Habit-Hack Your Environment To Eat Better
Change your environment, change your habits. Believe it or not, your environment can make or break you when it comes to building better habits for yourself.
As discussed in much of our content, shaping or changing your environment could help you successfully develop the habits you want out of life.
Hacking your environment in a way that influences your habits will allow you to eat better and live healthier — and you don’t even need to overthink it.
You are the average of the five people you spend your time with, so spend your time with me on this article today.
Environmental Hacks
Our environments can influence us significantly, despite what we say or do. Simply put: you’re going to find it pretty difficult to work out in your bedroom compared to a gym. In addition: according to the book Mindless Eating, a bigger plate influences you to eat bigger.
Despite us knowing these things, we give in often to our surroundings.
We will break down some practical environmental hacks for the most common places we reside: our home, and the workplace.
Home Environment Hacks
Every time I had junk food in my home while I dieted for fat loss… I eventually ALWAYS gave in.
Home is what will make or break you when it comes to trying to go through a weight loss program or lifestyle change. Because it is our sanctuary, it is where everyone typically succumbs to their lack of willpower.
It was a rough day at work. We are exhausted. Our environment at home typically makes us unwind: we get comfortable and lazy.
Here are a few “environmental hacks” that will work in your home:
- Eliminate junk food. Don’t keep it home. Force yourself to go out and get it. If you REALLY needed it, you’ll drive to the establishment.
- Don’t stick around in your kitchen. At my home, our living room is a huge room with our kitchen in it. Staying here in the evenings actually makes me give into junk food when my willpower is gone.
- Trouble with Sleep? Make your bedroom your trigger to sleep or unwind. Read a book instead of watching TV.
- If you can’t eliminate junk food, place it far away from eyesight. Late-night cravings? Hide them or make them difficult to grab without effort. We discuss this more below.
- Portion control. Believe it or not, spoon and plate sizes can make a huge psychological impact on our habits. For example, if you fill up a smaller plate, you will psychologically be fuller than you would be if you fill-up the same portion on a larger plate.
Recall that when your willpower is gone, you are typically using more of your instinctive System 1 brain. This part of our brain is extremely lazy, and if your distractions are hard to reach or see… you will be too lazy to get them.
Evidence on the environment in regards to food supports this, and I can tell you that changing your environment in such small ways can make a big impact.
Workplace Environment Hacks
Since we spend most of our time in the workplace on weekdays, this environment can be a big impact on developing our desired lifestyle.
Here are a few environmental workplace hacks you can utilize:
- Bring your food/snacks from home. Sometimes, your workplace is filled with plenty of junk food or snacks. Bring a protein bar, your nutritious meals, and fruits.
- Convenience matters: don’t have junk food nearby. According to various studies, people who had chocolate in their vicinity typically consumed more calories.
I’ve worked at a job where it was “natural” to gain 15 pounds after working for the company for 3 months: there was food everywhere.
Resist your temptation by not having these foods in eyesight, and keep yourself accountable with other habit-building strategies we have highlighted in the article below.
Hacking Environments List
Now that we have these introduced hacks into these two environments, we wanted to conclude this article with a summary for each section.
To really hone in on these environment hacks, we also added a few other habit-building tips to truly take these home.
- Track your nutrition. A food log or a logging app like MyFitnessPal will hold you accountable for building healthier habits.
- Keep junk food away from home and/or away from eyesight. Have your junk food hidden or away from eyesight. When the evening cravings come by, make it impossible to grab the junk food, or remove it completely.
- Bring better snacks for yourself: protein shakes, bars, or fruits. Keep those with you for whenever you see someone else snacking. This is not for them to feel like crap for eating the food, but for you to personally make better choices for yourself.
Thanks for reading everyone!
If you have any questions or want to add more insight on habit building and environmental hacks that have personally worked for you, feel free to email me at tony@reforgedperformance.com, or visit us at Reforged.
Now go out there and crush your goals!
