ITHACA, N.Y. – Making small, easy changes to our eating habits
on a consistent basis — more than 25 days a month — can lead to
sustainable weight loss, according to research by Brian Wansink,
professor in Cornell’s Food and Brand Lab. The challenge is to
figure out which changes work for specific individuals and how
to stick with changes long enough to make them second nature. To
explore this issue, Cornell researchers launched the National
Mindless Eating Challenge, an online healthy eating and weight
loss program that focused on simple eating behavior changes,
instead of dieting. NMEC participants, after answering questions
about their eating goals, background and well-being, were sent
three customized tips to follow for a month. All tips were
founded on research and based on Wansink’s book Mindless Eating:
Why We Eat More than We Think (Bantam, 2006). Participants could
download a checklist to track their adherence to tips and
receive email reminders to keep them on track. At the end of
each month they wer