We make ’em, we break ’em. New Year’s diet resolutions fall like needles on Christmas trees as January goes on. Genes can work against us. Metabolism, too. But a food behavior researcher has tested a bunch of little ways to tip the scale toward success.
His advice: Put it on autopilot. Make small changes in the kitchen, at the grocery store and in restaurants to help you make good choices without thinking.
“As much as we all want to believe that we’re master and commander of all our food decisions, that’s just not true for most of us,” says the researcher, Brian Wansink. “We’re influenced by the things around us – the size of the plate, the things people are doing the lighting.”
He heads the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, has written books on taking control of food choices, and has had government and industry funding.
Some tips are gimmicks, and some may not work as well for you as they did in tests. But they “make a lot of sense” and many are backed by other studies, says one independent expert, Dr. William Yancy, a weight specialist at Duke University’s diet and fitness center.