Two Minutes Hate

...And a Half

I have been trying to eat healthier.  A lot of that has to do with eating the correct portion size.  For many years, I have been a one meal a day person.  I didn't worry about portion sizes too much since it was my only meal of the day, I could easily justify the excess.  A whole box of mac & cheese (spirals of course) or a whole frozen pizza...didn't really seem to matter too much.  Evidently this method of eating is not very healthy (who would have guessed?).  So now in my efforts to be overall more healthy and fit, I have been trying to eat more regularly throughout the day and eat appropriate amounts.

To get the correct amounts, I like to divide up the food into the correct number of portions before I take any for my plate.  If I make a recipe that says it feeds four people, then I divide the food into four equal portions - taking one for me and putting the rest in individual containers for later meals.  I also do this with canned fruits and vegetables.  For me this method works really well.  I can go to my refrigerator and grab one portion of entrée, one fruit, one veggie, etc... Makes meal time pretty easy and it really makes me stick to correct portion sizes and to keep track of calories (if I feel like it).

But then comes the food that doesn't have equal portions in the box.  Servings per box equals 2.5 or something similar.  What am I supposed to do with this half serving?  Do I make each of the other servings just a little bit bigger at 1.25?  A quarter serving more isn't going to hurt me is it?  It doesn't seem like much...but it definitely can hurt you.  Because it is not just going to be that one meal, it is going to be at least two that week.  What if other elements of your meal do the same thing?  Instead of your healthy amount that you should be eating, your meals could steadily grow by 25%.  If this happens every meal, all week long ((3*.25)*7) = 5.25 extra meals and their calories each week.  It is like supersizing...it can quickly make you the fat guy.

Why are they selling things in half servings anyways?  Do you buy anything else in half servings?  It just seems weird to me.  I am assuming that manufacturers are A) trying to make it seem like a bigger box on the store shelf, or B) cutting the size of their servings so that the calories don't see so terrible.  Either way, it pisses me off every time I am eating something that comes with an extra half serving.

End Hate