The FastDay Forum

How we think about food is really important to help control food intkae. As researchers from the University of Leeds, UK, we are trying to understand this more and would be grateful if you could complete our survey about food perceptions.

We need MEN and WOMEN dieters aged 18 years over to complete our 20 minute survey. Once complete you will be entered in to a prize draw to win £100.

If interested you can find the survey here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/UoL_Food_Survey1

(The survey has received ethical approval by the University of Leeds, Institute of Psychological Sciences ethics committee ref: 14-0024, date: Feb 2014).

Thanks in advance,
Nicola

[Debs]

Hi All,
I have moved this post into this topic in case anyone wants to take it.
Deb

[Debs]

You will get some interesting results from this I expect as many of us on here do not, and no longer think of some foods as unhealthy and others as healthy. Many of us have moved beyond that and include many, so called, fattening foods in our day to day eating and are still losing weight. For instance fat is beginning to be seen in a new light and that will probably give some interesting results as we redefine our food choices with our weight loss through through fasting.

Anyone else agree?

I will be happy to do this later today

Ballerina x

Like Ballerina I'll take a look later.

Me too

I just filled it in, but I'm not sure they asked the right questions!

[janeg]

that took ages!
Strange selection of food - did you think a lot of it was nasty manufacture/processed stuff?
Like doodle- I don't think they are asking the right questions!

[Debs]

I knew it would provoke some comment! I agree, they were odd questions, maybe Nicolab can enlighten us a bit. Yes a lot of it was manufactured, but I hate the automatic this is healthy, this isn't approach as that is what gives us the guilts in the first place.
Mind you, wouldn't say no to a piece of flapjack right now!

[carorees]

Yes, the survey was not very well constructed IMHO. Many of the foods were quite strange, the question about fat should have been balanced with a question about sugar/carbs and one about protein. The way it was constructed, it subliminally creates an association between fat content and health. There was no way of indicating why we consider any food item healthy or unhealthy. For example, the vegetables can be considered healthy not because they are low fat but because they contain phytochemicals, but the researchers will not know why any respondent considers any food as being healthy/unhealthy. Too many foods were both high in fat and sugar so, again, it is not possible to know whether the respondent marked them as unhealthy because of the fat content or the sugar/carb content. The questionnaire asked us about our BMI and whether we were trying to lose weight but did not ask how much we had lost, or wanted to lose and how long we had already been dieting and what kind of diet we were doing. As a result the researchers will not be able to correct for various confounding factors such as diet type, or starting BMI. It was a good idea to ask us to say what food was being pictured but there was no option to skip a food if we didn't know what it was or had never eaten it. So for some foods I had to tick all the middle options because I didn't know what they were. I am interested in how the researchers will use the questions about how long it is since you last ate and how hungry you feel! (I said 16.5 hours and not hungry at all!)

Hopefully @Nicolab870 will read this and take on board the potential problems with the research questionnaire and include these weaknesses in the study report. Other weaknesses in the construction of the study are that it is a self-selected population and there are not enough demographic data questions.

I thought it was a weird choice of foods and I suspect the answers wont tell them much that will add value to anyone wanting to lose weight.

[Betsysgr8]

I got as far as the second food choice and had to stop. I didn't know what it was, and without the option to "skip" the rest of the questions relating to a food I couldn't identify, it wouldn't have made sense to have made any kind of rating. Yes, I agree, the questions are skewed and biased.

Completed this but rather time consuming......and I agree that the questions are a bit ambiguous, possibly misleading too. My answers reflect the fact that eating too much of any food will put weight on!

I didn't recognise some of the items, and found the questions odd, for example I don't think eating doughnuts can lead to over eating - because I don't eat doughnuts

I had to answer 'never' to how often I et most of them, but it didn't give me the opportunity to skip. Not sure that it's worded correctly and it's also ambiguous.