New research shows the unexpected ways that even the health-conscious can sabotage their best efforts to eat (and drink) well.
You've been firing on all cylinders at work.
It seems counterintuitive, but when we feel proud of past accomplishments (like after a glowing performance review), we're more likely to reach for junk food, according to a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
However, if we're feeling excited and hopeful (maybe thinking about how
our presentation is going to kill it at next month's conference), we're
more likely to resist the candy and opt for something good for us, like
fruit. "When an individual is happy or proud, they tend to get more
sucked up in the moment," says study author Karen Page Winterich.
"Hopeful people are more focused on the future and the goals they would
like to achieve—such as losing weight or eating healthier."
You’re drinking out of the wrong shape of glass.
You’re drinking out of the wrong shape of glass.
Your ice cream dish is white porcelain.
You store pretzels and other snacks in clear jars.
We're more tempted by food when it's in our sight, according to Wansink, the author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. In his experiments, subjects ate 70 percent more chocolate when the bonbons were placed in a clear bowl than when they were in an opaque bowl. Wansink has also found that we're three times more likely to eat the first thing we lay eyes on than the fifth. So keep apples in a bowl on the counter and the Oreos in the package in the cabinet in the pantry.You're not wearing your eyeglasses in chain restaurants.
To find out how strongly nutritional information affects purchase decisions (if at all), researchers interviewed New York City restaurant patrons in 2007 and 2009—one year before and then nine months after the city required fast-food joints to post calorie counts. The researchers, who published their findings in the British Medical Journal, found that the labels failed to stop patrons in their tracks: Only about one in six lunchtime customers said they noticed or read them. However, these people (usually women, unsurprisingly) placed orders that had about 106 fewer calories, on average, than the others. The researchers don't know exactly how these people scaled back their orders (did they order smaller fries? skip the cheese? or did they go for grilled instead of fried?), but they did conclude that the labels had an overall positive effect. Seek out the charts, skim the info, and then ask yourself if the tortilla is worth the extra calories (290, if you'reYou've switched from regular soda to diet.
Yes, you're saving hundreds of calories. But nutritionists have recently become suspicious of artificial sweeteners. One theory is that by delivering intense sweetness without any of the calories that would accompany that taste in nature, these chemicals disturb the complicated feedback loops between the brain, stomach, nerves and hormones. Your body and brain are primed for calories and energy, and...nothing happens. "This can cause you to crave more sweet foods," say nutritionists (and diet-soda skeptics) Stephanie Clarke and Willow Jarosh, and that craving can be too strong to resist. Artificial sweeteners may also mess with your sense of satiety. While studies with humans are inconclusive, Purdue University researchers found that rodents who ate food sweetened with saccharine consumed more calories and gained more weight than did rats fed sugar-sweetened food. Treat diet soda like a treat, not a staple.Read more: http://www.oprah.com/health/Why-You-Are-Eating-More-Surprising-Reasons-You-Are-Still-Hungry/6#ixzz2Sv6uM2SP
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