Frustration with Framing: Scandous Six Calories

Does anyone else find this article to be frustrating?  Title: "Exercise Campaigns May Encourage Extra Eating." Wow, so people consume an extra 6 calories of raisins after seeing an exercise poster...that means if they view 583 exercise posters, while not expending any extra energy, they will actually gain a pound, sacrilege!  Quick, ixnay on the osterspay!  While you're at it, halt public transportation that crowds people into close quarters, because I'm sure someone is taking in an extra 2-4 calories worth of Tic-Tacs before boarding the subway.  Oh, oh, also don't forget to impose strict curfews and bedtimes on the general population, because if they think they need extra energy to stay up late, they might actually consume a diet soda for the caffeine, costing them 0.4 calories for every eight ounces!  So glad the message is getting out about these insidious public health hazards.*

Really?  Isn't there some sort of more constructive dialogue we can come up with?

It really seems like there could be some more informative and helpful way to report on this study.  It is interesting for psychological reasons if we show that anticipating exercise increases our appetite, sure, but the article is framed as a warning about how promoting physical activity could be dangerous.  

How about delving into adaptive reasons for this response, it would be cool to show that just thinking about doing an activity causes appetite-related hormones to spike, makes sense from an evolutionary perspective.  Or, if we don't want to get that scientific, how about  suggesting that exercise posters and promotion are coupled with literature on healthy snacks to fuel better workouts and promote a more holistic view of health?  NY Times, could we please do something with the information besides fueling our society's collective weight phobia?

*Note: I won't deny it, at times during my eating disorder I really would have balked at an extra 6, or 4, or 2, or maybe even 0.4 calories.  I do not mean to ridicule anyone who struggles with this, because I know that thinking that way is part of a true illness.  I think my exasperation with this article stems largely from the fact that at one point I did limit my Tic-Tacs, tallied my sticks of sugar-free gum, etc.  I know how terrible it is to be caught in that cycle, and messages like the headline discussed here are just not helpful in promoting healthy thinking.