"Credit cards may be helping to drive the obesity epidemic: Study after study has shown that people view buying healthy foods as an ethical decision. Simply making other choices that are viewed as "good" seems to liberate people in a way that makes them more likely to pick junk food. But it seems the mere method of purchase can help influence food choices. According to the researchers involved, paying with cash is painful, and that prompts people to avoid making choices they think of as bad, like junk food. Drop some plastic on a purchase, however, and buying for a future sugar overload becomes much easier. They confirmed this pattern by scanning six months of shopping receipts from over 1,000 households.." | more