235: How To Stop Mindless Eating & Become Slim By Design with Dr. Brian Wansink

Brief Bio:

Brian Wansink (Ph.D. Stanford 1990) is the John Dyson Endowed Chair in the Applied Economics and Management Department at Cornell University, where he directs the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. He is the lead author of over 100 academic articles and books on eating behavior, including the best-selling Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think (2006) along with Marketing Nutrition (2005), Asking Questions (2004), and Consumer Panels (2002).

Wansink’s award-winning academic research on changing eating behaviors has been published in the world’s top marketing, medical, nutrition and obesity journals. It contributed to the introduction of smaller “100 calorie” packages (to prevent overeating), the use of taller glasses in some bars (to prevent the overpouring of alcohol), and the use of elaborate names and mouth-watering descriptions on some chain restaurant menus (to improve enjoyment of the food). His results have been presented, translated, reported, and featured in television documentaries on every continent but Antarctica.

An Iowa native, he lives with his wife and three daughters in Ithaca, NY, where he’s a mediocre saxophone player in a rock-and-roll band and where he regularly enjoys both French food and french fries.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Why do we eat what we eat (08:09)
5 Reasons most diets fail (10:13)
7 Ways to cut calories without noticing (15:16)
The five places that influence your food choice (22:47)
Why willpower isn’t enough to keep the pounds off (14:35)
Wansink’s 10-Point Test: Is your home making you slim by design? (29:07)
6 Simple tips to help you curb snacking (40:27)
How to change your environment and skip dieting (38:26)

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[tweet_box design=”box_12_at” float=”none” author=”Dr. Brian Wansink” pic_url=”http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2013/10/Brian-W.-mindless-eating.png”]“The solution to mindless eating is not mindful eating—our lives are just too crazy and our willpower too wimpy.”[/tweet_box]