Wansink research

Wednesday:

A recent New Scientist magazine (no. 3003, Australia) has an article by Brian Wansink about making environmental changes to help you change your eating habits without any struggle with will power. He's been researching it for 25 years (I've read his very interesting stuff before) and I'd thought I'd share a few things from this article.

* Use smaller plates. You eat more from a bigger plate. And, one I haven't seen before, you eat more if the plate is the same colour as the food. So if you want to cut down on carbs, it's probably wise to go for a non-white plate.

* The only food visible on your clean and tidy counters should be the fruit bowl. Visible chips are bad, cereal is worse! "Women who keep cereal packets visible weigh on average 9.5 kilograms (21 pounds) more than those who put them away." Apparently women are more susceptible to this 'visible food' issue than men. Maybe because they spend more time in the kitchen.

* Keep salad on the dining table where you can see it but serve everything else from the oven/counter. You're less likely to grab a second helping if you can't see and reach it easily.

* Smaller serving spoons.

* Use tall thin glasses (except for water!) instead of short wide glasses. Pour wine looking down into your glass (it looks like more) instead of having the glass at eye level when you pour.

* In a restaurant, sit near the window or in a well-lit area and not near the bar or a TV. And at a tall table where you don't slouch.

Wansink has done some fascinating studies, well worth a read.