WASHINGTON — Are you having trouble losing weight and eating healthy? Does your willpower conk out when you try to make healthy eating choices?

You’re not alone and it’s no surprise, says Deborah Kotz, health blogger for The Boston Globe.

She says that Cornell University researcher Brian Wansink has studied the food buying and eating habits of thinner people, going so far as to put hidden cameras in grocery stores. The research found there are ways consumers can trick themselves into better eating habits.

In the supermarket, Kotz advises, eat a piece of fruit when you first walk in — it’ll help focus you on buying more produce. Chewing gum can help too, satisfying a craving for taste.

When you bring the food home, your kitchen can set you up for success or failure: Thin people tend to have cleaner, less cluttered kitchens. In messier kitchens, Kotz says, “people tend to eat more because they feel this lack of control.”

Also, thinner folks tend to have fewer stools in the kitchen, and neutral colors on the walls.

Kotz recommends a focus on “making your healthy food really accessible.” That means putting your fruit bowl front and center on your counter, by your car keys, and shuffle the chips and pretzels off the main stage.

Kotz says that studies in schools showed that merely shining a spotlight on fruit in the cafeterias subtly encouraged kids to buy more fruit.

And when you’re eating out, Wansink found that people eat less when they’re sitting in the window of a restaurant than, for example, sitting at the bar or in front of a TV, , Kotz says. At a buffet, take a smaller plate and sit farther from the buffet table.

The key, Kotz says, is taking as much of the process of making healthy choices out of your own hands.

“Trying to set up an environment for yourself to make it easy to eat healthy