Portion Distortion

Growing up, most of us were taught to eat everything on your plate. That was okay 20 years ago; however, today’s plates have enough food for two or even three people on it. Average portion sizes have grown so much over the past 20 years. These growing portion sizes are changing what Americans think of as a "normal" portion at home, too.
We call it portion distortion.

Portions and Servings: What’s the Difference?
· A portion is the amount of food that you choose to eat for a meal or snack. It can be big or small.
· A serving is a measured amount of food or drink, such as one slice of bread or one cup (eight ounces) of milk.

Many foods that come as a single portion actually contain multiple servings. The Nutrition Facts label on packaged foods—on the backs of cans, sides of boxes, etc. — tells you the number of servings in the container. For example, look at the label of a 20-ounce soda (typically consumed as one portion), and you’ll see that it has 2.5 servings in it. A 3-ounce bag of chips—which some would consider a single portion—contains 3 servings.

Check out these examples of how growing portions lead to increased calories:
http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/oei_ss/PD1/slide1.htm