Being Fat Not Our Fault?

McDonald's is not the only place where food is supersized.

According to NPR.org, the food in The Last Supper painting has been supersized over time. A computer program examined 52 paintings of The Last Supper from the last 1,000 years and found that entree sizes grew by 69 percent and bread size grew by 23 percent. 

(Read the article to see pictures of The Last Supper supersize over the years.)

The findings suggest bigger portion sizes and bigger plates have been developing gradually, said Brian Wansink, co-author of the study and author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. 

So it's not our fault then that we're so fat, right? If the people before us kept increasing plate size, we can't help it that we were born into a time where food was served 69 percent larger than before. 

Maybe. 

I suspect that at some point, we have to take some blame for obesity being an epidemic. At some point, we have to take initiative to exercise, eat healthier, and (gasp) eat less. 

I'm always surprised when I hear that a serving size of meat, fish or poultry should be the same size as the palm of your hand (not including your fingers). Six dice is about a serving of cheese and the tip of your thumb is one teaspoon of peanut butter. My mindset demonstrates exactly how blown out of proportion my thoughts  on portion sizes (and probably most others) are. 

"The lat thousand years have witnessed dramatic increases in the production, availability, safety, abundance and affordability of food," Wansink said, "We think that as art imitates life, these changes have been reflected in paintings of history's most famous dinner." 

Here's hoping that in another 1,000 years, portion sizes and plate sizes decrease and don't increase another 69 percent. 

Or else we might end up like the humans in Wall-E.