Would you like fries with that?

[Pat Garaffa]

Or maybe some CPR or an angioplasty might be better?

Friendly's new Sandwich.  Instead of a hamburger roll, they jam the burger  between 2 grilled cheese sandwiches.   I guess they figured we have "Obamacare" now so "what the heck"!  

* * * * * *

Scary Meal #3
Friendly’s Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt
1,500 calories
97 g fat (38 g saturated)
2,090 mg sodium

CALORIE EQUIVALENT: 15 Snickers Kudos Granola Bars

Is this a joke? Because it should be. Where a normal hamburger has buns, this one has grilled cheese sandwiches. Yes, that’s two grilled-cheese sandwiches with one hunk of ground beef wedged between them. Other iterations of this sandwich have been dubbed “fatty melts”—for obvious reasons. They have twice as much cheese and bread as a regular cheeseburger.

Eat This Instead!
Grilled Cheese
790 calories
37 g fat (12 g saturated
1,280 mg sodium

[Jody_Branin]

Ah yes, it's part of their new Healthy Living menu.    (kidding)

http://www.friendlys.com/about/healthy-living/

Nothing for nothing - that's a meal for 3 people! 

[Pat Garaffa]

Portion sizes are beyond belief. 

We ate at Sollo Bella yesterday.  The standard plate today is the family sized serving platter of 30 years ago.  14 people were served enough food to accommodate 56 people.  We all walked away full and with doggie bags and enough to cover today’s lunch and dinner too. 

I saw a show on this trend.  They said the standard sized dinner plates in the Victorian era were about 7-9 inches.  Today that would be your salad plate and the dinner plate is 9-11 inches or more.  And in a restaurant?  Fughetaboutit!   14” is the norm.  Or worse, it’s oval so you can get more on there.   

Very few members of the clean plate club anymore.  And if they are, they need to be hauled away in a wheelbarrow. 

[Joe Parente]

Pat, it just shows you how those Walmart shoppers got that way!

[Jackie Everitt]

Fighting a weight problem I am trying to show my family what portion control is; it scars me when my daughter eats the same amount of food I do for dinner - she's six and not overweight - but then wants dessert.  Sometimes I feel like it is a losing battle when I cook enough for a "normal" serving of everything and my husbands tells me next time maybe make some more.  But I am determined to change the current concept of portion size for myself and my children - hopefully they will learn and not have the struggles that I have. 

Now on the other side of things - I have to admit that if I go out to dinner and don't take anything home I tend to think they were skimppy on the serving amounts.

[Jody_Branin]

Jackie, make more veggies and more fruit so that when hubby asks for more you can give him more. 

I wouldn't worry too much about the 6 year old unless she already has a weight problem.  I have a 9 year old that weighs 54 lbs. and I'm always telling him eat, EAT!  I went through this before with my oldest who is 6' tall and a mere 140 lbs.  Over eating catches up to this family much later in life.  It's all behind me.   

When my youngest has growth spurts he eats a lot more.  (Also just before he gets sick so I'm always on the fence when he eats more - is he growing or getting sick?)

Everyone marvels that my kids are good veggie eaters.  I've learned this over time - when you're cooking dinner, cut up fresh veggies and put them out for everyone to snack on.  They smell the dinner cooking and are suddenly hungry for junk - but "Oh - there's veggies to snack on!".  Then when dinner's done I serve the meat, starch and fruit together.  There usually isn't any veggies left to serve with dinner but it doesn't matter, they've already eaten them. 

Best wishes with the diet.  I've found the "half method" works for me to at least maintain the same weight.  Eat everything, just half of what your normal serving would be.  Also, eating ONLY when you are hungry works well too. 

[Ginger_Hoffmeier]

"They said the standard sized dinner plates in the Victorian era were about 7-9 inches." -- Pat

Well, that solves one of my problems -- what happened to Bob's grandmother's dinner plates!

I recently repacked the whole set of china into new boxes after the flood. I thought the dinner plates were luncheon plates and we lost the dinner plates.

The Victorians ate many more courses than we are used to but they got a lot more exercise doing daily chores than us.

Besides the super-human portions we now have most food contains additives that are "flavor enhancers." Even the grilled marinated chicken breasts. We are full but still want more of the yummy stuff.

This is like the tobacco industries that add chemicals to increase the addiction factor.

And let's not even get into the effect of hormones in our protein supply!

We are doomed! We will die fat, dumb, but happy!

[Eric_Hoffman]

Or maybe some CPR or an angioplasty might be better?

Friendly's new Sandwich.  Instead of a hamburger roll, they jam the burger  between 2 grilled cheese sandwiches.   I guess they figured we have "Obamacare" now so "what the heck"!  

* * * * * *

Scary Meal #3
Friendly’s Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt
1,500 calories
97 g fat (38 g saturated)
2,090 mg sodium

CALORIE EQUIVALENT: 15 Snickers Kudos Granola Bars

Is this a joke? Because it should be. Where a normal hamburger has buns, this one has grilled cheese sandwiches. Yes, that’s two grilled-cheese sandwiches with one hunk of ground beef wedged between them. Other iterations of this sandwich have been dubbed “fatty melts”—for obvious reasons. They have twice as much cheese and bread as a regular cheeseburger.

Eat This Instead!
Grilled Cheese
790 calories
37 g fat (12 g saturated
1,280 mg sodium

Yes fries please and a diet coke with that as well, lol.