Are you one of the 1 in 6 Americans on a diet? You don’t have to be. Instead, simply borrow these four strategies from the field of behavioral economics in order to make the healthiest choice the easiest choice — every single time:
1. Put healthy foods “in your face.”
Altering your food environment to make desirable choices easy, visible and available alleviates the need to rely on self-control and willpower. School lunch chefs, who use eye-level marketing tactics to lure students to orange slices instead of chocolate milk, know this. It’s one smart and effective reason why fresh fruit appears at the cash register in K-12 lunch lines.
You can use the same strategy by stocking your most accessible refrigerator shelf with your favorite fruits and vegetables, such as carrots, snap peas, edamame, red pepper strips, berries and freshly cut greens. Fill clear glass bowls with apples, oranges and bananas, and place them on your countertop. If such nutrient-dense food options are in your face, you’ll likely grab them — rather than a less-healthy option — when you want a snack.
[See: 6 Ways to Train Your Brain for Healthy Eating.]
2. Bundle plant-based foods.
If you shuffle working, driving the kids to basketball, rushing to yoga and picking up the dry cleaning, you know how easy it is to make a quick stop for takeout. Avoid this pitfall by making it easy to throw together a meal packed with fruits and vegetables, which new research suggests may help extend telomere length, an indicator of healthful aging and longevity.
Try, for example, bundling onions, broccoli, zucchini, corn, bell pepper and spinach in the refrigerator, and assembling them with rice and vegetable broth for a “rainbow risotto.” Or, mix the veggies with buckwheat pasta for a heart-healthy dish. For extra flavor and crunch, or to top a family-friendly vegetable pizza, throw in caramelized onions, chickpeas and black pepper.
[See: 10 Healthy Meals You Can Make in 10 Minutes.]
3. Make healthy food look pretty.
While personal preferences vary, people tend to be drawn to food packaging that speaks their language, whether it’s minimalist tints or bright, bold hues. When cartoon characters and superheroes accompany salad bars, for instance, children are twice as likely to eat vegetables because they become seen as fun and familiar, not as “healthy.”
Pull a page from this playbook by downloading vegetable-themed recipes or vegetable-friendly kitchen tools from Instagram and your favorite magazines. Then package targeted foods — or healthy foods you want to eat more of — in a way that makes them visually appealing. Kidney beans, carrots and chives, for example, look better in glass jars or decorative dishes than in traditional storage containers. You can also try assembling salads in Mason jars or serve bright veggies on white plates to make their bright pigments shine. You might also consider jumping on the food bowls trend. Whether it’s oats with blackberries, flax seeds, cinnamon and nut milk, or steamed kale with quinoa, roasted butternut squash, pumpkin seeds and cranberries, food bowls are beautiful to look at — and just as easy to assemble.
4. Put your money on healthy choices.
Some people find it easier to stick to their healthy eating goals if they commit to following through ahead of time by participating in Community Supported Agriculture programs, signing up for meal delivery kits or ordering groceries online. This strategy eliminates spontaneous food purchases at the grocery store and can also give you a chance to experiment with meals and foods you may not regularly purchase. Not interested in a CSA membership? Not a problem. Your pre-commitment strategy can be as simple as planning a few days or an entire week’s worth of meals and then shopping, prepping and assembling the ingredients.
[See: How to Make Healthful Dietary Changes Last a Lifetime.]
When it comes to healthful eating, we know what to eat. The challenge is in the execution, especially when unexpected events — think deadlines, errands and special projects — arise. Why not create an environment where the healthiest choice is the easiest? In the field of nutrition, it works almost every time.
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How to Make the Healthiest Choice the Easiest Choice — Every Time originally appeared on usnews.com
