Food Labels Change Our Eating Habits

In this episode of the Lifting Lindsay Podcast, Lindsay introduces a new segment called Fun Fact Fridays, aimed at delivering quick, digestible facts. She shares insights on how marketing labels such as 'low calorie' or 'guilt-free' can misleadingly affect our eating behaviors, leading to overconsumption. By referencing studies and personal anecdotes, Lindsay explores the psychology behind food labeling and its impact on consumption habits.

Topics:
0:00 Food Labels Change Our Eating Habits
00:06 New feature on the podcast!
02:13 New training program starting soon!
03:03 A story about popcorn
05:07 Studies on labels affecting eating habits
11:40 Comparing apples to apples

Researcher quoted - http://www.brianwansink.com/home/why-low-fat-labels-make-us-overeat

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Creators & Guests

Host

Lindsay

Wife and mother of three. I have a deep passion for learning and teaching. I also really love lifting weights and fitness.

What is LiftingLindsay's More Than Fitness?

Dive into the joy of fitness with Lindsay and other guests exploring how it goes well and beyond the gym floor, the number on the scale, the size of your waist or the calories you're counting.

Lindsay: Welcome, welcome to
the Lifting Lindsay Podcast.

Guys, I'm really excited to start
a new thing here on the podcast.

I'm gonna be doing Fun
Fact Fridays for y'all.

So I really love podcasts because
it gives me an opportunity to dive

deep into some subjects and kind of
look at more of the nuance of it and

teach you things a little bit deeper.

But.

I also think that sometimes
we get lost in the weeds.

I mean, I know I love me a good rabbit
hole to dive deep down into and maybe

never come up, never get out of it.

Um, I, I do, I, I love learning
about things and the way my brain

works sometimes it's annoying
because I'll say something, but a

piece of my, like brain is saying.

But what about this?

But what about this?

But what about this other thing over here?

It's like, it's like I'm having an
argument all the time with myself

as I study things, and even as I
present these podcasts to you guys,

I'll say something and a little, you
know, voice in the back of my head.

It's like, but what about this, Lindsay?

And sometimes I get lost
in the weeds of that.

So Fun Fact Fridays are going
to be quick, easy, digestible.

We're gonna talk about quickly lay
out a fact and then the application

to you, because I know that not
everybody wants to dive into the

weeds of things with me, right?

So this will be perfect for those of you
who on Fridays you can show up because you

know you're getting something fast, right?

And then you know how
to apply it to yourself.

So.

That's what we're gonna be doing.

Fun fact Fridays.

I, I know I thought of that name myself.

It was pretty clever.

I'm just kidding.

Before we dive into today's,
topic, which is how marketing

labels change our eating behaviors.

Yeah.

Yeah.

This is gonna be fun.

So I'm gonna share a study with you.

We're going to talk
about it in application.

What does that mean for you?

Just takeaways, red flags to be aware.

Okay, before we dive into that, just
wanted to let you know new training

programming is starting April 22nd
on the Lifting Lindsay training app.

Come and learn how to lift smart
and, uh, join us in the Be Strong

community that comes with the app.

Uh, we have awesome
conversations in there.

I do lives every other week.

There's more education like on fat loss,
reverse dieting, builds, menopause.

Uh, we got a lot of fun stuff in there,
including recipes and meal plans.

So, join us, y'all.

Okay.

Let's get into this.

So I'm gonna start with sharing a story.

I, when I first started
getting into being a coach.

I went over to my neighbor's house and
she didn't know much about me, but she

just found out that we had, we'd moved
into this new neighborhood and stuff

and she just found out that I was in
nutrition and just a health coach,

whatever you wanna call me, um, therapist.

I know some of my clients in the
past will say I've also been there.

They're health therapist
is what they call me.

So she was really excited when I went
over there for kind of this party and

we were gonna watch this show together
and she had all this food spread out

for us to enjoy, and she was really
excited to show me this popcorn that she

had found and she's like, look, look.

And she's pointing at the label.

She's like, it's low calorie.

Isn't that amazing?

Low calorie and guilt free.

'cause that's what this label said, right?

And she's like, that, this
is so, and it tastes so good.

And I was like, that is so cool.

And then you guys, I'm sorry, I'm
just getting over this cold and

my voice is shot, so bear with me.

So then we sat down to watch this movie.

Halfway through the movie, her young
daughter grabs the bag of popcorn from

her mom and says, mom, we're talking about
like a family size kind of bag of popcorn.

Like, like a bag of chips, right?

This isn't a tiny bag of popcorn.

This is big, and this
is, this is a share size.

Share with 20 people size kinda thing.

So her daughter grabs it outta her hand,
probably wanting some, and she goes, mom,

and she just starts yelling at her mom
and she goes, just because it says low

calorie, it's not gonna be low calorie
anymore if you eat the whole fricking bag.

And I just burst out laughing.

It was the funniest
thing in the world to me.

Well.

Fast forward couple years
later, and they're literally

doing studies on this now.

How or does labeling that affect, the
eating habits of the person eating it?

And what they found is,
well, this is interesting.

Let me just break it
down really fast for you.

And I'll share, um, in the notes,
uh, where you can read more about

this guy's study and research.

There's a research researcher named
Brian Wayne Sink, I think is his,

how you pronounce his last name.

He is pretty much this known leader
in the industry in studying consumer

behavior and marketing research.

So he decided that he was gonna study what
these labels, um, and, and specifically

at this time, low fat was really big.

They were putting low
fat on everything, right?

Because they thought, well, fat.

Makes you fat, so we need
to push low fat everything.

Right?

And, and they would do this.

It, it's kind of crazy to learn
about, a little bit about the, the

history of how that came about.

