Do you know I cannot even finish the half portion? I go to some of these restaurants and they set the meal before me and think to myself, "They are kidding with all this food, right?" My doggie bag would last DAYS from what they serve.

People really eat all these portions? To me that would certainly explain the obesity epidemic.

even when it's more than we can eat. And after all the years of our history when so many people struggled to afford the most basic sustenance, it's hard to pass up a bargain.

Restaurants realize that cost of the meal includes the same labor and infrastructure costs regardless of the portion size. So they sell much bigger portions, charge only slightly higher prices, and get bigger profit margins. Good for the company, bad for their customers.

Things are out of balance. Decisions that drive the free market just don't connect to what people really need to live well-adjusted lives. It's selling excess and indulgence that makes the market roar.

I generally get an appetizer or two, or split a meal with someone else at the table.

The amount of food thrown away is embarrassing.

Too much food in front of me spoils my appetite.

It sounds huge, 3/4 pounder burger!?

...12 oz. seems likely.

Although it seems somewhat larger than an averge burger to me - but maybe not so much.

White Castle burger is about 2 oz, and remembering back to the 1960s, it probably took 2-3 of 'em to equal a typical burger back then.

Besides fast food burgers, there are also non-fast food restaurant burgers to consider. I ate (3/4 of) a cheeseburger at Uno last night, which was a fairly large burger, but also fairly typical of non-fast food burgers these days.

The mountains of french fries often dumped on your plate next to these things is insane.

As I'm currently working on losing weight (managing a steady, slow two pounds down per week for the past six and a half weeks) I've been much more conscious of the need to not eat everything in front of me.

Order a small drink today, you get what used to be called a large. Order a large, get what used to be called a bucket. Add infinite refills and you have a major contributor to the obesity epidemic as well.