Change your home "food environment" and eat less without really trying!
Dr. Brian Wansink, Cornell University eating behavior expert and author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More than We Think, recommends these steps to organize your home so you eat less.
1. Use smaller plates, bowls and serving utensils.
Many of us grew up in the "clean plate club". But plate sizes are much larger today, and we're still cleaning our plates. This easily leads to overeating and weight gain. However, the solution is simple:
- Use smaller dinner plates and bowls.
Substitute a 9” plate for the typical 10” or 11” plate. - Put beverages in tall, slender glasses instead of short wide ones that hold more but appear to hold less.
- Use smaller spoons rather than larger ones when eating from a bowl or serving from a container or dish. ?
2. Put tempting foods out of sight and out of mind.
Seeing and smelling foods, particularly those we like, can makes us want to eat even when we're not hungry. Re-arrange your refrigerator, freezer and cupboards so you are less likely to see or smell the high calorie foods that tempt you.
- Put high calorie foods on either high or low shelv
es so they are not at eye level where you see them every time you open the cupboard. - Instead, place them where you have to reach or stoop to see and retrieve them.
- Place healthier foods in the front of the refrigerator, less healthy foods in the back.
- Eliminate the cookie jar, or replace it with a fruit bowl.
- Wrap tempting foods in foil or store them in opaque containers to make them less visible.
3. Make it inconvenient to eat foods that tempt you.
The more effort it takes to obtain a particular food, the less likely you are to eat it. Make those tempting high calorie foods inconvenient to eat.
- Keep second helpings a safe distance away---don’t leave serving bowls and platters on the dinner table.
- Put the tempting food in hard to reach areas (storage) that you seldom access such as the cupboard above the refrigerator, the basement, or an outside freezer.
- Don’t keep the foods in your home at all.
This last suggestion is a little extreme, but it works for me. Except when having company, I don't buy ice cream at the store.
If I really want ice cream, I have to make an extra effort and go out to get the ice cream---one cup or cone at a time. Not very convenient when I'm comfortably settled in at home (and also more expensive).