ScienceDaily: Everyone eats three extra cheeseburgers a day than they admit, study shows
“The study shows obese and thin people all fib about food to the same amount regardless of the number on the bathroom scale and this could be undermining national health advice.Researchers innovatively took into account the amount of energy a person burns in a day with everyone misreporting how many calories they consume by an average of 900 calories.
The study looked at 221 adults with an average age of 54 and a range of body shapes.
Researchers asked them to keep a food diary and then the researchers checked how much energy they consumed by using radioactive water and testing the urine of participants.Although obese people misreported how much they ate by an average of 1200 calories and slimmer participants by 800 calories they actually burnt 13 per cent or 400 calories more energy.
Everyone lied, whether they were obese or non-obese, about how much they consumed by the same amount -- claiming they consumed 1,800 calories on average.
900 calories in numbers
3 -- McDonald's Cheeseburgers
5 -- Pints of lager
7 -- Packets of ready salted crisps
18 -- Apples
300 -- Cherry tomatoes”
My Takeaways From This Article
In this study done by the University of Essex, people surveyed tended to usually underestimate how much calories and food that they actually consumed throughout the day. The average calories over (real - stated) came out to be 900 calories! Which is the equivalent of three McDonalds cheeseburgers.
One of the ways to keep healthy weight and maintain healthy living habits is being mindful of the calories that we consume. Therefore it's important that we take note of calories and nutrients, especially if we have tendencies to overeat occasionally. For example, as someone who is wanting to slowly gain weight, I have been eating excess calories from maintenance but carefully counting to not get it out of control.
There are many sources of ‘hidden calories’ in foods! That trail mix you ate during break might very well have upwards to 200 calories! The morning coffee with milk cream may have had some significant calories too! It’s important to note these little things on top of your meals for a more accurate calorie count.
Full article is here!
What are some takeaways from this article? Do you count your calories? What are some ways you watch how much you’re eating?
#Food #Eating #Dieting
@sunnyWriting4806 I think I expected this type of finding from people. We really don't realize how many calories we consume. I don't actively count my calories because I know I'd become obsessive about it and it wouldn't be healthy for me, but I do try and just eat healthier foods and watch how much cholesterol I eat as well because mine was high lol oops
@fruityPond7887 I'm similar, not necessarily obsessive about it, but it would alter my eating habits and not necessarily in a good way.
@sunnyWriting4806 Some things here seem a bit off, I need to really look at the study to understand what is being said here I think.
I'm not a fan with how this article was done. Are people lying? Forgetting? Actually stating everything they ate but not getting the calorie counts correct (ie. serving sizes)?
The article about the study is getting something that really stands out wrong. No radioactive water was used, isotope labelling was used, but we're not talking tritium or something like that. Using radioactive labels with volunteers when a serious condition isn't being monitored isn't typical and would have difficulties getting ethics approval.
