Eating Too Much of a Good Thing

You clean out the pantry. Toss out all the salty potato chips and crackers. You fill up your fridge with fruits, vegetables and lean meats.

But before you reach for that bag of baby carrots or tub of organic yogurt, consider this: you still have to count calories.

If you’ve made the switch to eating healthy food yet still can’t seem to lose weight, you may be eating too much of a good thing.

It happens all the time, according to researchers.

When people are told that a certain food is more nutritious, they tend to feel it’s OK to overeat or indulge.

This holds true for organic foods as well. A Cornell University graduate student recently conducted a study on whether labeling something organic influenced how people perceived the food.

Not only did participants believe foods tasted better if they were labeled organic, but they also thought they were lower in fat and higher in fiber. This applied to organically-labeled chips and cookies.

So, remember the next time you scoop out some organic ice cream that’s it’s still ice cream.

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Alice Warchol is a fitness instructor and freelance health writer.