Want to lose weight in 2017: redesign your interior to "fat-proof" your home

A sleek, clutter-free kitchen has many benefits, but did you know it can also help you lose weight?  

Everything from the layout of your kitchen to the type of dinnerware you use, can have a subliminal effect on how much you eat.  

While it might sound like hocus-pocus dietary feng-shui, it’s a finding based solidly on the groundbreaking revelations of food psychologist Brian Wansink.

Director of Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab, Wansink spent 25 years researching the subject, published in academic journals as well as two books: Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life (2016) and Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More than We Think (2011).

According to Wansink, our environment encourages overeating and poor food choices. While we might think we eat consciously, in reality much of our eating is mindless and automatic, triggered by visual cues and aided by the accessibility of food.

“Each of us makes 200 nearly subconscious food choices every day,” he reveals in Slim by Design. “In sight, in stomach.”

Wansink, who has been called upon to “fat-proof” the homes of celebrities, says more mindful eating isn’t the solution: “Our lives are just too crazy and our willpower’s too wimpy. Instead, the solution is to tweak small things in our homes.”

The central idea is to make convenience food less convenient.

While you’re at it, you may want to consider the way you light and heat your home. Recent research suggests these features also influence our weight.

Want to fat-proof your house? Here’s how.

Make the food preparation area a place you want to be. Image: Huh Magazine.

Declutter your kitchen

Messy, cluttered kitchens full of dirty dishes and newspapers led subjects to snack out twice as much on cookies as those in tidy, ordered kitchens.

The fruit bowl is in

Food sitting on your benchtop is more than decoration. It’s a cue.

Those who accessorised with a fruit bowl weighed about five kilograms less than those who didn’t.

Men with treats or a toaster on the counter had a higher body mass index than those without. Women with a packet of cereal on the bench weighed nine kilograms more then their neighbours with nothing on display. “The more time you spend at home, the more important it is to hide food.”

Rearrange the food

“The most visible foods are the ones you eat first and eat most.” Rearrange your cupboard, fridge and pantry so you see the healthy stuff first. Move vegetables from the crisper to the top shelf.

Put the pantry downstairs, in the linen cupboard, or laundry. “It makes it less browsable for a snack.”

Keep the treats in a hard-to-reach place.

Ditch the big plates

They might look lux, but big dinner plates make you heap more on. Those who dined off 30-centimetre plates served themselves about 60 calories more than those eating from 25-centimetre plates. The same goes for bowls, drinking utensils, and even serving spoons.

Avoid white plates

Wansink secretly weighed food self-served at a buffet and found you’ll serve yourself about 18 per cent more calories if your plate is similar in colour to the food. Stock up on black or blue plates: white is too similar to the starchy carbs you want to cut back on.  

Invest in chopsticks

These are associated with slower eating and leaner weight.

Consider spotlights on task areas, double sinks, a large bench space, floral scent and background music. Image: Pinterest/Fiona Lynch. 

Take the lounge factor out

“The more you hang out in the kitchen, the more you’ll eat.” Remove anything that encourages this – comfy, padded chairs, TVs, the iPad.

Spruce up your food prep site

“People say they’re more likely to cook vegetables if it’s more convenient and fun to do so.” Make the food prep area a place you want to be. Wansink suggests spotlights on task areas, double sinks, a large bench space, floral scent and background music.

A dedicated dining room

People consume more food when they’re multitasking – watching TV, reading, on the computer, and so on. A dedicated “dining only” area helps avoid mindless eating.  

However, beware the share plates on the dining table. They’ll make you consume 19 per cent more food than if you plate up at the stove.

Lighting

Switch the energy-efficient globes and LEDs for warm-coloured halogens or old-fashioned incandescent bulbs. The former emit blue spectrum light that has been found to mess with the hormones leptin (our hunger off-switch) and melatonin, which could contribute to weight gain according to a 2015 Harvard Health article.

Heating

Turn the heating down during winter. When the temperature drops, our body burns calories to induce thermogenesis (heat production). Research suggests life in the thermal comfort zone – a facet of modern indoor lifestyles – contributes to obesity.

Temperatures below 19C are associated with body fat loss, according to a 2013 study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.