According to a new study from the International Food Information Council (IFIC), 50 percent of respondents consider themselves overweight, yet only nine percent keep track of how many calories they eat in a day. Moreover, IFIC's study says that only nine percent of us can even accurately estimate the number of calories we should eat in a day.

Research shows that people who pay attention to how many calories they're eating lose more weight than those who don't. So if half of us feel we need to lose weight, why aren't more of us keeping track of the calories we eat?

IFIC has been conducting its annual Food & Health Survey since 2006 in an effort to gauge consumer attitudes to food safety, nutrition and health. Their findings indicate that people believe keeping track of calories is extremely difficult, and that they lack interest in or knowledge about how to count calories. Some even say they aren't convinced that counting calories matters.

There are some encouraging signs in the survey, however. A full 62 percent described their diet as 'extremely' or 'somewhat' healthful. That's up from 53 percent who said the same last year.

Let's hope those who consider their diet healthful are eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and veggies offer more nutrition per calorie than other foods and eating them is an important part of any weight management program. Eating more fruits and veggies is a simple way to cut down on the number of calories you consume each day without any complicated math.

"Eating fruits and vegetables in place of other foods that offer less nutrition and more calories is a simple change anyone can make that will help with weight management and lead to overall better health," says Elizabeth Pivonka, Ph.D., R.D., President and CEO of Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH), the nonprofit entity in partnership with CDC behind the Fruits & Veggies-More Matters® national public health initiative. "The USDA's 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends filling half your plate with fruits and vegetables at every meal or snack as a way to make sure you are eating enough of these healthy, low-calorie foods."

Fruits and vegetables provide the unrivaled combination of great taste, nutrition, abundant variety and multiple product forms. Eating a wide variety of colorful fruits and veggies naturally provides you with the vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and fiber that allow you to be your best everyday. Filling half your plate with them makes it easier to maintain a healthy weight and may reduce the risk of many diseases.

"Eating more of the things that are good for us, and less of those that are not, has always been and will always be the best way to lose and maintain weight," added Pivonka.

The new Weight Watchers PointsPlus System goes so far as to award zero points to all fruit and most vegetables, encouraging dieters to eat more of these healthy, nutritious foods.

"At Fruits & Veggies-More Matters, we've designed the America's More Matters Pledge: Fruits & Veggies . . . Today and Every Day! as a way to promise to eat more delicious, nutritious, fruits and vegetables for your better health," says Pivonka. "The America's More Matters Pledge is a way to keep you focused on eating fruits and vegetables. Pledge to fill half your plate with fruits and veggies at each meal and snack, and our website, FruitsAndVeggiesMoreMatters.org, will make following through on that pledge easy and enjoyable."

Source:
Produce for Better Health Foundation