Real diet found in food diary
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When talking to people who are trying to lose weight, I often come across the "dieter's paradox": They "hardly eat anything," but they still don't lose weight. This seems to be one of our biggest problems — we never believe we're eating anything.
The New England Journal of Medicine reported that people attempting to lose weight tend to underestimate the amount they eat by as much as 47 percent and to overestimate their physical activity by as much as 51 percent. When scientists at the USDA's Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in Maryland asked 98 men and women how much they ate in a 24-hour period, they found that 6 out of 7 women underreported by an average of 621 calories, and 6 out of 10 men underreported by an average of 581 calories.
When the American Cancer Institute did a study asking Americans to determine the portion sizes of eight specific foods, only 1 percent got them all right. Sixty-one percent couldn't get more than four correct.
What should you do? Challenge yourself to find out what you're consuming. Keep track of everything you eat, even the small, insignificant foods (like a piece of gum) for at least three days. Why? Think about it: just 25 extra calories per day means an additional 2.5 pounds per year. Multiply that by 10 years, and you've just put on 25 pounds.
Here are calorie counts for "just one" of a few foods. And remember that you would have to walk for one minute to burn off every four calories you eat over your daily calorie budget (an average of 2,000). The point of presenting the calorie "costs" of foods isn't to get you to stop eating them, but to get you to think about food before you eat it.
Believe it or not, one french fry has only 5 calories, while a single Pringle has 10.
The grape tomato has one calorie, whereas a green grape has four. Both are great choices, however, particularly for their antioxidants.
A spaghetti strand has only 3.5 calories, whereas the soup has 6.25 calories. Keep in mind, however, that research indicates that eating a low-calorie soup is a great way to fill up before a meal.
Who would think that chewing two or three pieces of gum a day adds up to 4.5 pounds per year? The winner here is Juicy Fruit at 10 calories, compared with Bazooka's 15.
M&Ms can be a pretty good deal at times, especially if you compare them to a candy bar (one bite of a Hershey's bar with almonds has 37 calories). However, they have 4.3 calories apiece.
I hear a lot about jelly beans being low in fat, but they're still four calories per bean. Altoids and other mints supposedly serve a function — to freshen your breath — so the calories don't matter, right? Sorry, one Altoid has almost 3.5 calories.
Clearly the cheese is the better choice nutritionally, but cheese is not a health food you can consume without guilt — one bite-size (1/2-inch) cube has 55 calories, whereas the cookie has only 37.5. Whenever possible, go with low-fat cheese. A great one is Cabot's Vermont 50 Percent Light Cheddar — 35 calories per 1/2-inch cube.
Here again, the cashew has health benefits that outweigh those of the nutritionally bland corn chip; however, cashews have 8.5 calories per nut, whereas Fritos have five per chip.
Both are super vegetables. Carrots have the antioxidant beta carotene, which may reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer and promote better vision, while broccoli is loaded with health benefits (high in vitamins A, C and K and a great source of iron and folate). OK, so which is lower in calories? It's the broccoli at 0.8 calories; the baby carrot has 1.25.
Charles Stuart Platkin is a nutrition and public health advocate, and author of "Breaking the Pattern" (Plume, 2005). Sign up for the free Diet Detective newsletter at www.dietdetective.com.
Reach Charles Stuart Platkin at info@thedietdetective.com.
