Spring Clean Your Eating Habits

Take a tip from Google and see how they are sprucing up their cafeteria to get employees eating healthier – easy tips for you at home!

Springtime is here and SupermarketGuru wants to help you spring clean your diet and eating habits. With a little inspiration from what Google is reportedly doing to spruce up their cafeterias, and keep employees happy (and of course healthy!), SG thought these tips could help you be cutting edge at home.

Google defines their changes as “nudges,” simple, subtle cues that prompt people to make better decisions – and of course Google is tracking the changes.

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 from candy in just one week.

Keep the fruits and veggies visible! According to research from Google, studies show 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!

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 company? 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!

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