9 Ways to Eat Better Without Really Trying

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Update, March 3, 2017: A group of researchers who reviewed several of Wansink’s studies and his writing alleged data inconsistencies and instances of self-plagiarism. We’re following the story here

Willpower not your strong suit? No problem, says Cornell food psychologist Brian Wansink. His research suggests that by making a few simple tweaks to your surroundings, you can trick yourself into cutting calories.

  1. Shove that breakfast cereal in the kitchen cabinet! In Wansink’s studies, people who kept their cereal visible—even the healthy hippie stuff—weighed 21 pounds more on average than those who keep it out of sight.
  2. Serve yourself from the stovetop rather than family style on the table. People who did so ate 19 percent less.
  3. Pick red wine instead of white (subjects who did so poured 9 percent less); drink it from a tall, thin glass instead of a short, fat one (12 percent less); and set the glass on a table when you pour, rather than holding it (12 percent less).
  4. Make sure the color of your food contrasts that of your plate. When they matched, Wansink found, people consumed 22 percent more food.
  5. At restaurants, request a table near the front door. People sitting far from the entrance were 73 percent more likely to order dessert.
  6. If a restaurant offers high-top bar tables, snag one. Wansink predicts you’ll be less likely to order fried food.
  7. Want your kid to choose apple slices instead of fries at McDonald’s? Ask her, “What would Batman choose?” Even if she answered “fries,” she’ll be more likely to order the apples. “Simply having to answer for anyone else seems to make them think twice—and often change their order,” Wansink notes.
  8. Chew gum while grocery shopping. (Mint-flavored seems to work best.) People who did so bought 7 percent less junk food.
  9. Pack a lunch for work. In Wansink’s studies, bag lunchers consumed less food than did people who ate out.

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We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

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