The Portion Teller: Smartsize Your Way to Permanent Weight Loss
Nutrition consultant Young says it's not so much what we eat but how much we eat that has caused the collective ballooning of Americans. While conducting research on portion sizes, the NYU faculty member (who appeared in the filmSuper Size Me) discovered that many of the packaged foods we buy today may be as much as five times larger than they were when originally introduced into the marketplace. She presents a simple plan to help readers "smartsize"; it involves portion size awareness and knowledge of the difference between portions and serving sizes. (A bagel, for instance, may be one portion, but delivers five grain servings and the caloric equivalent of five slices of bread.) With an innovative chart that links foods and portions visually (e.g., three ounces of meat—a sensible portion—is represented by a deck of cards or the palm of a hand), Young helps readers estimate reasonable portion sizes; she also provides tips for scaling down the jumbo sizes often offered in restaurants. Young offers a practical, long-term solution for losing weight while eating healthfully, likely to appeal to readers fed up with diet crazes.(June)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.