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 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.
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.