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Most people think that eating healthy food minimizes weight gain. This is true to a certain extent. While most healthy food have very low calorie density, one still has to be cautious. One must not forget that weight gain is caused by consuming more calories than one burns.
What happens when a certain type of food is promoted as being healthy? Do we tend to over consume calories if we are led to believe that the food that we are eating is healthy? Apparently so.
Most healthy food have low calorie density. These types of food will fill you up long before you could ever overeat. Our minds tend to equate healthy food with the likes of an apple or a salad. You could never overeat apples or salads. As such, our minds may lead us to believe that we could eat as much healthy food as we want without gaining weight. This is also true. That is why most people eat salads when dieting.
If a particular food is promoted to be healthy, your mind could continue to believe that you could eat as much of it as you want, without over consuming calories. This being so, even if the food that you are eating has more calories than you believe. Mentioning healthy food and a salad probably comes to your mind. Salads and other healthy food are not supposed to make you gain weight.
Researchers at the Cornell University Food Lab have found that people actually eat more calories when they think the food they are eating is healthy. They apparently compensate eating or indulge more if they find that the food is healthy.
Brian Wansink conducted a research on what happens when people go to a McDonald’s or into a Subway restaurant. Subway sandwiches are marketed to be healthy. Everyone knows that a MacDonald’s meal is fattening. Based on what was discussed earlier, would people tend to over consume calories at a Subway restaurant, thinking that the meal is healthy? This is likely to be so. Watch the following video to find out more about the research conducted by Brian Wansink.
Related posts:
- Avoid Weight Gain by Placing Sweet Food Out of Reach
- Do you eat with your eyes or your stomach?
- Healthy Eating Habits for Sustainable Weight Loss
- How Do You Know When You Are Full ?
- Minimize Liquid Calories When Losing Weight
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I think this is my 2nd comment on this site.
I dunno..maybe thats true. i guess I tend to eat more of a particular food when I know its good for me so on reflection yes. BUT the foods i do eat more of are wholegrain foods lke brown rice, bran, wholegrain cereals etc. As long as they dont make u put on weight I guess its cool. I have a high metabolism so I can control my weight usually.
I personally tend not to eat out and prefer to cook my own food. No prepackaged stuff either so I dont get tempted by any fast food outlets. I like to know where my food was made/cooked and whats exactly in it!
I must admit I do overeat when it’s food I think is healthy.
I think that I did overeat when the first no-fat foods came out. I would eat a no-fat cat and not realize how many calories was in it and how much sugar they added to make up for the last fat. I don’t really think that you can overeat green beans and vegetables, etc. I think a baked potato with nothing on it is fine, but not 3 baked potatoes, or a cup of brown rice, but not 2 cups. There are a lot of things that are healthy that are also fattening. I have truly been eating in a healthy fashion for 20 years, but not paying much attention to quantity. Now I am looking at quantity. I also agree that Subway is considered “healthy” and McDonalds is considered “not healthy. Truly you can eat the same unhealthy way is Subway…and it really isn’t that healthy in spite of The Biggest Loser commercials.
Thanks Joan for the absolutely useful feedback. Its true that a lot of people start ignoring quantity when the food is promoted or thought to be healthy. Really natural and healthy food like vegetables and fruits in its original and natural form, aren’t really fattening. These are full of fiber and very low calorie density. But only a very small portion of our daily calories come from raw food. When we cook food, even healthy food, we should be cautious of quantity as the calories can add up. The subway sandwiches are all not that bad until you start adding the dressings. That is where all the calories are hidden. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe these sandwiches are promoted as low fat or healthy food without the dressings. Thank you for your comments.
I don’t know why I make so many typos when I write something here. I meant fat-free cake in the previous post and it was lost fat and not last fat!
I think that the Subway sandwich is fairly nutritious. I don’t believe much in eating processed meats (salt), and I think the bread is pretty fattening and is not made from whole grains, etc. But, for a fast food, without the dressing, or with just vinegar, it will do in a pinch and I have eaten them. On the Biggest Loser, the girl had them scoop out the inside of the bread which is a pretty good trick to cut calories.
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