast food and quick service restaurants have taken some of the blame for the weight predicament we’re in –in part because portion sizes at many of these places have ballooned (much like our waistlines) and in part because some of us get a pretty steady diet of these foods. 

 

In 1954, an average hamburger was 3.9 ounces; according to the folks who monitor serving sizes (USDA) today’s hamburgers range from 4.4 ounces to 12.6 ounces—up to a 223 percent increase.   French fries… in the same neighborhood.  They went from an average of 2.4 ounce serving size in 1955 to as much as 7.1 ounces in 2002, a 196 percent climb. Soda pop: 7 ounces in 1955 to 12-42 ounces in 2002, up to a 500 percent jump.

Often, the cost for “super-sizing” is super enticing, making it easy to get more for pennies extra. Who doesn’t want to maximize a dollar? Unfortunately, it also maximizes the ol' waistline. 
 

The QSR article posts an interesting table comparing what you get at a restaurant today vs. what you “should” get if you wanted to toe the line on the right portion size. 

 

 

 

 

Calories are finding their way on to some restaurant menuboards as some legislators push for consumer awareness. Not every consumer wants to know how many calories are in a Wendy's Baja Salad (740) or a Burger King Whopper (640), but knowledge is power.  If you know, then you get to make a conscious decision on whether those calories matter to you.    That’s the hitch.  Folks should have the opportunity to know.  Portions have changed over the years and few of us, myself included, keep track of those details in our heads. 

What you choose to do with the information is up to you—but without the information, it’s harder for good things to happen to your weight.