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Comment by 29athrowaway | Hacker News Reader

In the US there are many highly processed foods with little fiber and added sugar.

Nutrition fact labels can be very misleading. e.g.: showing nutrition facts per certain some arbitrary amount of weight, or having multiple servings per container, which is misleading if it's an individual serving container.

e.g.: Oreo serving size is 2 cookies. Who opens a pack of oreos only to eat 2 of them? nobody.

Many occupations do not involve physical activity, and nowadays many day to day activities also do not involve physical activity.

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Something I've realized in recent months is that restaurant portions are insane.

Even if you're not eating a cheeseburger - heck, even if you're eating a salad (assuming it has more than just lettuce) - the sheer amount of food you get in a single entree at most restaurants means that even a reasonable type of meal will end up being two or three times the calories it would be if you made it at home. The alternative of course is to stop halfway (or earlier), but that's really hard to do when it's right in front of you.

The only workaround I know of (beyond just not eating out) is to order it to go, and then immediately put half in the refrigerator.

"Clean plate mentality" is also a big part of the problem. We should not indoctrinate kids to clean their plates.

You are allowed to only eat part of what you are offered.

I take the "snack in the morning, meal at night" approach with restaurant food. That way the 1700-2000 calories worth of food is still under my daily requirements.

For the last ten years, my spouse and I always split an entree when we eat out. We order one entree and ask for an extra plate. The portions are perfect, and eating out is much more affordable.

>Nutrition fact labels can be very misleading. e.g.: showing nutrition facts per certain some arbitrary amount of weight, or having multiple servings per container, which is misleading if it's an individual serving container.

The worst are chocolate bars, a serving is three squares. I don't know anyone who has just three squares, two year olds included.

My wife and I eat a dark chocolate bar by the square. A single bar can last us a month or more.

“Servings” must be the biggest fraud in nutrition ever. The companies can basically make up whatever they want to make their foods look better. It’s unbelievable that this nonsense can be done.

Exactly. As a (Central) European, I've never understood how can you calculate stuff in servings. To me, a serving is completely subjective.

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