Foodist Page 5
Your environment can also influence what types of foods you eat. You know that box of doughnuts sitting in the middle of the table during your meeting? Closing the lid or moving the box to the table behind you will make it far less likely that you’ll reach for one (or two). Keeping unhealthy foods out of sight is a proven way to limit how often you eat them. Similarly, putting fruits and vegetables on the counter or in a conspicuous place in the fridge can encourage healthier eating. Wansink’s research team did an experiment in a school cafeteria where fruit sales more than doubled after they were moved to a more prominent location and displayed in colorful, inviting bowls. For a similar effect, shop at farmers markets where fresh, beautiful produce begs you to bring it home, read healthy cookbooks and food blogs with stunning food photography, and keep your kitchen and refrigerator clean and orderly.
Language is another powerful tool for making healthy foods more appealing. Would you rather eat a “healthy salad” or a bowl of “crisp baby greens tossed with a cilantro-lime vinaigrette, salmon, sweet corn, and heirloom tomato”? Most of us will choose tasty over healthy any day of the week, and being aware of the power of language cues and context is one more tool you can use to improve your healthstyle.
BREAKING HABITS
But what about cues that trigger unhealthy actions? As mentioned above, sometimes simply eliminating cues that elicit an unwanted response (like that cursed bowl of M&Ms taunting you from the corner of your desk) is sufficient to extinguish a bad habit. For this reason, many people successfully reduce their intake of unhealthy snacks by simply removing them from their house and office. If the temptations can’t be moved, like the convenience store down the street that stocks your favorite flavor of ice cream, altering your behavior to reduce your exposure (try taking a different route home from work) can cut down your need for willpower and therefore the number of times you give in and bring a pint home.
That said, some studies have shown that avoidance tactics are not as effective when the bad habit is already very strong. In these cases it can help to use a kind of mental reprogramming that psychologists refer to as counterconditioning. Instead of trying to cut out a bad habit completely, plan to take a different action whenever you encounter the cue. For example, if you have the habit of scooping yourself a bowl of ice cream and sitting down to watch your favorite show every night after dinner, try replacing the ice cream with something healthier, like your favorite fruit. Though fruit isn’t quite as indulgent as ice cream, most people enjoy it, and its subtle sweetness can satisfy your desire for an after-dinner treat.
For counterconditioning to work, it is important that you give yourself clear, specific instructions for accomplishing the correct action. For instance, in the example of replacing ice cream with fruit, you cannot expect to be successful if there is plenty of ice cream in the house but no fruit. You must therefore tell yourself that next time you go to the grocery store you will buy strawberries and forgo the ice cream (grocery shopping is one of the best times to make use of the willpower you do have—I don’t recommend shopping while hungry). You could even imagine yourself cutting up the strawberries into smaller pieces so that you can eat them from a bowl with a spoon. Visualizing how you will accomplish your goals is one of the most effective ways to build new habits and is particularly powerful if you construct your plans in an If . . . then format: “If I want something sweet after dinner, then I will eat strawberries instead of ice cream.”
Amazingly, simply identifying cues, scripts, and rewards can help you reshape your habits. In his book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg describes the Golden Rule of Habit Change.4 Successfully swapping out a bad habit for a better one requires pairing the same cue with the same reward, but scripting a different set of actions to achieve it. In a clever short video associated with the book, Duhigg illustrates the Golden Rule of Habit Change with an anecdote about how he was able to break a daily cookie habit that caused him to put on eight pounds.
By paying more attention to and tracking his habit, he realized that the cue for his cookie craving struck at around 3:30 P.M. every day. At that time he would stand up, walk to the elevator, go up to the cafeteria, buy a chocolate chip cookie, and then eat it while socializing with colleagues. To identify the reward, he performed a series of experiments on himself. First, he tried getting up from his desk at 3:30 and taking a walk around the block. The next day he took his normal trip to the cafeteria, but bought a candy bar instead of a cookie and then took it back to his desk to eat it. On the third day he left his desk at 3:30 and went to the cafeteria, but instead of buying anything he just chatted with colleagues for ten minutes and then went back to his desk.
This way he tested whether it was the physical activity, the need for something sweet, or the socializing that he was craving at 3:30 each day. It turned out he was happiest after forgoing the cookie and chatting with friends. Thus the reward was not the sweets, but the socializing. To replace his cookie habit he now gets away from his desk every day at 3:30, talks for about ten minutes with a friend nearby, and then goes back to his desk to resume work. Since changing this habit he has lost twelve pounds.
REINFORCEMENT
New behaviors are only as effective as your elephant’s willingness to follow them. As we have seen, your rider’s commands (i.e., your best intentions) are insufficient as a source of long-term motivation. If the action you want to perform in response to a given cue provokes a negative or even neutral experience, don’t expect your elephant to keep at it. Unfortunately, this includes subtle, or secondary, forms of negative reinforcement as well. Your elephant may initially be willing, but may become easily discouraged when actions are difficult or take too much time. For example, if you would like to develop the habit of cooking more at home, not only is it important that you enjoy the food you make; you must also be sure you don’t choose recipes that require too much effort or exceed your skill level by too great a margin. When establishing new habits, start simple and be consistent until the action becomes automatic. You can always build on what you’ve done, but if you lose your elephant’s attention, it can be difficult to get it back.
