It is more evidence that calorie count counts — at every meal. Platter-sized, high-calorie helpings are one source of America’s weight problem.

Previous studies show that high-calorie food - such as all those French fries — significantly affects how much food we eat. Those who ate high-calorie meals in the study tended to take in more calories overall.

Other studies have looked at portion size: Put that large platter in front of us, and we’ll polish it off, researchers have shown. That too has lead to increased caloric intake.

But can having your bigger, higher-calorie meal at lunch help mute our hunger pangs at dinnertime? Must we calorie count at lunch, too?

In examining this question, Kral and her colleagues recruited women between 20 and 45 years old; some were overweight, some were normal weight, but none was dieting. Each completed a questionnaire about their eating habits and hunger patterns. They indicated whether they imposed “dietary restraint” on themselves — whether they tried to limit food to control their weight. They also completed a questionnaire about their eating attitudes.

Once a week, for six weeks, 39 women were served breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfast and dinner were the same for all the women, and they could eat as much as they wanted to eat.

Lunch varied quite a bit: Volunteers got either a 1,750-calorie or 1,250-calorie version of the lunch entrée — and it was served in three different portion sizes (18 ounces, 25 ounces, and 32 ounces).

Before each meal, the women were asked:

  a.. “How hungry are you right now?”
  b.. “How pleasant is the odor of this food?”
  c.. “How does the size of this serving compare with your usual portion?”
  d.. “How much food do you think you could consume right now?”

When the calorie count was over, women served the largest, high-calorie entrée portion ate 56% more food overall than the other women, reports Kral.

Also, at dinner each night, none of the women tried to cut back. They ate the same amount of food — regardless how big their lunch had been, she notes. They didn’t report any differences in hunger at dinnertime, either.

Bottom line: That big lunch only added significant calories to the women’s total daily calorie count and did not curb their appetites later in the day.

What Is Healthy?

Not sure what a healthy portion should look like? According to The Cleveland Clinic Department of Nutritional Therapy, a good guideline is to translate the abstract information represented by the serving size into something visual that’s easily remembered. So instead of trying to memorize lists of ounces, tablespoons, and cups, simply compare the serving sizes of particular foods to familiar physical objects. For example, a single serving of:

  a.. Vegetables or fruit is about the size of your fist.
  b.. Pasta is about the size of one scoop of ice cream.
  c.. Meat, fish, or poultry is the size of a deck of cards or the size of your palm.
  d.. Snacks such as chips are about the size of a cupped handful.
  e.. Apple is the size of a baseball.
  f.. Potato is the size of a computer mouse.
  g.. Pancakes are the size of a compact disc.
  h.. Steamed rice is the size of a cupcake wrapper.
  i.. Cheese is the size of a pair of dice or the size of your whole thumb (from the tip to the base).