Dieting is not as hard as one thinks. Seemingly insignificant changes in the environment can result in eating healthy without a second thought.
At the 119th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Brian Wansink of Cornell University presented a review of studies about factors that influence people to eat healthier.
One study showed that children given a 16-ounce bowl would eat twice as much cereal than those given an 8-ounce bowl.
In another experiment, two groups of 30 people were given soup as lunch. Both groups received their soup in 22-ounce bowls, but one group’s bowls were slowly pressure-refilled from under the table. The participants with the refilling bowls were found to have eaten 73 percent more than those with the normal bowls—and they did not even realize they had eaten more.
“The lesson is, don’t rely on your stomach to tell you when you’re full. It can lie,” Wansink said, according to a press release.
Dr. Wansink concluded that good ways to lose weight by changing one’s environment include eating off of salad plates instead of dinner plates, keeping cupboards arranged so that unhealthy food is out of sight, and eating at the kitchen or dining-room table instead of in front of the television.
“These simple strategies are far more likely to succeed than willpower alone. It’s easier to change your environment than to change your mind,” Wansink said.
At the 119th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Brian Wansink of Cornell University presented a review of studies about factors that influence people to eat healthier.
One study showed that children given a 16-ounce bowl would eat twice as much cereal than those given an 8-ounce bowl.
In another experiment, two groups of 30 people were given soup as lunch. Both groups received their soup in 22-ounce bowls, but one group’s bowls were slowly pressure-refilled from under the table. The participants with the refilling bowls were found to have eaten 73 percent more than those with the normal bowls—and they did not even realize they had eaten more.
“The lesson is, don’t rely on your stomach to tell you when you’re full. It can lie,” Wansink said, according to a press release.
Dr. Wansink concluded that good ways to lose weight by changing one’s environment include eating off of salad plates instead of dinner plates, keeping cupboards arranged so that unhealthy food is out of sight, and eating at the kitchen or dining-room table instead of in front of the television.
“These simple strategies are far more likely to succeed than willpower alone. It’s easier to change your environment than to change your mind,” Wansink said.
