Guilty Pleasures

Does it seem like the "forbidden" element of eating food you shouldn't makes it all that more attractive? And why do we give food choice the power to elicit guilt or shame?

There's an interesting new poll from Canada that shows Canadians are just as food-possessed as Americans. The poll was conducted by the President's Choice Healthy Insider's Report. It was a big enough poll (more than 1,100 adults) to have some statistical accuracy.

Some of the results...have you done any of these things?

* Six of 10 respondents say they have eaten over the sink or directly from the fridge in the past month. [Yep. Yesterday.]

* Half of adults have eaten out of boredom. [Yawn. Give me a snack.]

* One-third of adults have eaten on the run in the past month. [I ate at my desk while I worked today and don't actually even remember eating.]

* One-fourth ate a bag of chips or popcorn for dinner in the past month. [Not guilty on this one.]

* One in seven have picked food off someone else's plate in a restaurant because they didn't want to order it themselves. [Not in the last month, but, yep, I've done it.]

Interestingly--not surprisingly--there also were gender differences in the answers. Fifty-six percent of women (vs. 41 percent of men) feel guilty after eating something "bad." And 30 percent of women (as opposed to 25 percent of men) think about every single bite that goes into their mouths.

Only 30 percent? Now, that's surprising!