Erika’s Note: If you’re a subscriber, you’re going to want to visit the page to check out this video… trust me.

Were you waiting for the third installment? Well, here ya go!

Check out:

• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 1
• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 2
• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 3
• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 4
  

How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 3 is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 1
2. How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 4
3. How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 2

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bad eating habits, documentary, Fast Food, how fast food affects the body, how junk food affects the body, junk food, unhealthy food

People are lovin’ this thing! I mean, OD’ing on it! Seems like the only ones up in arms about it are deskchair critics like myself, thumping away on our laptops and writing angrily on our blogs. I have to admit. The thing is well received. So much so, that there was a slew of articles written about how “The Double Down Is Less Calories Than The Average Salad… So Let Us Eat Our Two Pieces Of Fried Chicken With Pork And Simulated Cheese In Between In Peace!”

Anyone else hear the record skip? I did.

It’s bull.

Those of us who are calorie counting… I get it. It’s only 540 calories… it’s tempting. But think about it – if you’re really calorie counting, then you know full well what you can get for 540 calories. You know that that’s over 10 cups of broccoli. (Not that you’d actually eat that, but it leads into a larger point.)

Since I brought up broccoli, can we address the primary issue, here? You’re spending 540 calories on two pieces of fried chicken, pork, and a slice of “processed cheese food.” A primary point of calorie counting is the fact that since you are working to limit your intake of food, you make the most out of each calorie you’re ingesting. FiveThirtyEight offers up a pretty good explanation of what I mean:

Here, the Double Down’s credentials are more impressive. Those 540 calories contain 145 milligrams of cholesterol (more than twice that of the Big Mac and about half of the USDA’s daily allowance) — along with 1,380 milligrams of sodium (the USDA recommends no more than 2,400 per day) and 32 grams of fat (65 will keep you slim, says the government). So, for getting only about one-quarter of the calories that you need in a day, you’re exhausting about half your budget of “bad stuff”. [source]

So, let’s keep it real. For those 540 calories, you’re getting nothing but salt, oil, fat, a pickle and a chemical conglomeration that comes out something similar to cheese.

Thus… we come to the REAL problem I have with the food discourse, right now. Why are we comparing a sandwich made of chicken and pork… to a salad? Certainly, we’re ignoring salads with fried toppings and creamy high fructose corn syrup dressings in this conversation… but a salad with actual nutrients to offer the eater is compared to a sandwich made of sadness and skinny chickens? It doesn’t matter where your calories come from as long as the total amount of calories is relatively small? A calorie is just a calorie anyway, right?

Let me make something clear. A calorie is not, in fact, just a calorie. It absolutely does matter whether your calories are coming from sugar, fat or protein. It matters because your body does very different things with each. And there are far too many people profiting off of continuing this perception that calories are just …calories.

Don’t believe me? Check this out:

“If all consumers exercised, did what they had to do, the problem of obesity wouldn’t exist.”

Know who dropped that little tidbit of nutritional science?

PepsiCo’s Chief Executive Officer, Indra Nooyi. Yep.

It’s the eternal passing of the buck. It’s not that “people are eating too much of my product.” It’s not even “people need to exercise moderation.” The message is “if you exercised, you wouldn’t be fat.” The message is also “there is no reason to stop buying my products, because the problem is only that you don’t exercise!” Understand what that means – it completely absolves the company of their share of responsibility in the obesity epidemic. It says the problem is the fact that you don’t move enough, as if that is the only explanation for why people become overweight. It simply isn’t.

The food industry is great at this – guilting the public into feeling bad about exercise (since, let’s face it – many simply do not) and using that guilt to avoid accepting some of the blame. I start to feel like a conspiracy theorist sometimes when I talk about the marketing and trickery used in their language… but at least I’m not making stuff up or pulling it out of thin air.

Because I know this is confusing to many, understanding why a calorie isn’t simply “a calorie,” I intend to spend this week talking about this very subject. So now, the next time some genius tells you “my double down is better than your salad,” you can let them know exactly what they can – and will – do with that double down.

