My husband and I go out to eat almost every Friday night (it's "date night"). And every time, whatever we choose, we're served huge amounts of food. It's almost impossible to walk out of a restaurant these days without a bag of leftovers that'll make a good-sized lunch for the next day. We Americans have come to expect this.

Sadly, monstrous portions are not unique to restaurants. Even at home, our dinner plates have gotten larger and our portion sizes have spiraled ridiculously out of control. It would be comical if we weren't so unhealthy.

Over time, our perception of "normal" has shifted, and it's not for the better. So when one of my favorite sites, Care2, sent me this information, I thought, "I'm sharing this, verbatim, with our Cook'n Club readers!" Care2 is quoting material from www.makinghealtheasier.org and it's from their article "It's Time to Scale Back." These infographics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) illustrate our (ab)normal eating habits.

---

(Click image to enlarge)

---

(Click image to enlarge)

---

(Click image to enlarge)

---

The point is, do we care enough about our health, and the health of our children and grandchildren, to change?

So with that question in mind, let's think about the traditional Thanksgiving dinner getting closer by the day. Maybe we want to consider HOW MUCH food we usually make and dare to serve smaller dishes of this and that. This step alone might inspire everyone to take smaller portions. I don't want to be a damp rag or rain on a holiday parade, but perhaps we could at least look at this issue and maybe gear up to eat a little differently come the new year. You in?