evilcyber.com
  • Home
  • Workouts
    • Home Workout Plans
    • How To Build Muscle
    • How To Get Toned
    • Home Workout Equipment
    • Advanced Workout Topics
    • Other Workout Programs
    • Important Workout Lingo
    • Recommendable Books
  • Cardio
    • What Is Cardio?
    • How To Start Cardio
    • Home Cardio Exercises
    • Cardio Or Weights First?
    • Best Time For Cardio
    • Does Cardio Burn Muscle?
    • Cardio On Empty Stomach?
    • HIIT – Doing It Right
    • Cross-Training
  • Weight Loss
    • The Secret To Weight Loss
    • Gain Muscle And Lose Fat?
    • Exercise And Weight Loss
    • Diet Reviews
    • Weight Loss Myths
    • Weight Loss Supplements
  • Nutrition
    • Healthy Nutrition Explained
    • Bodybuilding Nutrition
    • What Are Carbohydrates?
    • What Is Fat?
    • What Is Protein?
    • Nutrition For Cardio
    • Marathon Nutrition
    • Exercise On Low Carb
  • Supplements
    • 3 Supplements That Work
    • BCAA Supplements
    • Beta-Alanine
    • Creatine
    • Dextrose Supplements
    • Energy Shots
    • Make Your Own Weight Gainer
    • Multivitamins
    • NAC
    • Testosterone-Boosters
  • The Rest

Losing Weight

Reality Dysfunction At Subway

Reality Dysfunction At Subway

  • July 19, 2013 5:13 pm
  • 14 comments

Share this Article

  • TwitterTwitter
  • FacebookFacebook
  • DiggDigg
  • StumbleuponStumble
  • RedditReddit
Author evilcyber visit my website

Do fast food restaurants mislead their customers or is it that too many people simply don’t understand calories?

Harvard Goes Burger

Let’s start this one off with a paper Dr. J over at CalorieLab unearthed: Researchers from Harvard recently went to 89 fast food restaurants in the New England area and asked visitors to estimate the number of calories they had just eaten. This they then compared to the actual number.

How can I put this delicately? Many people were off. Sometimes really, really far off.

The mean number of calories in meals was 836, but the average guess put it around 661. That’s a difference of 175 kcal. To give this some context, let us say that an extra 175 kcal per day for a month means 1 1/2 pounds more fat will take up lodgings on your hips, tummy and buttocks.

Yet these actually were the good guys, who got at least somewhat close to the real number. Others – a whopping 25% of all participants – were off as much as 500 kcal. These people had eaten the equivalent of a cheeseburger, small fries and a medium Coke, but in their estimates the fries and Coke had never existed.

The Worst Was At Subway

The worst results were found at Subway, the chain that consequently maintained a “we are the healthier choice” image over the years, despite their offerings sometimes at least being on par with KFC, McDonald’s and the rest – one of their 6 inch tuna subs has 530 kcal, making it the equal of a McDonald’s BigMac.

But the Subway marketing efforts work: diners there on average underestimated their meals by 349 kcal, more than at any other fast food restaurant.

The closest approximation between estimates and real calorie content was found at McDonald’s and Wendy’s, which either means that these two chains are more honest (perhaps in the case of the former due to much public scrutiny) or have the more intelligent customers. Take your pick.

Who Is To Blame?

You tell me who is to blame for this: fast food restaurants engineering a reality dysfunction among their guests or people who don’t understand calories and weight maintenance?

Picture courtesy of Vincent Desjardins.

Help me spread knowledge and share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Search

Subscribe to EC

Enter your email address to subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Most Read

  • teen home workout Home Workout Plan For Teenagers
  • strongman eugen sandow flexing his muscles The Eugen Sandow Workout You Can Do At Home
  • pills Why Bodybuilders Should Say No To NAC
  • How To Do Pull-Ups Without A Pull-Up Bar
  • woman doing pushups Perfect Pushup Vs. Hands: Which Is Better?

