Guilt detracts from Americans' enjoyment of food: Pew survey

[auntAgonist]

K-W Record. (Kitchener-Waterloo Ontario Canada)
(Apr 20, 2006)

Maybe all the warnings about obesity and health are getting through, if only to our conscience.

Americans say they're eating more but enjoying it less, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center.

Overweight Americans in particular were less likely to say they enjoyed eating than they did 17 years ago in a similar survey.

Pew researchers say it's too soon to tell if Americans think they eat too much because they're trying to lose weight or because changing attitudes have made it less socially acceptable to overindulge.

Increased concern about the health effects of being overweight may play a role, says Paul Taylor, executive vice-president of the research center.

Chris Rosenbloom, a nutrition professor at Georgia State University, points to an increased focus on the obesity epidemic.

"I just think it would be really difficult to enjoy that ice-cream cone if you weigh 250 pounds and you walk past a newsstand and the cover of Time or Newsweek is about the obesity epidemic," says Rosenbloom.

Some 50 per cent of American children and teens are too heavy, as are 71 per cent of men and 62 per cent of women, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released earlier this month.

The Pew survey, the second of three on American attitudes toward food, health and fitness, questioned 2,250 adults this winter.

In the first round, nine out of 10 said most of their fellow Americans were overweight, but just 39 per cent acknowledged that they as individuals were too heavy.

Here are some snapshots from the second round:

Overweight adults were less likely to say they enjoy eating "a great deal" as they did 17 years ago.

In a 1989 Gallup Poll, 56 per cent said they relished eating; now it's down to 42 per cent.

Adults who say their weight is "just right" also have lost some of their appetite for chowing down, now at 38 per cent as opposed to 44 per cent.

59 per cent of Americans say they eat more than they should.

55 per cent say they eat more junk food than they should, most often because it's convenient.

Even though Americans are less likely to report enjoying food, the numbers who say they enjoy cooking have increased just a bit.

They've gone from 34 per cent to 32 per cent .

Women who say they liked cooking dropped to 35 per cent from 39 per cent .

A rising number of men say they enjoy cooking, now 34 per cent, up from 25 per cent.

http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1145483419094&call_pageid=1024322086066&col=1024322199686