Junk Food Survey; Men vs Women

	FITNESS surveyed 1,000 people about their munching habits. Read on to find out what brings men and women closer -- to snacks. Eighty-nine percent of all adults say they nibble at least once a day nearly a third do it two or three times a day.
Who snacks most? Men do. Sixty percent of them claim king snack status; a majority of women (54 percent) agree. The #1 trigger for a snack attack? Boredom, say slightly more women (63 percent) than men (58 percent). In second and third place for both sexes: tiredness and being mentally fried.

Amazing Graze
Twice as many men as women say they snack four or more times a day.

Get off the couch!

For nearly three-quarters of men and almost two-thirds of women, it's the primo place for between-meal eating. Maybe the coffee table should be renamed.

You say you eat a single serving...

The majority of snackers (71 percent of women and 60 percent of men) report sticking to one serving. A third of men and almost a quarter of women, though, admit to downing half of the container. Barely anyone owned up to emptying it. Hmm...

...but how much is that?

Apparently, more than half of us have no idea. Nearly 20 percent of adults don't check portion-size label information, and an additional 40 percent usually or always ignore it when they do.

Guilt-free snacks or great sex?

Given the choice, 42 percent of women would pick the snacks. Men, however, overwhelmingly (75 percent) want their o's to be orgasms rather than Oreos.

Do you make him hungry?

Nearly twice as many men say they'll snack more when they're with their wife or girlfriend. (Women are not affected this way by their mates.) Then again, three out of four men also say they're most likely to munch when they're alone. Perhaps they're simply oblivious to whether anyone else is in the room when there's an open bag around.

If you could have only one kind of snack for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Men chose:
1. Chips
2. Ice cream
3. Cake, cookies, brownies

Women chose:
1. Chips
2. Chocolate
3. Cake, cookies, brownies

Men are more likely to have a secret junk stash.

The most common reason for hiding their snacks? So there will be more for them.

In the late afternoon...

women are most likely to give in to the munchies.

At night...

men are the most likely to cave.

Places you're more likely to see a man crunching away than a woman:

In a car, in front of the fridge and, believe it or not, at the gym.

Sweet or salty?

It's a classic duel, like coffee or tea -- or McDreamy or McSteamy -- with no clear winner. Most adults say they crave sweet first, salty second. But the majority reach for chips first, sweets second.

Non-Noshers

An extraordinary 12 percent of women rarely or never snack.

Originally published in FITNESS magazine, March 2007.