Lying to yourself about your health makes about as much sense as this.Come on, you can tell me. You’re an adult now so hopefully you didn’t resort to the old under-the-napkin or feed-it-to-the-dog tricks. Did you get the leafy greens out with the full intent of sauteeing them with some lovely garlic and shallots that you picked up at the farmer’s market on the way home from work (On your bike. While exhaling oxygen and inhaling CO2, you’re that green.) and then forgot all about them as you were seduced by the sleazy siren call of the Hungry Man? Or did you actually cook ’em up, reveling in your wicked cookery skillz, and then take a bite only to remember exactly why you had to have the produce man show you the spinach and even then you didn’t recognize it until he laid that limp bundle in your hands?
People Lie
People lie. This might surprise you – if you live in Coke land, perhaps. The rest of us are quite aware that everyone lies in this culture of photoshopped-in cellulite and airbrushed-out navels, of vanity sizing and Spanx, of Internet gossip and PR spin. The problem is, we don’t realize that “everyone” includes us.
I could ask you to tell me, honestly, how many servings of fruit and veggies you’ve eaten today. But you would probably lie to me. And the worst part? You might not even know it!
The Lying Study
A recent study demonstrated this point by mailing out flyers to random households. (You know, I almost love snail-mail junk mail. Sure I get some crap credit card applications or expired coupons for an oil change but I’ve yet to see a “VIA&*RA” ad that misspells the male anatomy seven different ways come through my local post office.) Anyhow, half of the mailers contained information about the “Five a Day” campaign and a fridge magnet while the other half were “generic,” which I have no idea what that means when it comes to junk mail. Were the generic letters just, “Hey! Miss you! Remember that time when, yeah… Me neither. L8rs!”? I love researchers.
10 days later they followed up with the (unwitting) participants and asked them how many servings of fruit or vegetables they’d eaten in the past 24 hours. The group that got the “Five a Day” letter, reported – shockingly – 5.2 servings. I’m guessing the added 0.2 serving was for good measure, just so the random stranger polling them would know that they eat every last green been on their plate, even the smooshed halvsie. The group that got the generic letter reported only 3.7.
The two groups were large and random enough that the responses should have been similar.
But they weren’t because the first group was lying. And further more, the researchers postulated that they didn’t even realize that they were lying. They had convinced themselves that they had actually eaten more produce.
The Lying Consequences
It’s a documented fact that people underestimate the number of calories they eat in a day, usually by one-third. And now you know that people overestimate the servings of healthy
food they eat every day. So who cares if some poor undergrads got lied to over the phone? (Doesn’t that pretty much sum up the dating scene freshman year anyhow?)
Your health cares. If you sincerely believe you are undereating on calories and overeating on vegetables then you won’t be able to make the necessary exercise and nutrition adjustments to compensate. This is why so many diet plans call for food journals. You just can’t trust yourself.
Although if you are too lazy to journal and really good at observing, Men’s Health has a really cool article about how to tell if someone is lying. I tried these today while standing in front of my mirror and lying. I think it actually kinda worked. Not sure what that says about me.
How about you? How do you stay honest? Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies…
(Apologies in advance for being long-winded:) ).
I tried the whole food diary thing a few times. The first time, it didn’t work at all. The second time it worked great! Then I tried a third time and my disordered eating got WAY out of hand as I got too obsessed. So I don’t journal anymore.
That being said, I keep track of it all in my head throughout the day. I know the caloric content of most foods and I also try to keep a rough track of my food groups. I know for sure that I eat loads of fruit, not enough dairy, and usually too much of the grains (but the meats part is usually about right). And for veggies? I munch on them constantly. I can go through a bag of mushrooms and several large carrots as my evening snack, and I tend to eat a tomato and half a cucumber and a head of broccoli as the day goes on. I’m really big on the grazing, so I *try* to keep it mostly to the vegetables:)
The good thing about knowing that we lie to ourselves is that then we can at least be a little bit more aware of it and question ourselves when we make any kind of statement. We still might not be bang on, but at least we’re a little bit closer to the truth.
I’ve done food journals many a time but usually just counting calories. Since starting the Primal I’ve been keeping track of all the other little goodies in food – fat, carbs, protein.
Wow is that ever interesting! I thought I was doing really well at keeping my calories down – but it doesn’t do me much good when 51% of those calories are coming from carbs! It’s been a challenge to find a balanced ratio that it going to allow me to trim down!
It SO doesn’t surprise me that people lie. When you go out in the real world and see what people eat, or especially if you go to a restaurant and TRY to get some vegetables with your meal, it seems pretty obvious that most people don’t want them and won’t eat them unless it’s a slice of tomato on their burger.
And then you read these surveys that say that we don’t eat quite enough vegetables because people are only getting 3.5 a day or whatever. And you know most people are not getting even close to that much, let alone the much bigger amount they should be getting.
I’m starting a new round of food journaling today, after returning from vacay. For the express reason to keep me honest about what I’m eating and when/what I’m snacking on. I didn’t pay attention over vacation but need to get back on track now!
