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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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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