My friend and I decided to catch up last night along with our teenage sons as we haven't seen each other for ages.

We met at some place called Lazy Moe's which we have never been to before. On the back of the menu it talks about how one of the things that makes them keep going is the look on peoples faces when their food arrives. Well the look on our faces was abject horror - surely that can't be a motivator. The amount of food was ridiculous. One plateful of food would have served an entire Ethiopian village.There must have been about 5lb of chips on each plate.It was just an obscene amount of food.

My son is 17 and can pack away a large quantity of food but even he hardly made a dent in the pile of chips. I had a baked potato but it was flattened and covered an entire dinner plate. I would have expected it to come with maybe a sprinkling of cheese but no it was covered in a thick layer of melted cheese and then there was sour cream as well! Not sure why that was necessary.

Now I don't know if these are the kind of serves that are regarded as standard in the US but if they are then no wonder there is such a huge weight problem. Especially if you have been brought up (as I was) to eat everything on your plate because it is wrong to waste.

The amount of food that this restaurant must chuck into their waste bins every day must be huge. So why do they continue to do it. Surely seeing the amount of waste should tell them that there is something wrong with their serves. That maybe bigger is not really better and that the majority of people would be happy with smaller portions. If push comes to shove then have 2 serving sizes on your menu. A normal serve and a gluttons serve.

Deliberately wasting all that food every day for no reason other than to boast about the size of your serves makes me feel sick.

Its insane! You know what else makes me so mad, the way when you go to the movies they force you to upgrade To bigger sizes of popcorn because its cheaper to get more. And once i had to buy a family combo because the kids wanted one each but i only wanted three popcorns and three drinks. They MADE me take the fourth (even though i said fine Ill pay for it but only give m three) i had to bin it right by the candy counter.

It is absolutely ridiculous. What's really sad is, before I got the band, I would've eaten the entire plate and still had desert after. Americans are encouraged to "super size" everything with a side of fat and sugar. Our portions are so huge they should be meant for an entire family, not just one person.

What REALLY kills me is when I eat out and don't finish 3/4 of my meal, and the waitress is like "Oh is there something wrong with your meal?".... I reply "no it was great, I'm just done". *confused look from waitress* They are simply baffled when I eat such a small portion of it.

I actually said to a waiter recently "No the food was great, thank you. I just prefer to eat a reasonable human portion rather than a sumo wrestler portion".

I've read quite a few books about this same topic - the whole conspiracy theory thing about the government trying to keep us fat... I half believe it. I think it's big business to have us eat and eat and eat. And then it costs a ton of money to help us get healthy again or else it costs tons of money to take care of us when we're ill. We just have to fight back. And try to teach our kids better.

Yes, American food portions tend to be very large. I do find however the healthier I eat the smaller the portions. If I order a meal and ask for a steamed veggie instead of fries; I get a miniscule portion of veggies (1/3 cup, you know those super small veggie "bowls"). The fries portions however are huge.

It really opens your eyes when you can't eat the super-size servings any longer. I just get a to-go box and eat leftovers 2 or 3 times.

It very sad that our children learn these sizes are normal. I live near Disneyland and when you go there most people are obese. They even had to remodel numerous rides to accommodate larger sizes. We are killing our nation with unhealthy habits. Even before the band my husband and I started splitting meals when we go out. He would say, "how would any one person eat all of this food?" we are extreme now. I just started mushy foods and I had Beans with cheese last night. The portion was so small, and that was my entire dinner! It seemed weird. I am still not used to the tiny portions. My head still needs to make the mental change, the stomach is already there!

I have been to Lazy Moes. It is mental how big the servings are even before deciding to take action about my weight I could never eat what was served in front of me. The chicken parmas are bigger than the plate and then pile about half a kilo of chips (fries) on top. Since getting the band I've decide that smaller portions when eating at a restaurant means I can go for quality and spoil myself with expensive entrees which I will end up sharing with my man anyway. Where as before so much of my meal choices were mostly about what would fill me up.

