How Healthy Are You?

Phil: Yeah, I hope so because the other problem that came out another study came out from the U S D A matter of fact, um, the study author, Jessica Thompson, um, put together a study to ask people to rate their diets is either excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor. They had to conduct a 24 hour questionnaire and they surveyed more than 9,700 people. 85% were off base when they asked to rate the quality of their diet. Almost everybody overestimated how healthy it was. So, you know, our perception on what we're eating is that far off as well.

Sally: Yes. And just last week, we were talking about also the influence of social media and how studies are showing us that, you know, all these, you know, very popular TikTok posts about healthy diets, you know, are actually not giving real healthy information. So there is a disconnect with people on, you know, what they think they're eating, you know, whether how good it is for them. And, you know, if they're eating enough fruits and vegetables and whole grains, you know, which is what we want people to do.

Phil: And this article also has something I've never thought about before and what their recommendation is for people to avoid saying, I am on a diet or I'm going on a diet. And the reason is that mentally it implies that the diet is temporary versus making a lifestyle change.

Sally: I think this is really smart. And, and we are seeing this perspective on changing your diet a lot more, I think, and it's, it's really been a long time coming because, you know, it's restrictive diets. We have shown in studies that they, they are not usually successful for most people. And it's hard for people to stick to them.

Phil: It is, it is.