#serving size

Sometimes the Law of Unintended Consequences results in a societal good, not a bad. It’s rare, but I think it is happening right now with the recent success of Olive Garden’s market test of smaller serving sizes. The chain, which is owned by Darden Company and one among several well-known restaurant brands they own, recently launched seven smaller platings at about half of its restaurants, and they were a quick success. Breadsticks, though, are still bottomless.

The effort was fueled by the fact that many consumers are pulling back from eating out. Restaurant prices have shot up the last few years because of inflation, sending many people to the grocery store instead of restaurants. The company thought long and hard on this, and went with what amounts to a value-priced menu section.

It is a win-win for customers and the chain, but there is a third W to fly as well: Maybe smaller serving sizes will help us all a little bit around the waist.

Anyone who has traveled abroad knows that American serving sizes are huge. Furthermore, all-you-can eat buffets, which are really just gigantic feeding troughs, are also primarily an American thing. They speak to the affluence of our nation, so rich in food and money that we can afford to sit around and get fat and sassy.

Having traveled in Asia several times, I know that they would never serve a pot roast as the centerpiece of a meal, surrounded by potatoes and veggies. No, meat is downplayed, and beef in particular is associated with wealth. Chicken and fish are far more common, which are much cheaper.

How many times have you gone to a buffet and felt like you just had to get your money’s worth? Or served a monster burger and half the potato crop of Idaho, and felt guilty for not devouring it all?

Sure, we could do take away, but all too many times it winds up sitting in the fridge for a week or more, until we finally figure out what that smell is. Pizza is one food that, in my opinion, tastes better after it has had a little time to sit, but that’s about it. Still, tomorrow is the last day. Don’t let it sit any longer than that.

This helps explain why I shy away from buffets. Of course, never mind the fact that the serving areas are Petri dishes of everybody else’s germs. No thanks. But I also do not want to gorge too much. I know how hard it is to burn calories once you have stored them in your body. It takes about 40 miles of walking to burn a pound, or 23 miles of running. Ouch.

But there is another factor, and that is the aging of our population. I know this all too well now. I simply cannot eat as much as I once could. I like to walk to a couple of Thai places in town to grab lunch to bring back to the office, and more times than not, I wind up bringing half of it home. But…and here is the big but…I have to make a concerted effort to eat the rest of it for dinner. Closely related to this is that if I did eat everything at once, I would slip into a food coma that would wreck the rest of the afternoon.

This also helps explain why you see your grandparents sharing a meal. They just can’t come close to eating it all. Worse yet, they feel their only other choice is to order something off the kids menu. That’s kind of degrading.

The average daily caloric intake of Americans is between 3600 and 3864, which, for most of us, is far more than we really need, unless we are running a 10K or more each day. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends a daily range from 1,600 to 3,000 calories for adults, but this varies by age, sex, weight, height, and activity. Here are some grim stats: Nearly 31% of Americans are overweight, and a little more than 42% are obese. Our restaurants have no doubt played a big role in this.

For a man of my size and age, I should be shooting for about 2000 calories, but given my daily activity level, I can get away with 2600. If I could give up those tasty craft beers, which clock in at about 200 calories a pint, I might be able to shed the last little bit I’d like to get rid of.

But back to the unintended consequences. If these smaller serving sizes catch on everywhere—and there is evidence they might—we might all lose a few pounds. Knowing when to quit eating is the biggest part of the battle, and when we see mountains of food at arm’s reach, it is hard to say no. And let’s not forget that little nugget people of my age were chastised with when we were young. “You better clean your plate! There’s a child starving in India right now.”

Would you like some whipped cream on that guilt trip, darling? I offered to pack up my uneaten food and send it to that kid, but my offer fell on deaf ears. And no TV time.

Darden’s move here is good for all of us, and as for unintended consequences, you ask for a second helping of the good ones that come your way.

Dr “Make That To Go.” Gerlich