You are (all of) what you eat

So now we know: Healthy eating does not equal weight loss, or health..

A study may rock your weight loss world: That was the basic finding of a recent study published in the Journal of Marketing Research. The analysis found that people who were chronically concerned about their weight and ate fitness-branded foods actually ended up eating more and working out less…

Some have alleged that this study us a conspiracy–that food companies shoveling chemicals on us wants us to keep our mouths open for more.. But others have acknowledged it’s perhaps now how you eat, but what you eat.. and how much of what you eat. Coupled with an active lifestyle. And genes.

It’s not simple.
But what is acknowledged: People who eat too much, regardless of food, don’t get thin:

The study authors gave over 150 weight-conscious men and women a bag of trail mix. Half of the snacks were labeled with the word “Fitness” and displayed an image of a running shoe; the other half were simply labeled “Trail Mix.” The participants were given eight minutes to snack at their leisure. In another phase of the study, they were given the option to exercise on a stationary bike as vigorously as they liked after eating the snack.

The results showed that people given the “Fitness” branded trail mix ate on average 59 more calories and exercised less intensely, burning 11 calories fewer than those snacking on the plainly-marked packages.

“In part it comes down to what we call the ‘health halo,’ where we tend to over-indulge and take in more calories if we feel the snacks are healthy,” Phillips said. “But to me it also kind of exposed this insidious way that labeling gives people who are trying to lose weight a false sense of security.”