95% of the time, though, I keep track in my head. I know how much of what types of food I’ve had, but no idea how many calories.
I have to be completely honest.
For the past 48 hours my only vegetable has come from the most delectable carrot cake ever. My birthday is tomorrow, but my sweet husband threw me a surprise party on Saturday, complete with a carrot cake that could probably feed about 50 people. WHEW! I feel so much better now!
Oh, and I just realized the other day that I’ve been telling people all year long that I’m 27 – I won’t actually be 27 until tomorrow. I have no idea why I did that. All these lies!!! 🙂
it all depends on what yer definition of lie is, right?
I like to think of it as being overlyuberoptimistic.
Miz.
Here in Oz they ran a campaign for 5 veg and 2 fruit a day which is more than they seem to advertise in the States, and I know for sure it’s only 5 pieces of either fruit or veg in the UK.
I doubt I get that many per day though. I would overshoot the fruit mark every day as I snack a lot on fruit, but it’s hard to get 5 serves of vegies each and every day. I figure as long as you try to get it most days you’ll be alright.
Interesting you started with spinach. I get my veggies, but some of it comes from sneaking in stuff. For example, I put spinach in with my morning eggs. It wilts down and is easy to eat with them. I also put spinach in meat sauce and meat dishes, and I might dice up a green pepper and a zuchinni for a meat sauce or dish as well. And I always pick one veggie as a side, no matter what I’m eating. And my snacks are fruit, usually. Or snap peas. They are so delicious. Another veggie! Anyway, I’m sure I’ve lied about what I’m eating (or more likely I’ll forget), but not so much anymore.
I am another one who “sneaks” the veggies in. I prefer to eat them chopped up and disguised in something else…Frozen chopped Spinach, for example, can be thrown into a soup. If the flavours are balanced correctly, you can hardly notice the nasty spinach taste (sorry. have never learned to like greens). So I make batches of soups and freeze them in single servings for lunches.
Aside from hiding my veggies, I mainly eat lots of salads. I prefer raw veggies where possible.
Fruit is easier when it’s in season. Then it actually tastes good. Otherwise, I buy frozen fruit and mix it with vanilla yogurt.
I can’t claim that I specifically count servings, but I do make an effort to eat the stuff.
Sagan – I’m not a fan of food journal myself as you’re right, they make my ED go crazy with power:) I love your veggie grazing habit! I like eating mushrooms like that too!
Gretchen – that’s cool that you are seeing where your cals are going. And, for the record, 51% carbs really isn’t that bad. Zone (considered the “moderation in everything” diet) says to do 40.
Gena – welcome back! Good luck with the journal.
Colleen – HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRL! (Tomorrow). I’m glad you ate the carrot cake. Everyone should have really good cake for their birthday:)
at22 & javachick – you are some sneaky girls! Love the ideas.
I use FitDay periodically to track my diet. I don’t do it every day, but usually after a period of bad eating (like when my mom visits, we go on a weekend trip, or right now, when we have extra people in our house) I’ll do a few days worth to get me back on track.
I usually get lots and lots of fruit, but veggies are hit and miss. I’d eat a lot of them – really – but my husband not so much, and so it’s hard. If I’m eating a salad, while he’s eating some yummy cheese-covered dish, then I feel deprived, and get cranky. If he would eat salads with me, it would be different. I still probably get a few servings of veggies a day, especially if you count beans.
Thanks for the reality check. bah… i need more veggies 🙁 or is it 🙂 because I’ll feel better??
I think I actually do get the 5-7 servings of fruit/veggies per day (no lie!). I have three fruits at breakfast, then usually 1-2 servings at lunch, and 1 sometimes 2 at dinner. I have fewer than that in the winter, but that’s about average, though it does depend on the day.
I used to hate veggies – my entire adolescence the only veggies I ate were peas and basic salad veggies. Now I’ve found that I do actually like spinach (if cooked right) and asparagus (ditto cooking) and brussel sprouts, etc. I think it’s all in the flavoring of them, for me.
I definitely fall off the veggie wagon sometimes, though. Like the last couple of days, what with the holiday, my veggies looked more like chips and alcohol and dip.
My rule for a while now has been:
“People look like what they do, not what they say they do, when it comes to health and fitness claims.”
Wow. Kinda like the people who say they only watch PBS, right? Meanwhile they’re hunkering down with the shades drawn watching “Celebrity Fit Club.”
I’m a big fan of sneaking veggies in. Putting spinach in pasta sauce, carrots in my kids’ man-n-cheese, pureed sweet potatoes in various recipes, etc. It makes food taste better, and you get your veggies in.
I’m not a fan of the food journal, though. I also get obsessive about it. The only journal I ever liked was one where I wrote down how hungry I was before and after, and how I was feeling as I ate.
Judy – You nailed it. I often think back to college when my roomies and I just never had crap in the house – and I loved that! Now however with a husband and 3 sons… I’m so with you, girl.
Lethological – you sound like me. I loves my fruit. No problems getting 10 a day there! And I *like* veggies and I just hate preparing them and therefore forget sometimes…
Dr. J – you always say more in one sentence than I manage in 800 words!