It very sad that our children learn these sizes are normal. I live near Disneyland and when you go there most people are obese. They even had to remodel numerous rides to accommodate larger sizes. We are killing our nation with unhealthy habits. Even before the band my husband and I started splitting meals when we go out. He would say' date=' "how would any one person eat all of this food?" we are extreme now. I just started mushy foods and I had Beans with cheese last night. The portion was so small, and that was my entire dinner! It seemed weird. I am still not used to the tiny portions. My head still needs to make the mental change, the stomach is already there!

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I'm the same. I am on mushy and had my first meal out. I had 3 little fish cakes, all three would have fit on my palm. And in the time it took me to eat them my friends at a massive bowl of curry. It seemed so bizarre but I was full.

I actually said to a waiter recently "No the food was great' date=' thank you. I just prefer to eat a reasonable human portion rather than a sumo wrestler portion".[/quote']

LMAO... I will have to remember this one!!

I don't think that I would ever have been able to eat that quantity of food. And there is no way I would ask for a take home box as the majority of the waste was fries and they are gross reheated.In fact most restaurants in Aus don't offer that option, probably because of concerns with how you store the food at home and you suing if you get food poisoning . Some such as La Porchetta do, but even then I rarely decide that I want to bring the food home with me. I like to enjoy the meal once , not have to keep eating it for the next couple of days. The exception would be if the meal was truly exceptional but then those kind of restaurants do not normally serve Sumo wrestler portions. They aim for quality not quantity.

Years ago my sister was a server in a county club. Her manager told her that fries (chips) were the cheapest thing to serve and they better not leave the kitchen without a plate looking packed (with fries). I agree, American portions are outrageous!! Even at my heaviest, I couldn't manage cleaning my plate in a restaurant.

I've been a cook in several food service locations (banks, schools, etc.) and my husband the same, for all of our lives. It is true that the management in these restaurants want to fill you up with "filler". It's cheaper, easier to prepare and makes you feel like you've had a satisfying meal experience. What the public wants is processed, quick, cheap food. I've tried to offer healthy alternatives and so has my hubby, but people will say they want healthy, but never actually order it. And children, it's very scary to me how they are being brought up to think those foods and in large sizes, is normal. People want junk. And as long as the public pays the mighty dollar, junk it will be.

It's funny how being on the South Beach Diet and being banded has changed my food experiences at restaurants. I, too eat small portions and ask for no this or that. And yes, I've had a waitress or two ask me if the food was ok. I like Mis73's response, I'm going to try that one! If only they'd pile 2 Cups of veggies sans butter on my plate, I'd be happy as a bug in a rug. (Did I just say that? ) Even my husband's stomach has shrunk just eating some of what I do. I guess now I'm a cheap date! LOL

They do it cuz people like me (pre band)would be a loyal customer keep coming back thinking I got a good bargain on all the food ! And I would have invited others to get in on the deal . Sad but true.they are capitalizing on our need for greed .

I've read quite a few books about this same topic - the whole conspiracy theory thing about the government trying to keep us fat... I half believe it. I think it's big business to have us eat and eat and eat. And then it costs a ton of money to help us get healthy again or else it costs tons of money to take care of us when we're ill. We just have to fight back. And try to teach our kids better.

I don't think the government has anything to do with this.Americans are greedy in everything .in general we have more food than we need more things (cars,clothes,shoes,TV's ) even if the cars are broke down in our back yard or the clothes we haven't worn in 10 yrs.We just gotta have it.just to say we have it.and even when the government tries to regulate we complain or sew for our right to indulge and be stupid.

Yes, Americans have a distorted idea of portions. I've seen some interesting graphics showing what was considered a "normal" serving of various foods in the 1940s and 1950s compared to current ideas of a "normal" serving--very eye-opening! Between my own distorted perception of "normal" portions and 40+ years of gulping my food (I'm a bad chewer!), every day is a struggle to learn new "normals". Measuring my food sometimes is the only way I can do it (and setting a timer to make me extend my eating/chewing time)!

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