1. Comprehending Calories: The Basics
2. Comprehending Calories: The Role of Carbs In Your Diet
3. Comprehending Calories: How To Properly Read A Nutrition Label

Thoughts? Let’s hear ‘em!

KFC’s Double Down Reminds Us: All Calories Are Not Created Equal is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Double Leg Lifts
2. Weekend WTF: Would YOU Eat Lab-Created Meat?
3. How Many Calories Are You Drinking?

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2012. | Permalink | 18 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: calorie counting, calories, dirty eating, double down, Fast Food, junk food, kfc, nutrition, pepsi, soda, soft drinks

Some quotes to keep your ears peeled for:

“Don’t think there aren’t flavor scientists sitting in a lab trying to figure out how to make this burger addictive..”

“I don’t know if ‘satisfied’ is the word as much as ‘stuffed’…”

“I’ll eat something that tastes really, really good, and then fifteen minutes later I’ll feel sluggish…”

Definitely food for thought, no pun intended.

Thoughts thus far?

Need to get caught up? Check out:

• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 1
• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 2
• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 3
• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 4
  

How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 2 is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 1
2. How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 4
3. How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 3

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

Get BGG2WL delivered wirelessly to your Kindle! Click here for more info!

© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2012. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bad eating habits, documentary, Fast Food, how fast food affects the body, how junk food affects the body, junk food, unhealthy food

Full of tequila and triple sec from the first Lobsterita, I’d go in again! “One more for the road! I’m in there like swimwear!” Clearly drunk.

Let’s do some quick math, shall we? One Lobsterita – 890 calories. Guess who had two? Allow me to raise my hand.

1,780 calories went strictly to drinks. Stuff that couldn’t even substantially fill me up. Granted I enjoyed myself, but 1,700 is more than I eat in a single day now… if the mixed drink game is like that, then I’d rather do straight tequila shots. (Not advocating that at all, though. Just sayin’.)

Here’s my point. Calories are not to be wasted. Sure, there’s plenty of good food out there that people love to indulge in.. but how valuable is it to your body? People love a Twinkie all day but darn if they don’t notice that the stuff is so far removed from being food that it doesn’t perish. There are no nutrients in a twinkie to even cause it to mold or rot. How valuable could that possibly be to your body?

That brings me to drinks. If there are no nutrients in what you’re drinking, it is empty calories. A waste of an opportunity to nourish your body properly. You’re taking in something that simply isn’t beneficial to your body in any capacity.

Think about this. If I drink a single 20oz pepsi every day for 30 days, that’s what – about 250 calories (100cals per 8oz)? So that’s a total of 7,500 calories from drinking a single pepsi every day. Considering how 3,500 calories is the equivalent of a pound… you’d lose at least two pounds from dropping the pepsi habit. Look at it this way. Orange juice is about 100 calories per every 8oz serving. You’re going to get vitamin C, calcium, as well as vitamin b – in their natural origin (meaning those vitamins naturally exist in oranges, they’re not put there by scientists in a chem lab) – and because of those nutrients, it’s going to fill you up.Your body will have obtained what it needed in the form of vitamins, and will send the signal that you don’t need much more.

Which 100-calorie indulgence is going to be more beneficial to your body? 8oz of pepsi, or 8oz of orange juice? Especially since I can almost assure you that you won’t need to drink as much orange juice as you could drink in the soft drink. More on that later.

Every time you take in food, you should be taking advantage of the opportunity to nourish your body. Yes, the soft drink might give you sugar-originated energy, but wouldn’t some green tea do the same? Wouldn’t a regular cup of coffee do better for you than a [insert super long name] from Starbucks? And really, wouldn’t anything do better than the 860 calorie cup of egg nog? (Yes, 860 calories, and when I saw it, I started to cry. I love egg nog.)