I definitely get my 5+ in a day but only because I plan my weekly meals out in advance.
And yes, I would probably lie to myself about what I’m eating if I didn’t make an effort to record it every few weeks.
see, i know for a fact i don’t get in enough fruits and veggies these days. part of it is living at home when the planned dinner “vegetable side” is freaking potato salad (silly summer), but i try.
it probably was a bit easier during the times i kept a food journal and definitely when i was on the bodybugg, but yeah.
i think another reason people lie (but maybe not consciously) is because SO MANY PEOPLE have no idea what an actual serving of fruits or vegetables is.
Funny, I just sauteed kale with garlic yesterday. (Long time ago, I discovered I love the taste of sauteed garlic, and could get myself to eat any vegetable as long as garlic was involved.)
I probably don’t get 5 a day of vegetables, mostly because I’m not sure my serving is an actual serving, but I definitely get at least 5 a day of fruits.
The best part about fruits are most are just wash and eat.
The problem with veggies is I only like them cooked, which takes significantly more time, and leaves extra dishes for washing. (the sole exception being grape/cherry tomatoes, which is botanically, a fruit, but culinarily a vegetable, so it counts!) If it weren’t for frozen veggies (just nuke!), I’d probably fall way short of 5 a day.
Pizza is a vegetable, right?
I’ve been good about eating good stuff for the past 6 months or so, but have definitely slipped quite a bit lately. I firmly believe in the whole paleo eating thing, but have had pizza 4 times in the past 1.5 weeks…
Long story short, right now I’d be scared to death to re-start my food journaling. And that in itself should tell me that I need to do it.
Confession time: yesterday I went the entire day without eating any additional carbs besides one small apple.
I had a microwave lasagna for dinner (at work, yeah, I walked 2 miles to get it and justified it that way), and my carb-cravings when on overdrive.
When I got home I ate about 4 sugars cookies and 1 large piece of garlic bread!
I feel okay about it, although it wasn’t on the menu for the primal lifestyle. I’m just giving myself a break this time, I’ve had a great week, and today I’m right back on the wagon (besides that cookie I had at breakfast to make sure I didn’t really want anymore of them…. :/ eek).
Oh, major contributor to eating that crap last night – I didn’t eat ANY vegetables ALL. DAY. LONG.
Re: the idea that vanity sizing is an example of a lie.
~sigh~ Unwittingly, you dispel this idea in another entry you wrote about kid’s obesity. Let me explain.
The average size for women in the US will ALWAYS be a 10. The reason being, a size 10 is the middle of a manufacturer’s size spread. For efficient fabric cutting, you need the same number of sizes off to either side of the median size (the default is 10). Long story. Anyway, this is why sizing evolves. As women get heavier, the dimensions that constitute the “average size” will increase to match their increasing girth. This explains why we’re not wearing clothes sized to match people who lived in the 1800’s.
Lately, the situation has become markedly worse resulting in so called “vanity sizing” because young people today are much heavier when we were their ages and since they buy twice as many clothes as we do, their financial pull has the weight (no pun intended) to alter the average size manufacturers cut.
In sum, manufacturers are cutting to the mean of consumers buying clothes. It’s not due to vanity sizing that if your dimensions haven’t changed in 20 years, that you’re buying two sizes smaller than you did then. The issue is that the *average*, the mean today, is two sizes larger than we were 20 years ago. The solutions are to:
1. Get your kids on a diet
2. All of us older folks to buy a lot more clothes
3. Buy more expensive clothes. Wealthy people are thinner. If designer and bridge lines didn’t size to their core customer, they’d be out of business. I guarantee a RL purple label size 10, is two sizes smaller than a size 10 at the Gap.
Kathleen – FASCINATING comment. I honestly had never thought of sizing that way. I’d never before heard the adage that a “10” is supposed to be average. I will have to think on this one for a bit. Thanks for the info – I think this one deserves it’s own post!
I’m also doing the primal challenge, and I’m kind of loving getting so much more fat in my diet 🙂 Yay hazelnuts! I guess that I’m the exception to the rule in that I LOVE my food diary. But I use freeware called a CRON-o-meter and not only do I record calories, but it tells me the macronutrient ration of everything I’m eating. For me, and I realize again I may be in the very small minority, the food diary is actually freeing. Not only does it keep me honest and therefore out of the work candy jar, but I also know what I’ve eaten and I can plan what I will eat accordingly. For example, if I had a carb heavy lunch, I know I should have a protein and fat heavy dinner. I feel really good so far. As an interesting side note, I find I have fewer carb cravings than I did before now that I eat way more fat.
Hi Charlotte, glad you published and noticed my comment. Most bloggers delete them; they don’t want to hear anything that conflicts with a position they’ve staked publicly. As a pattern maker in the industry for 25 years, I’ve had time to think about it. Plus, I’m obsessed with the history of body sizing and anthropometry.
I’ve written a great deal about this. A book’s worth in all it’s ramifications. I need to aggregate them and put them in one place. At the close of this entry, you’ll find a list of most of them if you’re interested in pursuing the topic.