Contrary to what you might expect, explicit incentives, such as monetary rewards for good behavior, are often less effective than more subtle psychological rewards. In other words, enjoying your meal is better than putting the money you saved by cooking at home into your vacation fund. In Duhigg’s cookie experiment, identifying the appropriate reward was the most important step in changing his habit. This is why I recommended strawberries instead of carrot sticks for replacing your ice-cream habit. If it is just sweetness you crave, fruit should be a sufficient replacement, because the reward is the same. To test an alternative hypothesis, you could scoop yourself some ice cream, then sit at a table without the TV on. If the ice cream is suddenly less appealing, the television may be the real reward you were craving, and sitting down to watch TV with a mug of herbal tea may be an effective, calorie-free alternative. Since repetition is the key to habit formation, positive reinforcement is an essential ingredient in building a successful healthstyle. Being able to identify salient rewards is therefore one of the most critical steps in making changes stick.
Interestingly, reinforcement is less important in affecting behavior once a habit has been formed. In one study, scientists evaluated the popcorn-eating habits of university students while at the movies.5 They later offered them popcorn while watching music videos in either a cinema or a meeting room. Although all the students ate more popcorn in the cinema setting than in the meeting room (confirming the power of environmental cues to trigger eating habits), there was a marked difference between those who had a strong habit of eating popcorn at the movies and those who did not. Unknown to the students, half of them were served squeaky, stale popcorn, and the other half were served the fresh stuff. Those with the strong popcorn-eating habit ate the same amount of popcorn regardless of its freshness, whereas those with the weak popcorn habit ate significantly less stale popc
orn than fresh popcorn. A strong habit made the students oblivious to the bad taste of old popcorn. What we can conclude from this is that once a habit is firmly established, the strength of the reward is less important.
CHOOSING HABITS
Despite what we know about cues, repetition, counterconditioning, and reinforcement, habit building is still more of an art than a science. One reason is that we are notoriously bad at identifying the environmental, social, and emotional cues that trigger our habits in the first place. Also, too frequently we forget about the elephant and attempt to instill habits based on the well-meaning but unrewarding goals of the rider. Fortunately, behavioral modification scientists have shown that being smart about which habits you choose to work on can greatly improve your chances of success.
First and foremost, always remember that motivating the elephant is your biggest obstacle. The elephant is lazy and doesn’t want to do a ton of work for a small benefit. It also likes to see clear signs of progress along the way, so it knows its time is not being wasted. To avoid biting off more than your elephant can chew, start by building on things that are already working for you. Dan and Chip Heath call this looking for “bright spots,” places in your life or environment where you’re already making progress toward your goals. Frequently these bright spots are an excellent foundation for making significant improvements in your healthstyle. If you’re a whiz in the kitchen, cooking is a great place to focus. If you’re Mr. Social at the office, maybe you can steer the crew to a healthier lunch spot. Take advantage of the good weather in your city by planting a garden, making regular trips to your local farmers market, or spending more time outdoors.
I noticed that I had put on about five pounds after I finished my graduate program and started working from home. Even though I was still working out at the gym four to six days a week, my walking had decreased by two to three miles a day,* because I was no longer commuting to the lab. To solve the problem I turned to my puppy, Toaster. I was already walking him regularly, but the walks were usually short, so I could get back to work. It is easy to cut out what feel like unnecessary actions when they are not an essential part of your day—walking the dog versus getting to the office. But once I realized I needed to be less sedentary, I started taking him a little farther to the bigger dog park up the hill. In just four weeks I noticed a difference in how my clothes were fitting, and both Toaster and I had better days because of it. The extra time and effort were well worth it, and both my rider and my elephant were satisfied with the results. My bright spot was that I was already walking my dog several times a day, but your bright spots may not be so obvious. Monitoring and tracking your behavior are the most effective ways to identify bright spots in your current habits.
Another important factor in successful habit building is choosing simple, specific goals that can be accomplished with a straightforward set of actions. For example, “Eat more vegetables” is a less useful goal than “Eat green vegetables every day with lunch and dinner.” These clear goals are effective because there is no wiggle room; either you accomplish your mission or you don’t. When you can clearly define whether your goals are met, your progress is easier to track and you have a better understanding of what is and isn’t effective. This not only helps you catch failures sooner, allowing you to adjust the course if necessary; it also gives you a sense of accomplishment as you build on your successes over time, keeping you motivated and inspired.
