The effect of large portions on the waistlines of Americans is fairly obvious. If you pay attention, you will realize that eating the amount of food on your plate in most restaurants makes you feel too full. What is less obvious is the extra bites here and there during the day that add hundreds of extra calories and contribute to unwanted weight gain.

Try to guess the calories in each of the extra bites and sips during an office worker's day:

€ Extra 2 tablespoons of granola cereal to use it up

€ 2 teaspoons of powdered creamer in a cup of coffee

€ 1 Hershey's kiss from the jar on the desk

€ 1 tablespoon of trail mix from bag in desk drawer

€ Sample of piece of cheese on a cracker at the grocery store on the way home

€ Two tablespoons of macaroni and cheese while preparing it for supper

€ 7 almonds while doing the dishes

€ Two pretzel twists before going to bed

The first four extras are about 25 calories each for a total of 100 extra calories. The second four extras are 50 calories each for an additional 200 calories. Eating 300 extra calories each day for a year will add about 30 pounds of weight to a person's body.

The easiest and most effective way to get a grip on the unconscious eating you do is to become more aware of your eating environment and to make changes that reduce the availability of extra food. In the book “Mindless Eating,” Brian Wansink recommends buying and serving foods with clear “stopping points.” For example, instead of eating out of a large bag, portion the food into smaller bags or containers or buy single serving bags.

Making food less accessible also helps reduce extra bites. Wansink's research on cues to overeating shows that the more trouble it is to get food, the less a person eats. In one study, moving the Hershey's kisses from the desktop to a cabinet six feet away reduced the kisses eaten from nine a day to four a day.

To learn more about “mindless eating,” sign up by Sept. 10 for the Fit Kids conference to be held Sept. 21, at the Holiday Inn in Auburn. Wansink, director of the Cornell Brand and Food Lab, will present helpful ways to recognize and solve the problems in a family's food environment.

Visit www.cce.cornell.edu/

cayuga for information about the Fit Kids conference or call Cornell Cooperative Extension at 255-1183.

Tortillas work well for portion control. Come to the Cornell Cooperative Extension table at the Auburn Farmers Market Thursday, Sept. 6, for a taste of vegetable quesadillas.

Christine Gutelius, MA, RD, CDN, is a nutrition resource educator at

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cayuga County.

Vegetable Quesadillas

Makes 8 servings

1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup frozen chopped broccoli, cooked

1/2 cup zucchini, chopped small or shredded

1/2 cup yellow summer squash, chopped small or shredded

1/2 cup green pepper, seeded and chopped small

1/2 cup fresh tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped

1/2 cup fresh, frozen or canned corn, drained

1 cup salsa

8 ounces shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese

8 8-inch flour tortillas

Place black beans in a large mixing bowl and mash with fork or potato masher. Stir in vegetables, salsa and cheese. Spread 1/8 of filling mixture on half of each tortilla and fold other half over mixture. Spray fry pan or griddle with cooking spray and heat. Place folded tortilla in pan and cook 2-3 minutes or until lightly browned. Carefully flip and cook other side. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Serve immediately.