And, and there's this, uh, article
that this Brian Mann wrote and notice

how I'm avoiding saying his last name.

Brian.

We'll just call, we're on a
first name basis here, right?

Brian wrote this article.

Um, all about how when these low sugar,
low calories, low fat, when these

started hitting the shelves, they could
not even keep them on the shelves.

They were just, everybody was super
excited and, and he, he showed how

deceiving some of these labels were,
meaning that there were some where.

This wasn't, they would be labeled
lower fat or lower calories, and

it, it was just by a few calories,
so it wasn't even a, a ton.

Like I think that there was one
cookie, um, one low fat Oreo

cookie only has 50 calories.

Well, the regular version has
just over three calories more.

So the difference was, yeah, it was,
it was lower calorie by three calories.

So that's what they were doing and it,
and they found that what it was doing

is leading us to mindlessly overeat with
this idea that, oh, I can abandon any

type of regulation because I can do this
guilt free because it's lower calories.

Lower fat, whatnot.

So there was one study that he did
with, um, a colleague, Pierre Chandon,

and he basically, they invited
people to watch a movie commercial,

a, an episode of Dukes of Hazzard.

They had them sit down and they
gave them a bag of granola.

The bag of granola was, and they
also did this later, it appears

from what he's saying, with
chocolate, with low fat chocolate.

Well, they gave them a bag of
granola that was labeled either

low fat granola or regular granola.

So he said, in reality, all the
granola was actually low fat.

These people didn't know that.

Well, the people watched the video.

They ate the granola.

Then here's what's really interesting.

Those given what was labeled as
low fat granola kept munching long

after the other group had stopped.

So they're watching this, they're
recording the time spent, and

then after the movie, after the
timeframe, they actually weighed the

remaining granola to see how much.

Had been eaten, how much
had been HA had disappeared.

It turned out that those who
thought they were eating the low

fat granola guys, they ate 35% more.

This idea that it was low fat,
let them release some of this

desire to reign things in.

They ate 35%.

More when they offered people
in the group low fat chocolate,

they loaded up on 23% more.

Isn't that so crazy?

So the low fat label was really
tricking people into eating more.

Of the product, more of their
product than the regular.

And I feel like that's what this
guilt free thing label does too.

It deceives people into
thinking, well, you can eat as

much as you want, guilt free.

Look, there's a reason why I
have people come to me all the

time saying, I don't get it.

I eat healthy.

Yet, I'm not losing weight.

Well, guess what?

When I'm at maintenance maintaining
my weight, I too eat healthy.

See, it's not just about eating healthy,
eating low fat, eating guilt-free foods.

It's still comes down to portions.

It still comes down to are you
in a calorie deficit or not?

I just really want to bring
attention to this as you go grocery

shopping, watch and be careful.

A lot of times when people see
guilt free too, they think this is

a healthier version and, and if by
healthier you mean more nutrient dense

version than the other.

I don't know.

That just depends on, we've gotta
compare apples to apples, right?

But do you know what it, it could mean?

It could mean 30% less enjoyment that
you could have had if you just grabbed

the other version that you actually
liked more and stayed within the portion.

That's, that's what it could mean.

A lot of these, um, guilt free,
low fat, lower calories, you

actually don't even enjoy as much.

So you buy them thinking, well,
this is part of my quote unquote

diet quote unquote fat loss phase.

And then you end up enjoying them less.

And a lot of times what we're
seeing as far as the psychological

aspect of dieting habits.

Is that when you enjoy your food
less, you're more likely than to

keep looking for something that
will actually give you satisfaction.

So you can end up eating more because
you ate this meal that, yeah, you're full

afterwards, but you're not satisfied.

So that's why sometimes people will
keep nitpicking at things because.

Being satisfied is a piece of the puzzle
of can I stick to this nutrition plan?

So keep that in mind as you are looking
for lower calorie recipes that will fit

better into your maybe fat loss phase.

Make sure they still taste good.

Okay?

And believe me, they're out there.

Those recipes are out there.

We have tons of different, I mean, you
can just go to Pinterest and Google

macro friendly foods, and people have
figured this stuff out for you all.

So keep in mind that these, these
low fat, these guilt free one can

trick you into eating a lot more,
and so you have hit maintenance.

Maybe above, you've exceeded your
current plan under this guise of,

well, no, but it's, it's healthier
or it's guilt free, or it has lower

fat or this and this and that.

That's just what we're
seeing in the studies.

People feel they can let go of the reign,
so to say, and they can eat way more.

And so just keep that in mind.

As you guys go out and you're grocery
shopping or you're beginning this

new lifestyle, you're trying to
figure out this new health, fitness,

lifestyle, you got some goals, okay?

You don't need to look for
those guilt-free foods.

You should not feel guilt
with your food choices.

There.

It's not a moral issue, it's
just, is this more nutrient dense?

Will it make me feel better?

Does it have more fiber?

Okay, I want to eat more of those.

Can I still enjoy, two
or three Oreos that day?

Sure.

That can fit in or whatever.

You know, small treat.

Yeah.

That can still fit into your plan.

I'm really a firm believer in 80%
Whole Foods and then keep 10, 20%

of those fun foods, those foods
that, that help you enjoy life.

And if majority of your nutrition,
80, 90% is coming from Whole

Foods, you're still going to fuel.

Your best.

You're fueling yourself,
you're fueling your goals.

You're going to feel fuller longer
too, but don't think that just

because something is labeled guilt
free that you can just let go of the

reins and eat as much as you want.

Right.

Just like my friend you was yelling
at her mom like just because it's low

calorie, it's no longer low calorie mom.

If you eat the whole bag.

Okay guys, thanks for joining me
today on the Lifting Lindsay Podcast.

You guys are awesome and I
will talk to you next week.