What do I drink? I drink lots of water. I drink lots of teas. I occasionally indulge and serve myself a glass of rum. I gave up soft drinks a very long time ago, and I find it hard to take oranges in drink form. I use apple juice sparingly. I don’t drink anything that may have partially come from a powder, or anything that recreates the taste of a fruit (so all the strawberry, grape, watermelon and orange impersonators – yes, that means YOU, Sunny D – need to fall back!).

I ask you, take a good hard look at your daily eating habits. Is there an excess of useless calories in there? If so, why not swap it out for something a little more useful to your body? I promise, it’ll thank you for it in multiples!

Tell me… what drinks aregoing to be the most difficult for you to give up? Which ones are you going to try to give up? Let me know!

How Many Calories Are You Drinking? is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Q&A Wednesday: Drinking Wine While Trying To Slim Down
2. KFC’s Double Down Reminds Us: All Calories Are Not Created Equal
3. Worldwide: A Day’s Worth Of Food In Calories

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2012. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: calorie counting, give it up!, junk food

Erika’s Note: If you’re a subscriber, you’re going to want to visit the page to check out this video… trust me.

This is the final clip in the “How Junk Food Affects The Body” series. After seeing it all… what are your thoughts? Any epiphanies out there?

Need to get caught up? Check out:

• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 1
  
• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 2
• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 3
• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 4
  

How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 4 is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 1
2. How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 2
3. How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 3

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

Get BGG2WL delivered wirelessly to your Kindle! Click here for more info!

© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2012. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bad eating habits, documentary, Fast Food, fast food swindle, fast foods, how fast food affects the body, how junk food affects the body, junk food, unhealthy food

How you doin’? How’s [insert loved one]? Good, that’s good to hear.

Listen, I wanted to talk to you because I know you’re pretty comfy in your own skin and really happy with where you are in life… I think that’s awesome. However, I cannot help but notice how often you are scarfing down the fast food, ice creams and various and sundry peanut butter cups… all day. Not all day, but all day.

I know, I know, but your metabolism… your figure… you’re blessed. Got it. I mean, I hear you. “As long as you don’t look the way you eat,” (obviously acknowledging that you eat like a hot high fructose corn syrupy mess) because looking fat would be a sin, right? I mean, that’d be too much to bear, right?

I’ve got to tell you, girl, that there’s far more to being “skinny” than just “thin” or “petite.” See, society has spoiled you into thinking that you don’t have to worry about “anything” as long as you don’t look like them… so no, your health isn’t an issue. And I get that. No one wants to be pointed out on the sidewalk and featured in one of those headless ambiguous shots that newscasters use in their reports – the anonymous fat person with their pants so ill-fitting they’ve got a wedgie – and no one wants to ever be known as “the fat one.”

But do you ever think about the fact that you could be known as “she was so cute too, so skinny! You would’ve never thought she’d have heart disease!” or even “dang shame what happened to that girl.” I’m not playin’ – I know what kind of blank pass your peers and loved ones might be giving you because you’re not “wearing your food” like the rest of society, but please believe your insides are taking a beating for it. 67% of Americans are overweight, almost 40% obese… trust me – you don’t want to listen to too many of us when it comes to whether or not you’re “ok” to eat what you’re eating.

For instance, did you know that you lose about .5% of your ability to burn calories properly every year after about age 20? Our metabolism is high in our teens because our bodies are growing; but since the older we get, the less we grow, our metabolism actually slows down. So with each passing year, the amount of food we can eat without it penalizing our figures… decreases. It gets harder to maintain that body with dwindling metabolism and bad habits.

Or how about, regardless of whether or not you’re petite, you can absolutely be fat? Just because you don’t have rolls or whatever doesn’t mean that you aren’t carrying fat. A little fat is normal of course, but if you are eating acidic foods… your body is intentionally building fat around your organs as a means of protecting them from the acid! (And no, that’s not acid like citric acid in fruits. That’s acid like in things like coffee, creams, some beans, corn..) And if you’re really eating like crap, guess what you’re most likely to be eating in abundance? Corn! High fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, corn meal, corn flour, corn, corn, corn. Sigh. Sucks, don’t it?