Latest Comments

  • No comments

14 Comments

  1. Cindy says:
    July 19, 2013 at 6:18 pm

    Well both are guilty. Before I had my smart phone and my calorie counting app on my phone I believed what I was told in the advertisements. I figured they can’t tell me its healthy if its not. Didn’t Jared lose hundreds of pounds eating this food? Now I check my phone and I am constantly shocked at food that I know tastes like cardboard but is supposed to be good for me and find It is worse than a bag of chips.
    I read this article http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/18/egg-white-breakfast-sandwiches_n_3612751.html?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living and was shocked at the way retailers lie to us about what they are serving.

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      July 22, 2013 at 2:29 pm

      Very interesting! On the upside, I think that indeed smartphone nutrition apps made life easier. I’ll have to give them a closer look!

      Reply
  2. Fraser says:
    July 19, 2013 at 7:11 pm

    All the more reason to take childhood nutritional education more seriously – https://evilcyber.com/nutrition/how-to-get-kids-to-eat-their-veggies/.

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      July 22, 2013 at 2:29 pm

      Yep, exactly!

      Reply
  3. The Dose of Reality says:
    July 19, 2013 at 10:34 pm

    I can honestly say that I *know* I am TERRIBLE about estimating what is “healthier” and what isn’t. I’ve come to realize that I need to research the nutritional facts about everything I am putting in my body before I do it, or I am sunk. (and nothing will turn you off of fast food quicker than seeing the nutritional info of it!)

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      July 22, 2013 at 2:30 pm

      Probably! πŸ™‚

      Reply
  4. Moon says:
    July 20, 2013 at 2:17 am

    This study has been done a few times now. The Cornell study speculates that it’s association. Like, McDonald’s is supposed to be incredibly unhealthy, and energy dense, while subway is the “really healthy low fat and calorie alternative”. That associate spills over to the menu options that are the opposite of the associations too. That’d be why the footlong meatball marinara with cheese can be seen as healthy + low fat when it’s probably 50/50 ground beef and sugar water sauce.

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      July 22, 2013 at 2:31 pm

      Very good point! The truly healthy choices may have a halo effect on the bad ones! What works for celebrities probably also works for subs πŸ™‚

      Reply
  5. Dr. J says:
    July 20, 2013 at 7:23 pm

    Thanks, EC!!

    I limit myself to only a salad at Subway. It’s quite inexpensive and if I pressure the servers, they can be generous πŸ™‚

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      July 22, 2013 at 2:32 pm

      Hahaha! “Come on, another gherkin won’t hurt!” πŸ˜€

      Reply
  6. Jess says:
    July 21, 2013 at 11:48 pm

    I think it is both as well. The general population is vastly uneducated about good nutrition. Although I put more blame on the corporation in this instance since they have the money and power behind them. Also it is not in their best interests to be loud about how unhealthy their meals are (even if they have to state it somewhere).

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      July 22, 2013 at 2:33 pm

      Here in Germany McD prints the nutrition info on the underside of the paper things on the trays. But in order to look at it, you of course would have to move everything off the tray πŸ˜‰

      Reply
      • RTalons says:
        July 23, 2013 at 6:21 pm

        It’s been that way in the US for a few years. The irony of printing the nutrition facts on the underside of the tray liner is that they can legitimitely say they ‘provide the nutrition info to all customers’ without really risking any different choices.

        To be fair, I have noticed many resteraunts have calorie numbers on their menus now, though that probably varies a lot by State and City.

        Free nutrition apps (LoseIt, MyFitnessPal, etc.) are very useful. I’ve often found myself looking up calories of a couple options while standing in line, and using that to make up my mind.

        Reply
        • evilcyber says:
          July 24, 2013 at 7:28 pm

          And, as we just saw, a lot of good even that does us…

          I now also know what the paper thingies are called! πŸ™‚

          Reply

    What do you think?

    Click here to cancel reply.


    • About
    • Contact
    • Copyright
    • Disclaimer
    • Privacy Policy
    © Copyright 2022 — evilcyber.com. All Rights Reserved.

    Evilcyber.com uses cookies

    More info about these little buggers in the Privacy Policy.

    Close
    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.