No idea if everyone else already figured it out and I just missed it? But like, if you take average human they need around 2000 calories a day, possibly more, right? So why on that portion of frozen potatoes I have it says a portion is 160 calories? How can that possibly be enough for anyone? Same thing, on another premade meal of quinoa I have it says a portion is 350 calories. I find it more reasonnable, but the way they decide what a “portion” is supposed to be just doesn’t make any sense
The portion size labels you see in NA seem really arbitrary to me. Here in Europe, all nutrition labels I’ve seen are for 100 grams of product, which I find much more useful when deciding what portion size I would like.
Usually they keep the portion sizes well below actual portions so we don’t freak out about Sugar/Sodium daily %, When you find out that a whole bag of potato chips is 300% of your daily sodium theres a chance you wouldn’t buy them, so 3% for 5 chips is more manageable, personally I think it’s bullshit, I’m not going to eat 1/4 of a bag of chips or drink 4 tablespoons of Cola, but in Canada they get away with some straight up grotesque product labeling.
For some things it is because it’s not meant to be a complete meal by itself. So with your frozen potatoes you might have a porkchop and some veggies to make a meal
So while you can indeed eat a meal of just potatoes which would require a lot more, most people don’t do that and most nutritional advice doesn’t recommend that.
In some cases portion sizes seem small because we have sometimes grown accustomed to massive quantities. Such as drinking half a carton of orange juice in one big cup, we’re not really supposed to be doing that, but god is dead and nobody can stop us.
In other cases as mentioned it just massaging numbers to make it look better. Lots of people won’t do the math, so if a can of pop is 355ml and says 30 grams of sugar per 177ml people will think it has less sugar than a different brand which has 45grams sugar per 355ml.
Same reason why the 1/3rd pound burger failed, people didn’t realize that it was more meat than the 1/4th pound burger because they think 3 is less than 4.
Actually your calories are worked out by your age, height & activity level.
Portion sizes are worked out by recommended daily allowance. Different food have different allowances. Eg. You can eat more vegetables than you can meat. As your body can break down vegetables easier than it can meat, especially red meat.
Measuring your food is the way to go once you figure out your daily intake. Eventually you’ll be able to eat more intuitively if you choose to. I consume roughly 3600cals so recommended portion/serving sizes dont mean too much.
I agree. I look up “healthy” meal recipes and a “serving” ends up being like 200 calories. Thats not enough for me! I end up eating the whole pot/pan/batch. Fyi i’m 5’9 160 pounds and very hungry lol.
They vary because of the macro nutrient breakdown most probably.
And for food companies to avoid liability. In most cases serving sizes are around 150-200 cals. 10% ish of daily recommendations.
You see this way a chocolate company can tell an obese person they shud have just eaten 3 squares of chocolate instead of the whole bar.
It’s basically just a fools errand for most. Ironically if most could stick to these sizes obesity would have a reduction. Which is what the iifym crowd proved.
In your quinoa/potato example I’d probably assume it’s due to the potato being mainly just carbs and micro nutrients. Where as quinoa has a decent profile of all three essential macro nutrients.
Sadly, serving sizes on nutrition facts labels are not the recommended amount to eat, but actually just the amount that they expect the average person to eat in one sitting. (And an amount to base the rest of the label on)
Other than that like other said a portion does not mean a meal. you have a portion of different foods to make up a meal, and all of that together adds up to make your daily caloric intake.
It’s the way in the USA they mislead you. In Europe they can State portion size but are obliged to also give nutritional info per 100g so you can always compare
It’s known many junkfood has ridiculous low portion size, eg. No one eats sucha portion. They make it seem less kcal rich than it actually is.
Most Americans don’t need 2,000 calories a day given how sedentary the typical person is.
Serving sizes aren’t really based on what proportion each food should make up of a meal. You aren’t just limited to one portion.
Combing different portions of things fills you up, I had to stop calorie counting due to ED but healthy eating and portion control is still possible. What gets me the most are the portions on snacks, so if you’re counting calories I wouldn’t snack much, it uses up your calories for the day and definitely isn’t satisfying.
I understand what you mean. Yeah, go with understanding your caloric needs and what macronutrients are in your plate of food. If you eat once a day like me it’s super easy. Lol. Well, I eat once on most days and then twice a day on others, but the second meal is actually something small.
Portion sizes are determined by 2 things either very old nutritional facts that are medically not agreed upon anymore so we are using outdated info that’s wrong or it’s determine by smaller people who need less calories
I always assume portion is just “base unit that has this nutritional profile” instead of a suggested serving size in one sitting. Also the average human really doesn’t need 2000Cal per day. That’s a misnomer and partially why there’s an obesity epidemic
Based in uk and also find it difficult to understand portion sizes. I often eat gluten free cereal when not eating porridge (dislike eating processed foods but hey get bored🤷🏼♀️) Says portion size is 30kg which for me feels incredibly tiny amount to eat. Same goes for wide range of other food and drinks.
I get what others have said that the portion sizes are often created to make the data or sugars etc look better than they are and that is annoying and not useful - marketing and food should be separated in my view!
When I eat a whole food plant based diet with no gluten or minimum processed foods I have technically huge potions of food but loose weight no problem as well healthy and natural.
Do find it hard to keep that up though long term due to my own lifestyle choices but know it can be done and keep adjusting to make that happen again.