100 Calorie Packs May Hurt Instead of Help

Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Sports, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | (0) Comments

Here’s one for the psychologists- those 100 calories packs of everything from M&M’s to potato chips may actually increase junk food consumption instead of controlling it. Apparently, we have an almost infinite capacity and ability for deceiving ourselves. The key of course is to know what you are eating and keep track of it. Even Michael Phelps has to keep track of his 12,000 calorie/day diet because it will vary depending on how much he is training. Apart from that, most people will eat as much as they want and that is always too much!

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Manufacturers are releasing more and more products in smaller packages. And in recent years, several brand-name products, from chips to cookies to candy, have been released in smaller packages promoted as having just 100 calories. In terms of sales, the tactic has proven successful, past research shows.

…In the other new study, Maura L. Scott at the University of Kentucky and colleagues at Arizona State University assessed people’s perceptions and eating habits of M&Ms in regular and miniature packages.

The participants were sorted into two groups: restrained and unrestrained eaters. Oddly, the restrained eaters — chronic dieters, basically — tended to consume more calories from mini-packs than unrestrained participants.

“While restrained eaters may be attracted to smaller foods in smaller packages initially, presumably because these products are thought to help consumers with their diets, our research shows that restrained eaters actually tend to consume more of these foods than they would of regular foods,” the researchers write in same journal.