Your environment has an incredible ability to shape your behavior.
This post originally appeared onJamesClear.com.
Keep in mind, these ideas are just a start.
Many of the ideas below come from his popular book,Mindless Eating(audiobook).
Use smaller plates.Bigger plates mean bigger portions.
And that means you eat more.
The picture below explains why.
When you eat a small portion off of a large plate, your mind feels unsatisfied.
Meanwhile, the same portion will feel more filling when eaten off of a small plate.
Try this instead: buy a large bottle water and set it somewhere close to you throughout your day.
Its perfect for travel too.
Want to drink less alcohol or soda?
Use tall, slender glasses instead of short, fat ones.
Take a look at the image below.
Is the horizontal or vertical line longer?
In other words, taller drinks look bigger to our eyes than round, horizontal mugs do.
And because height makes things look bigger than width, youll actually drink less from taller glasses.
(Hat tip toDarya Rosefor originally sharing this image and idea.)
When youre hungry and in a rush, you are more likely to grab the first thing you see.
Wrap unhealthy foods in tin foil.
Eating isnt just a physical event, but also an emotional one.
Your mind often determines what it wants to eat based on what your eyes see.
As a result, youre more likely to notice them and eat them.
Meanwhile, smaller items can hide in your kitchen for months.
(Just take a look at what you have lying around right now.
Its probably small cans and containers.)
Serve meals by using the half plate rule.you’re able to design your eating environment as well.
When you serve yourself dinner, start by making half of your plate fruits or vegetables.
Then, fill the rest of the dish based on that constraint.
Only shop on the outer perimeter of the store.
If you only shop on the outer ring, then youre more likely to buy healthy foods.
And that, of course, means youre more likely to eat healthy foods when you get home.
For example…
Wrapping unhealthy foods in tin foil adds another step.
(Rather than just spotting some leftovers in plastic wrap and grabbing them.)
Using small plates adds another step between you and eating more.
If you want more, you have to go back for seconds and fill up again.
you’re able to take this same approach to almost anything in life.
One less step between you and your workout.
Top image byKaisorn(Shutterstock).
