The Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest

by Dan Buettner

significantly less without even thinking about it. Make snacking a hassle. Avoid tempting foods. Put candy bowls, cookie jars, and other temptations out of sight. Hide them in the cupboard or pantry. Wrap tempting leftovers in an opaque container. Buy smaller packages. When given large packages of spaghetti, sauce, and meat, Wansink’s subjects consumed 23 percent more (about 150 calories) than when they were given medium packages. Give yourself a daily reminder. The bathroom scale can be a simple yet powerful reminder not to overeat. Put the scale in your way so you can’t avoid a daily weigh-in. In fact, weighing yourself is one of the most surefire ways to reduce your weight and keep it off in the long run. One study that followed 3,026 women who were trying to lose weight and keep it off found that after 2 years, women who weighed themselves daily lost an average of 12 pounds. Women who never weighed in actually gained an average of 5 pounds. In other words, at the end of 2 years, women who weighed themselves every day were (on average) about 17 pounds lighter than the women who never weighed themselves. Eat more slowly. Eating faster usually results in eating more. Slowing down allows time to sense and react to cues telling us we’re no longer hungry.