A recent phone survey found that Americans are concerned about eating healthy, what with the amount of public health messages that are currently being sent out – and 90% of respondents actually thought they were eating right too. However when they were asked about the specifics of what they were eating, what respondents thought was ‘eating healthy’ was perhaps not that healthy after all.
Just 30% of those surveyed said that they ate the requisite 5 servings of vegetables and fruits per day. Only about 13% weigh themselves each day and just 8% are concerned about counting the amount of calories that they consume per day.
It was found that though people think that they are eating healthy, the specifics of their consumption patterns indicate otherwise when things like sugar and fat intake and the intake of fresh healthy produce is taken into consideration.
Further, few Americans count calories and weigh themselves; these are the two ways that help people stay on track as far as healthy eating is concerned.
What is also a problem is that Americans think of themselves as being slimmer than they actually are. What is heartening to note here however, is that Americans are at least thinking about eating healthy, says Keith Ayoob, EdD, RD, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine.