Food is bigger today, but you don’t have to be; how to fight back

 

That morning coffee sure gets the day started right.

 

Right?

 

Well, compared to a generation ago, coffee can get the day on track for excessive calorie consumption, too. Twenty years ago, a typical 8-ounce cup of coffee with milk and sugar had 45 calories. Nowadays, a 16-ounce mocha with steamed milk and syrup checks in at 350 calories.

Food and beverage portions have gotten bigger and weightier over the past 20 years, contributing to an obesity trend that has two-thirds of Americans now overweight.

 

Check out the change in portion size and caloric intake over the past two decades for the following meals:

 

• A morning snack used to have 185 calories when it included a 3-inch bagel and 8-ounce coffee with milk and sugar. Now it includes a 6-inch bagel and 16-ounce mocha and has 700 calories. If you pair that coffee with a 4-ounce muffin instead of a bagel, you’re up to 850 calories. That’s nearly half the recommended daily number of calories for a woman.
• A lunch including a cheeseburger, 2.4-ounce fries, and 6.5-ounce soda had 628 calories two decades ago. These days, the fries are bigger (6.9 ounces), the soda is bigger (20 ounces) and the burger is bigger. It all adds up to 1,450 calories, which is well over half of the calories needed for an entire day. Skip the free refill.
• In the old days, a 5-cup box of popcorn and a 6.5-ounce soda at the movies had 355 calories. Now, it’s an 11-cup tub of popcorn and a 20-ounce soda that has 880 calories.
• Even a healthy chicken Caesar salad tends to be quite a bit bigger these days. A 1.5-cup serving typical 20 years ago had 390 calories. Today, it’s a 3.5-cup serving with 790 calories.

We’re confronted these days with larger portions in restaurants, from vending machines and even packaged food at the grocery store. Generally, when offered larger portions, people eat more.

 

But people who eat more calories than they burn gain weight. It’s no coincidence that national obesity rates have surged along with the size of food portions. Two-thirds of Americans now are overweight, with a body-mass index of 25 or higher.

 

Watching portion sizes can limit the number of calories you eat and, of course, exercise can increase the number of calories you burn. Diet and exercise also can be paired with a new, non-surgical procedure to accelerate weight loss.

 

With ORBERA™ people can drop weight 3 times faster than just diet and exercise alone *. The system includes individual coaching with a nutritionist or registered dietician for up to one year.

 

There have been about 220,000 ORBERA™ balloon procedures worldwide, but only a few doctors in Michigan offer this non-invasive weight-loss solution. Patients are put under mild sedation for the outpatient procedure that lasts about 20 minutes. There is no incision.

 

“This will certainly jumpstart your weight loss,” said Dr. Andre R. Nunn, whose Innovative Bariatrics does gastric balloon procedures in the Detroit area. “It gives people a fighting chance to try to keep this weight off.”

 

Innovative Bariatrics offers free seminars on ORBERA™ balloon weight loss every other Wednesday night at the Specialty Surgical Center in Oak Park. People can meet Dr. Nunn, view a PowerPoint presentation to learn what to expect before and after the procedure, and even see the balloon that gets placed in the stomach.

 

To reserve a spot at a free seminar, click here.

 

* Results may vary