The Triple Double Oreo, an Oreo consisting of three wafers and two cream fillings — basically the Big Mac of cookies — made its debut this week.
At 100 calories and 4.5 grams of fat per serving, it sounds like a reasonable treat, until you realize Kraft defines one serving as one cookie.
Who limits themselves to one cookie? Let’s be real — most of us will go through the whole bag in one sitting, probably while watching “The Biggest Loser.”
Serving sizes have been under scrutiny lately, with the Center for Science in the Public Interest asking the Food and Drug Administration earlier this month to revise its serving-size regulations, arguing that many are misleading and unrealistic.
Here’s a look at the serving sizes of some grocery and restaurant foods, and how they may be better suited:
PAM
Serving size: One fourth of a second — shorter than the time it takes to think, “Have I been doing this for one-fourth of a second?”
Perfect for: People who have the power to slow and/or stop time
Reddi-wip
Serving size: 2 tablespoons (there are 40 servings in every 7-ounce can)
Perfect for: Topping a thumbnail-size slice of apple pie at a tiny barbecue
Starbucks’ new Trenta (31 ounces of iced coffee or tea)
Serving size: One
Perfect for: People who’ve always wanted to know how to say “Super Big Gulp” in Italian
Outback Steakhouse’s Bloomin’ Onion
Serving size: Outback’s website says this “Aussie-Tizer,” with its 1,966 calories, 160 grams of fat and 4,078 milligrams of sodium, is safely shared among six people.
Perfect for: Men who still can’t grasp the concept of “date night”
California Pizza Kitchen’s Kids Curly Mac ‘N’ Cheese
Serving size: One. But it packs 33 grams of saturated fat, more than one-and-a-half times the amount an adult should consume in a day.
Perfect for: Population control
Marla Caceres is a writer and performer at The Second City, 1616 N. Wells St., Chicago.
