The Clear-a-Plate

They're starchy vegetables, Ana

www.food.gov.uk/scotland/scotnut/eatwellplate

According to the Eatwell Plate people should base their meals on starchy foods.

No wonder there's an obesity crisis.

I think diabetics are usually allowed one small roast potato with its skin still on or something. I remember reading that brits on the whole eat so little fresh veg, fruit and salad that they get the majority of their vitamin C from potatoes.

soontobe Today the B does indeed stand for B******. How did you guess?

Normally it stands for Beloved. However the impending school inspection has turned him into the Husband from Hell and I have to keep being where he is not for fear of stabbing him in painful parts.

No plate has been completely cleared this weekend, that's for sure.

Are they not still vegetables, though?

I thought that potatoes had been classed as carbohydrates long before the idea of five a day came in.
Certainly diabetics think so.

I did think about adding 'potatoes are vegetables' to my post, but decided against it!

Agree about the 'thin air' figure-plucking - rather like the number of units of alcohol we're 'allowed' to drink per week, which a government minister actually admitted had been decided that way.

Ana According to government health guidelines, potatoes are not vegetables; they are carbohydrates. I suspect that they did this renaming to prevent people from classing chips as one of their "five a day" – a figure, incidentally, that seems to have been pulled from thin air.

Back in the 90's I worked in the restaurant of a new Asda. As a special offer we were selling a half chicken and chips for £1.99 and we must have sold hundreds of them. The majority of plates that came back still had most of the chicken untouched - people were just ordering it because it was cheap. Nobody seemed to care that an actual living creature had been killed for them to have a couple of forkfulls before it was thrown away. Just sheer greed!

I have lost weight by simply reducing portion size, not feeing obliged to finish the food put on my plate and only eating when I am hungry and stopping as soon as I feel 'replete'!. That way no food is 'forbidden'..if I want chocolate or a piece of toast with butter I eat it. Still a way to go but better than a diet!
Bad eating habits started a boarding school..photos prior to that show that I was skinny..also at that time we lived in East Africa where fruit was plentiful but other sugary things were not! Photos after a year at boarding school shows a plump 10 year old! We had cereal,cooked food and toast at breakfast, a cooked lunch (plenty of spuds and sponge /suet puddings and custard) then tea time was more bread and cake!

I have downsized all my meat portions because I only buy organic meat. We eat a lot of casseroles and stews and I add lots of extra vegetables. I did a venison casserole this lunch time. I had enough for three meals for the two of us. Sometimes, I have enough for four meals for two. This means, for us, an average meat portion is 2 - 3oz. My average rice or pasta portion is 2 oz, sometimes less. A fish portion is 4 - 5 oz.

When out we only have two courses, often only one. I do not have a sweet tooth so desserts have no attractions.

um, does the B stand for Bxxxxxx or something else?
[am slightly holding my breath here in case I am putting my foot in it]

I stick to those portions too, absent! We learnt it at school. I am a 'two starters' person. I don't eat chips either, although I do cook them for DBH&Son about twice a year.

Except chips, probably...

When I first started writing recipes in the 1970s, the standard used for portions of meat was 4 oz (120 g) off the bone and 6 oz (175 g) on the bone per serving. For fish, we allowed 6–7 oz (175–200 g) per serving. Nowadays, the 12-oz (350-g) steak seems to be the norm in many places and burgers come in stacks, interleaved with cheese and strips of bacon. However, I don't think portion sizes of vegetables have increased in the same proportions.

Not me, I lose my appetite in heat and can never really understand how others can put away so much.

I take your point janerowena. But it is usually the fitter healthier and possibly a bit younger people who go on cruises.
And on holiday, I think most people let rip a bit, even the older ones.

I don't think older people take less at all. Years ago in my 20s I went with Ex on a cruise with some older friends. The first meal as we left port was a buffet. I was horrified. We were pretty much the youngest there and all the older people were almost running to the tables to help themselves with gross quantities of food. I was appalled, truly, having been brought up to hold back. Brits - and no sign of a queue! I asked a steward if it was always like that, and he said it calmed down after a couple of days but not to worry, I could take comfort from knowing that we would hit the Bay of Biscay in a few hours and it was rough that night!

Years ago, when I was working, and before the company got the economy bug, there was an annual "Christmas" dance, in January, held at a local dance hall, which had several rooms besides the actual ballroom. One room was given over to the buffet, which was included in the ticket price, and was ENORMOUS! There would be several large turkeys, hams, pork joints, plus loads of salad, pies, sausage rolls, etc, then lots of sweet desserts to choose from. It was a help yourself thing, and at the end of the evening we were allowed to take home any food that was left over. I never ceased to be amazed at the greed of some folk, especially the ones who`d be seen carrying out whole turkeys!

No sugar at all?
Didnt know that.

Mostly sugar I think. There has been a nonsense about fat for many years and manufactured food had sold 'healthy' stuff as 'low fat' they simply substituted sugar in their products. Fat takes longer to digest and is needed in appropriate quantities. Sugar is not needed at all. Thatbags has posted a lot of info on this subject.

Portion sizes are part of the USA problem!
They are ginormous!
Enormous bags of crisps and biscuits as standard.
You cant even buy any smaller packets in some places. They dont exist.

Is it sugar and not fat over here?
Or both?

It's not the fat that's the problem. It's the sugar. Or if you live in America the ghastly corn syrup.

Either don't bother with a pudding or have fruit.

I am surprised that the catering isnt much better for vegetarians.
After all, meat eaters can eat vegetarian dishes on offer, but not the other way round.

I have been equally surprised over the years, that low fat puds are not a standard thing to find when eating out.

Being vegetarian, soontobe, there are still some places where you can only get starters, unless you want pasta all the time.

Agree with all the above. I've always been frustrated by portion size and the seeming impossibility of ordering a small portion. It's obvious that a young six foot man will need more food than an older and much slighter woman.

I think the notion of clean plates came from the days when food was rationed and if the plate wasn't cleared then there really was nothing else. It's quite inappropriate today when for many, but certainly not all, food is over abundant.

Most of our meals are eaten at home and I do not cook or serve out more than we eat. I know what our potion size is and do not overdo it.