January 4, 2018
by Joni Sweet
for Prevention
Is your home a cluttered mess? You could be sabotaging your slim-down efforts.
Trying to shed some pounds this year? You’re not alone—losing weight is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions of 2018. But despite its ubiquity, this goal is also notoriously difficult to achieve (and maintain). Research shows that only 1 in 7 obese women are likely to lose 5% of their body weight annually. How can you tip the scales in your favor this year?
Perhaps you’ve already purged the holiday junk food, filled the fridge with lean protein and fresh veggies, and found a gym you love. That’s a great start. But while diet and exercise are important, your environment also plays a key role in helping you slim down.
Look around your kitchen: Are pots and pans out of place? Do plastic containers tumble out of the cabinets? Is your pantry a pigsty? Then you’re being subtly nudged to seek comfort from the chaos by indulging in bad-for-you foods. Clutter around your home—especially your kitchen—creates a distracting, stressful environment that could kill your ability to stick to your weight-loss plan.
Here’s the science behind why getting organized can help you lose weight, along with some expert tips on how to tidy up your home for a healthier lifestyle.
Clutter is the culprit.
Think your crowded countertops are just an annoyance? Think again. A recent study has found that “stressful and chaotic food environments” influence people to reach for high-calorie snacks. In effort to determine the impact of mindset and environment on eating, researchers from Cornell University invited around 100 women to write about a time they felt out of control, neutral, or organized, then eat snacks in kitchens that were either cluttered or orderly. They discovered that participants who were in a more chaotic mindset in the messy kitchen consumed more cookies than those in the tidy space.
The research echoes previous findings, like a 2013 study that found people in orderly rooms chose healthier snacks than those in cluttered environments, as well as what Peter Walsh’s Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? has preached to dieters for years: Tidying up and planning ahead might be just as important to weight loss as committing to exercise and a reduced-calorie diet.
Read the rest of the article on Prevention.com.