What about the fact that being petite in size does not protect you from the diseases and problems that society has come to expect from overweight people? Type II diabetes, heart disease, on and on and on…. it is risky. Very risky. Trust me, I know – food tastes good. Hellagood. But presuming that you’re not at risk until you start packing on the pounds is a dangerous game. Don’t do it to yourself.

Really, mama, I say this out of love. Don’t walk away thinkin’ “She’s just sayin’ that ’cause she wishes she could be skinny like me.” I’m not tryin’ to be skinny like you – I’m tryin’ to be skinny like me. More importantly, I’m tryin’ to be healthy and I’d like you to try right along with me. As a friend, of course. I’m not trying to knock you off of any pedestal, but I am trying to call to your attention the fact that your health is a gift, girl! Just because it’s not what you see in the mirror when you wake up every day doesn’t make it any less worthy of attention, effort or consideration. Go the extra mile to take care of yourself, and maintain your internal health for as long as you can! Your inner (and outer) body will definitely thank you for it!

With love,

Erika

An Open Letter To Skinny Women is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. An Open Letter To The Black Blogosphere
2. Update: “Why Black Women Are Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?”
3. Skinny People Shop At Whole Foods: A Poor Kid’s Perspective

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2012. | Permalink | 20 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bad eating habits, diseases, eating habits, fast foods, fat, junk food, metabolic syndrome, metabolism, skinny

Erika’s Note: If you’re a subscriber, you’re going to want to visit the page to check out this video… trust me.

I’m not a junk foodie anymore. I mean, mind you – I have my fair share of cookies and cupcakes… but I don’t find value in junk food anymore. I don’t judge those who do.. it just doesn’t have the same hold on me that it used to, and because of that.. I have very little desire to “test it.”

I’ll be following this up all day with the rest of the videos from the series, so be sure to keep checking back.

Can I relate to the experiences in the series? Absolutely. Check it out and let me know if you can relate, as well!

Check out:

• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 1
• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 2
• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 3
• How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 4
  

How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 1 is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 4
2. How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 2
3. How Junk Food Affects The Body, Part 3

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

Get BGG2WL delivered wirelessly to your Kindle! Click here for more info!

© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bad eating habits, documentary, Fast Food, how fast food affects the body, how junk food affects the body, junk food, unhealthy food

From Civil Eats:

A new study published last week in the journal Obesity, found that popular sodas and other beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contain on average 18 percent more fructose than was previously thought.

Researchers from the University of Southern California tested beverages like Coke, Pepsi, and Sprite to determine the amount of fructose in each beverage. All of these beverages use HFCS as a sweetener, which is sweeter and cheaper than table sugar, or sucrose.

Sucrose is a disaccharide composed of half fructose and half glucose, while HFCS, which is manufactured, is composed of two monosaccharides, or separated fructose and glucose.

[...]

[A]ccording to these new findings, it turns out the differences are significant due to the higher percentage of fructose found in HFCS. The previous assumption was that HFCS was made up of 55 percent fructose—not substantially different than the 50 percent found in sucrose. However, the study found that Coke, Pepsi, and Sprite contained 65 percent fructose, and Dr. Pepper, Gatorade, and Arizona Ice Tea contained close to 60 percent fructose.

I know this looks like a lot of mumbo-jumbo, but what it means is that there’s more of the “problem” in each serving of high fructose corn syrup than we originally anticipated. The problem being the amount of fructose which, while it is the same kind of sugar in fruit, is problematic for our insides when it is ingested differently from how its found in nature (in fruit.)

