According to new research from the University at Buffalo School of Management published in the  Journal of Retailing , even health-conscious consumers continue to buy some less-healthy foods. The study found that despite the fact that consumers are concerned about healthy eating, junk food still winds up in their shopping carts. What people say they want to eat and what they actually buy aren't always in agreement. As the researchers point out, consumers make tradeoffs on healthy and unhealthy food to varying degrees. The researchers analyzed two years' worth of scanner data across more than 70 stores of a U.S. retailer as well as survey responses from 400 of the chain's shoppers to determine if consumers consciously balanced their health concerns with their actual food purchases. The study divided consumers into three groups using a mathematical model based on their concerns and attitudes: the first group consisted of health-driven shoppers, the second took a mor...

It's often been said -- and I believed this myself before conducting further research  -- that calories eaten at night are more fattening than those eaten early in the day. This seems logical given that we're closer to bedtime, and our bodies are mostly inactive during sleep. For this reason, many people are often advised to eat heavy breakfasts and very light dinners. But this isn't the case. Doctors and dietitians say that calories are calories, no matter what time you eat them. In reality, what matters are the total calories you take in. Weight gain is simply eating more calories than you burn; it doesn't matter whether it takes place at 7 a.m. or 11 p.m. What and how much you eat, coupled with any physical activity over the course of the day, ultimately determine whether you gain, lose, or maintain your weight. People eat at night for a host of reasons often unrelated to hunger, like coping with boredom or stress. And after-dinner snacks tend not to be con...