The Key to Healthy Eating

Have you ever eaten last nights left overs standing over the sink? Or peanut butter straight from the jar? If this is true of you, then you could be a mindless eater.

The average person makes over 200 food choices every day, and most cannot explain their choices. Eating in America has little to do with hunger and more to do with, smells, shapes, colors, packaging, cupboards and containers.

By understanding how our environment influences our food choices, we can reduce the number of calories each day without deprivation. The key is to change our environment so we are more aware of what we eat and enjoy the experience more.

Test Your Calorie IQ:

1. Which of the following fast food meals would you rate as the healthiest choice?

   • A: McDonalds cheese burger, fries, and diet drink
   • B: Pizza Hut personal pan pepperoni pizza
   • C: Ruby Tuesday’s fresh broccoli and chicken pasta and diet drink

   Answer:

   Read more in Nutrition

   « Can’t Sleep? Try Changing the Way You Eat

   Cheer to Your Health »

   A and B ,The chicken and broccoli may sound healthier but it has over 2000 calories, while McDonald’s, and Pizza Hut both have 650 calories. What we perceive as healthy food is not always so.

2. Dick, Tom and Harry all receive a dish of candy. Dick’s dish is uncovered and sits on his desk. Tom’s candy is in a tin, and sits on a cabinet across the room. Harry’s candy dish has a lid and sits on his desk. Who is less likely to eat the most candy?

   • A: Dick
   • B: Tom
   • C: Harry

   Answer:

   B. Tom, We are not as tempted if it is not near. The lesson here is to keep tempting foods out of sight.

3. Your friend loves jelly beans but is trying to lose weight. You always send her jelly beans for her birthday, to encourage her to stay on her diet; your best strategy is to send:

   • A: An assortment of 10 colors of jelly beans
   • B: A mixed bag of jelly beans that contain 20 colors
   • C: A tray with separate compartments of 2 colors of jelly beans

   Answer:

   C. We will eat less if given a limited variety.

4. One night, at a dinner with a friend, you are offered a free wine from a vineyard in North Dakota; on another night at dinner with a friend you are offered a free wine from a French vineyard. You don’t know that both wines are a California wine, only the labels have been changed. At which meal will you likely consume more calories?

   • A: Dinner with the North Dakota wine
   • B: Dinner with the French wine
   • C: You will eat less at both meals because the wine will make you feel fuller.

   Answer:

   B. You will eat more with the French wine because you will feel it is superior.

5. You like to drink your juice out of a tall skinny glass. Your spouse likes to drink his out of a short, squat glass. Who will likely drink more?

   • A: You, the tall skinny glass
   • B: Your spouse, the short squat glass
   • C: It makes no difference

   Answer:

   B, the short squat glass. Call it an illusion, but we underestimate the amount poured in a short squat glass, and drink 74% more than in a tall skinny one. You might want to replace your short squat glasses with tall skinny ones.