Okay. Let’s talk. Three reasons why this is so important:

One: I’ve written about the problems with high fructose corn syrup before, so I’m just going to quote that particular post:

First, let’s look at that ad up there. “My hair dresser says that sugar is healthier than high fructose corn syrup.” Follow that up with the witty retort of, “Wow! You get your hair done by a doctor?” [insert laughter]

You and I BOTH know that it doesn’t require an MD to be able to study and understand a pros and cons list. If I show you a list that says “fattening,” and another list that says “leaves you prone to diabetes, inflates your appetite, and apparently can be linked to high blood pressure,” you’re going to be able to easily identify which one is going to leave you worse off, right?

Do you need to explain to someone that High Fructose Corn Syrup fiddles with leptin, a hormone in the human body that aids in regulating the appetite, in a way that prevents you from being able to control your hunger? Do you need to be able to explain to someone that HFCS screws with your body’s ability to process insulin? (Just in case you’re wondering, that works like this: since HFCS is metabolized as fat quicker than regular sugar once it hits your liver, this process triggers something called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This process leads to insulin resistance and type II diabetes.) It isn’t enough that you know something makes you uncomfortable and you don’t want to partake in it. You have to be a doctor now to speak ill of it?

Well, let me tell y’all somethin’ – I’m no doctor, and I’ll still be damned if someone tells me that my own bad feelings aren’t enough to justify not wanting a chemistry experiment nourishing my body I was given. Period. You might get the mental judo chop for that one.

So… grossly misunderestimating the levels to which a chemical can affect our bodies (by underestimating the amount of the chemical we’re putting in our bodies with each serving) changes the story a little bit…. especially if all of the studies were being done with the originally estimated amounts of fructose in mind. It means that even with all those studies that said HFCS is a problem, those studies might’ve come up with much worse results had they used the accurate amounts.

Two: A while back, I received this comment:

Hi Erika,
My google alert for HFCS picked up your post. I commend you on your
comprehensive approach. I would ask that, before you dismiss HFCS
as being just another sugar, you visit [Archer Daniels Midland]’s website.
They claim to make three grades of HFCS:
Cornsweet 42
Cornsweet 55 used for soda
Cornsweet 90 intensely sweet used for low-cal diet foods and beverages.
The #’s [reflect] the % fructose in the sweetener.
42% —->90% that’s quite a range.
Calculating the fructose:glucose ratio in each
Cornsweet 42 =42/58 =0.72
Cornsweet 55 =55/45 =1.22(22% more fru than glu in every Coke)
Cornsweet 90 = 90/10 = 9
Sugar, of course, always rings in at 50% fructose, 1:1.
I see the problem as this: There is a wide range of %fructose and
fructose:glucose across the span of sweeteners. I sure you have done
your research on the metabolic dangers of excess fructose.
Since HFCS is only a blend of fructose and glucose, the CRA can monkey
with the ratio anyway they want, since it will always yield a product
that has 4 cal/g. Personally, I think that the name HFCS should remain and the FDA should require that the %fru listed, e.g HFCS-90.
Great Website.
Take care,
Trying to get the HFCS-out,
Cynthia Papierniak, M.S.

For clarity’s sake, I replied:

Cynthia,

Yes, I dismiss HFCS as another sugar because ALL sugar needs to be limited. Of course I acknowledge HFCS as harmful – simply on the strength that it is a chemical and NOT natural in origin – but it doesn’t matter if you call it fruity angel lullaby juice. It ALL needs to be as limited as possible, and for the readers of this site, this post served the purpose of reinforcing that.

I don’t do chemical talk simply because I don’t do chemicals.

Thanks a ton for sharing, though!

I received that comment on September 24th, 2010. Weeks before this study.

Three: Having said that… let’s look at that Princeton study. Y’know, the one that said that rats who were fed HFCS gain significantly more weight than rats who were fed table sugar? Yeah, that one:

Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.

In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States.

“Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn’t true, at least under the conditions of our tests,” said psychology professor Bart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction.

“When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they’re becoming obese — every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don’t see this; they don’t all gain extra weight.” – [source]

So, if the chemical is more harmful than we originally anticipated, and the chemical – at the level we thought it was being ingested – causes THESE problems… I’m just sayin’ this explains a lot, if it’s 100% for sure.

