Willpower and strict discipline may not be the best technique for weight loss, according to researchers. In fact, all it takes are small, manageable changes that need not rock your world and turn it upside down.
According to Brian Wansink, who conducted intensive research on eating habits for four years, losing weight is really about changing little details in your environment. In fact, he adds that doing so is easier than gathering all your willpower to decline high-calorie foods. Wansink is currently the director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University.
Such changes can bring healthy outcomes without trying too hard. Wansink admits that he shuns the notion that mindful eating is the key to weight loss success. He believes that since 90 percent of individuals have naturally poor willpower and have jam-packed, complicated lives, the solution to mindless eating is not mindful eating.
Wansink's book, "Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life", provides ideas and practical knowledge on how establishments such as schools and restaurants can offer healthier food options.
With is extensive experience in nutrition and eating habits, Wansink concludes: "Most of our lives have made us fat by design." To solve this requires adapting the same way, but for one's health benefit. For instance, he recommends coming home not through the kitchen door but through another door, such as the front door. His research has found that individuals who come home through the kitchen door weigh more than those who don't.
He also advises against buying in bulk, or buying only healthy foods in bulk. One study discovered that people usually eat half the chips, ramen noodles, cookies, and other foods in the first week, regardless of how much they bought. If buying in bulk is the only alternative (as it saves money for most people), a good solution is to repackage the items and store some of the stock far from the kitchen.
