Spring Clean Your Diet

Spring is here and SupermarketGuru wants to help you spring clean your diet and eating habits. Here are some easy tips

Springtime is here and SupermarketGuru wants to help you spring clean your diet and eating habits. Here are some of SupermarketGuru’s favorite healthy eating and pantry makeover tips that will have you eating more nutrient dense foods and less “junk” with minimal effort. Many of these changes are considered “nudges,” simple, subtle cues that prompt people to make better decisions – and one of the most cutting edge companies, Google, is employing some of these nudges in their cafeteria. 

Put the candy away, or at least in an opaque container, where it’s not completely obvious as to what’s inside. At the Google campus, the switch led to a 9 percent drop in caloric intake in just one week.

Keep the fruits and veggies visible! Studies demonstrate that people tend to fill their plates with whatever they see first. So if it’s fruits and vegetables or a big green salad, or a veggie side dish, make it visible to the whole family – and of course obscure the desserts! Keep cut fruit and veggies on hand, whole fruit on the counter and cut fruit and veggies at eye level in the refrigerator – that way you’ll be more likely to grab it as a snack. 

Use smaller plates. SupermarketGuru has said this before but it’s easy to fill up a big plate and eat everything, do the same thing on a smaller plate and you’re almost guaranteed to eat less. 

Serve salads and healthy foods on green plates and desserts on red. Most people associate red with stop, and this can help curb consumption – on the other hand green means go and of course the more salad the better (hold the creamy dressing!)

Need to indulge, or make a dessert for guests? Make smaller portions. At Google, desserts are designed to be eaten in three bites, making eaters think before having a second portion, rather than mindlessly finishing everything on the plate. 

What to drink? Try placing water at eye level and other beverages at the bottom of the fridge. At Google this simple switch increased water intake by 47 percent, while calories from drinks fell by 7 percent. Now that’s an easy way to cut unnecessary sugars and calories.

Try some of these tips at home and see if you can spring clean your dietary habits!