As I mentioned earlier, planning the specific actions you will take in response to a given cue enables you to visualize how you will succeed. In the previous example, success means making sure your lunch and dinner plates have green vegetables on them every day. For this to happen, you also need to consider where you commonly eat those meals and how those greens might get on your plate. If you eat at home, you need to go grocery shopping in order to have fresh vegetables in the house, so it helps to visualize yourself going to the store on weekends after dropping your kids off at practice. If you eat at work, you need to bring those vegetables from home. If you eat in restaurants, you need to think more carefully about how you order or consider choosing a new spot. This is why in the early stages of upgrading your healthstyle some of the most important habits to develop are regular shopping trips, preferably to the farmers market, since the elephant prefers the pleasant atmosphere and tastier food. If you are very new to healthy eating and cooking, your plan may also involve buying appropriate kitchen equipment and stocking your pantry (we will cover all of these things in later chapters).
When scripting how you will meet your goals, do your best to anticipate any obstacles that might prevent you from succeeding. For example, going to the gym on your lunch break might sound like a great way to get healthy, but if it means you don’t get to eat lunch or have to eat something less satisfying, then it will be hard to sustain. Don’t try to do too much at once, and start with tasks you know you can do. Tackling two or three new habits at a time is a reasonable number to start with. Taking on more than that requires too much mental energy and will sabotage your efforts.
It’s not always clear which habits you should focus on when considering specific problems in your healthstyle. For instance, you may know that the lunch you eat at work every day is really unhealthy and makes it difficult for you to make progress. But if you have an office culture that is not conducive to bringing your lunch every day, it’s easy to get frustrated, give up, and blame your job or your coworkers for your pizza gut, assuming nothing can be done. Usually, however, obstacles are more mental than physical. To get over these hurdles, remember to maintain the foodist’s growth mindset. Focus on solutions to your problems and what you can control rather than things you can’t. There are a million reasons why you can’t do something to improve your life, but all that matters is the one thing you can do.
To find a solution, it can help to reexamine the true purpose of your goal. The reason for bringing your lunch to work is not to eat more home-cooked food, but to improve the quality of 30 percent of your weekday meals. Eating home-cooked food is a very effective way to accomplish this, but it is not the only way. If your coworkers order pizza every day, try ordering a side salad and eating half the pizza you normally would or recommending a different restaurant a couple of times a week. What works for someone else may not work for you, so there is no reason to limit yourself to cookie-cutter solutions.
Finally, keep an eye out for easy targets that have a large potential benefit. How attached are you to your soda habit? If you swapped it out for unsweetened tea, coffee, or sparkling water, would you be heartbroken? Small wins add up; focus on places where small adjustments create the biggest impact and build from there. If you manage to lose only one pound each week (considered very slow by typical diet standards), by the end of the year you will have lost nearly fifty pounds. I’ll provide you with plenty of tips and tricks that work for me and my readers, but sometimes you’ll need to be creative. And remember that if your first attempt doesn’t work, you haven’t failed—you just haven’t succeeded yet.
FOUR
EAT FOOD
WHY YOU DON’T NEED A PH.D. TO MAKE SMART FOOD DECISIONS
“We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons.”
—ALFRED E. NEUMAN, MASCOT OF MAD MAGAZINE
“Food is an important part of a balanced diet.”
—FRAN LEBOWITZ, AMERICAN AUTHOR
“Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.”
—MICHAEL POLLAN, IN DEFENSE OF FOOD
If you’re confused about what to eat, you’re not alone. Media headlines contradict themselves every other week about which foods are healthy and which will kill you. Food companies intentionally mislead you with front-of-package health claims, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lets them get away with it. And if you even casually follow the low-fat, low-carb roller coaster that fuels the latest weight-loss trends, you pr
obably feel as helpless as a yak on a bicycle. It’s a miracle we can feed ourselves at all with the kind of advice we’re given.
WHY CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?
Have you ever stopped and wondered why the health and diet messages are so confusing? It’s not a fun thought experiment, so I don’t blame you if you haven’t. When it comes right down to it, the reason we hear so many different things is that nobody really knows what they are talking about. Or more precisely, most people only know a little bit about what they’re talking about and project and extrapolate the rest to make a coherent story about what they believe. That isn’t to say that everyone is giving you bad information or that there aren’t smart people working on this problem. To the contrary, there is actually a lot we know about eating well and there are brilliant scientists* making huge strides in nutrition every year. The issue is that nutrition science is in its infancy relative to the complexities of plant, animal, and human biology, and until we know more there will continue to be an overabundance of hypothesizing.
Humans are omnivores, which means we are adapted to eat plants, fungi, and animals. The nutrients in the plant foods we consume depend on the genetics of the individual species, the quality of the soil they are grown in, and the weather conditions during that time. For animal foods, nutrient levels are dependent on what the animals eat throughout their lives and are also affected by their stress and hormone levels. Any toxins or environmental pollutants that the animals and plants are subjected to have the power to impact human health as well.
Nutrient levels of raw foods change depending on the amount of time between harvest and consumption (sometimes going up, sometimes going down), and your cooking method may destroy some nutrients while making others more available. Individual nutrients within a food do not work in isolation, but interact with each other to affect bioavailability (i.e., how our bodies are able to use them). Similarly, the nutrients in one food can interact with nutrients from another food if they are consumed in combination.