Tricks to Control Your Weight
Little changes in how you perceive food can have a big impact on your weight-loss efforts, says Brian Wansink, PhD, professor of marketing and applied economics and management, as well as director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. Wansink offers these tips for becoming more conscious of what you put into your body:
1) Buy the smallest packages of products available.
With larger packages, you tend to eat or cook more.
2) Use tall, skinny glasses for drinks.
One study showed people poured 77 percent more into short, wide glasses than into tall, skinny ones.
3) Avoid all-you-can-eat thinking.
The larger quantity you eat of a certain food, the less satisfied you become with that food. Eat until you’re satisfied, not full.
4) Make getting to food an effort.
If you’re craving ice cream, go out for a kid-sized cone instead of overfilling a dish of ice cream from your own freezer. Keep cookies and chips wrapped up in individual servings and stored inside plastic bins somewhere other than the kitchen.
5) Keep food on the stove, not the table.
Forget family style; if you or family members want seconds, getting up for refills will be necessary.