As I responded to the commenter above, I don’t do chemical talk because I don’t do chemicals. Beyond a basic understanding of chemistry, I don’t profess to know the intricate details of each chemical off the top of my head. I also don’t think I should have to know that just to eat. It shouldn’t be a guessing game of whether or not a specific food will shave years off my lifespan because of unnecessary chemicals. It shouldn’t be so complicated to understand the food I’m eating. I shouldn’t need to worry about whether or not I’m getting sensible amounts of nutrients in my system. It shouldn’t take a scientist to help us understand what we’re putting into our bodies, and it shouldn’t require professional intervention to help me understand how to eat.

All of that… consequences of processed foods. I just.. I can’t deal with that. So no, I don’t do chemical talk because I resent having to know about glucose, sucrose and fructose ratios. I resent having to swallow this “good chemicals vs bad chemicals” argument being shoved down America’s throat. I resent that even in the face of all of this information, the respective industries are going to still tell us “Heyyyyy… it’s okay. Just keep eating it. You’ve been fine thus far, right? You’ll still be fine! Just keep exercising. That’s the real reason why you’re all overweight.”

And I resent that so many of us will still accept that.

Servings of High Fructose Corn Syrup Deemed More Harmful Than We Thought is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Saturday Night Live Pokes Fun At High Fructose Corn Syrup
2. High Fructose Corn Syrup Wants New Name: Why You Shouldn’t Care
3. Another Reason To Ditch The High Fructose Corn Syrup

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: high fructose corn syrup, junk food, mentality, princeton study, processed foods, science, study

Is it really possible that using a credit card can make you fat? Cornell researchers compared shoppers who used cash at checkout time versus those customers who used credit cards.

“Both groups buy the same amount of potatoes, the same amount of broccoli, the same amount of essentials, but if you’re paying with a credit card, you’re more likely to buy junk than if you’re paying cash,” said Smart Money magazine columnist Jack Hough.

Both groups paid attention to the price and nutritional value of the items they were buying. It’s just that those using cash found paying for groceries far more painful, so they didn’t give in to impulse buying, at the last minute all those goodies seductively displayed close to the cash register.

So what about debit cards? Do people use them more like cash or credit cards when buying junk food?

“People with cash buy very little junk food. People with debit cards buy more and people with credit cards by the most. So if you’re looking to cut out junk and save money, skip debit and credit cards and pay cash,” Hough said.

Those shopping around New York City on Monday said this new study could help in the battle of the bulge.

“I watch my credit card bills go up and I watch my weight go up,” Bill Taylor said.

“You’re more likely to follow impulses I guess if you’re not dependent on what’s actually in your pocket,” Benjamin Bradham added.

“People don’t think of the credit card as cash so they buy more. I don’t know. I just like to use my debit card because I feel it controls me a little better,” Stephanie Sullivan said.

Credit cards make up 40 percent of all purchases, with the average American carrying 4.4 credit cards in his or her wallet.

The study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, found that just as cash for payment has fallen by a third in the last two decades, obesity has been on the rise among Americans. [source]

How does this fit in for you? I know that, for me, I only carried cash in the beginning. (Actually, I have a funny story about this to share one day.) I wanted to limit myself in what I could and would purchase, so I only brought cash (and no debit card) to the grocery. It felt like bringing access to additional “money” was my green light to act a fool at the grocery. I had to cut that out.

Check out the clip:

How about you? Does this ring true for you? Do you have any thoughts? Let’s hear ‘em!

Can Credit Cards Make You Fatter? is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. How Does A Farmer’s Market Accept Credit, Debit or EBT Cards? Info Inside!
2. “The French Are Getting Fatter, Too.”
3. Stupid Study: Why Black Women Are Fatter, Dumber, More Manly And Less Attractive Than Others

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cornell university, credit cards, junk food, money, obesity, study