Mmmm. Bagels.

I made homemade bagels this weekend, at the request of my oldest son.  While he thought they looked great and couldn’t wait for his first bite, my initial reaction was that they were too small.   I worked in a bagel shop when I was in high school and I remember the size of the bagels I used to make.  They were huge!  Any bagel you get from a bagel shop is at least twice the size of these home-made bagels.  Is bigger necessarily better?

About eight years ago when I was overweight, I ate at a deli in New York.  They put one pound of meat on the sandwich, and without any hesitation I ate the entire thing.  Let’s break this down for a minute; one pound of meat is at least enough for four or more sandwiches.  That is a ridiculous amount of food! 

Personally, I think restaurants and fast food are the main reasons we are so fat.  The portions that we have been trained to think are normal are actually enormous and incredibly unhealthy.  But if we receive anything less, we feel like we’re getting ripped off.  We will take our business down the street to the deli who will give us two pounds of meat instead of one for the same price.

So what do we do?  How do we reprogram our brains to recognize healthy and sensible portions?  Try going back to basics.  Prepare most of your meals at home.  Try using a measuring cup or a food scale to learn what a single serving actually looks like.  Once you get the hang of it, you can eyeball it when you’re out at a restaurant or a friend’s house.  I guarantee you that you will be shocked by the results.