Mitigating Mindless Munching

A new year recently started, and some of us may have made resolutions. Whether or not that applies to you, perhaps you’re hoping to change some of your more difficult-to-shake habits. Maybe you’re not quite ready to tackle your TV-watching habit, but how about the snacking habit that may go with it? Here are eight ways in which you can use behavioral science to nudge yourself in the right direction.

1. Healthy Replacements: The most obvious way to reduce the consumption of unhealthy snacks in front of the TV (other than not snacking at all) is to find a healthy replacement snack, such as crudités. For the rest of this article, let’s just assume that we do want to indulge—just not as much!
2. Partitioning: One way to reduce your snack intake is by dividing it into portions, ideally in separate bags. Theory has it that partitioning may decrease food intake because opening a new bag carries psychological transgression costs and slows down consumption.
3. Smaller Bowls: Similarly, serving your snacks in smaller tableware can give you the impression of consuming more than you really are, which may reduce how much you eat overall.
4. Physical Distance: Increasing the physical distance between you and that tasty snack will make it a bit harder for you to eat, which may lead to a lower rate and volume of consumption. You could place your chip bowl in a way that forces you to make crunches (no pun intended) and exercise your abdominal muscles when you reach for the snack. Or you could go as far (literally) as putting the snack in another room.
5. Other People: There’s nothing like the influence of other people when it comes to our behavior. The mere presence of another person may affect how much you pig out on snacks in front of the TV. You may even go as far as asking your significant other to be in charge of your snacks to make sure you behave!
6. Clocking It: Another method to reduce your snack indulgence while you’re watching TV is to set a timer and allow yourself to only take one bit of snack every X minutes. Just as devices such as Fitbits can prompt people to engage in exercise, the right tech could help increase the time between unhealthy actions. This one takes particular self-discipline to enforce, as most people are on autopilot when they’re snacking in front of the TV. There are now containers with a timed lock that people can use as a commitment device.
7. Mindful Eating: TV is inherently mindless. So it’s no surprise that we’re also more likely to eat mindlessly when we are engrossed in our favorite Netflix show. The remedy may be mindfulness. Try eating mindfully by paying greater attention to what goes into your mouth and the process of eating—the textures and flavors of your snacks. Hopefully, this will not only increase your satisfaction but also reduce your intake of bad calories.
8. Keeping Busy: Staying occupied with something else may keep you from eating. The best way to do this is to keep your mouth busy. You may not be able to ride a bike and chew gum, but watching TV and chewing gum will surely work!

With a little bit of trial and error, you will discover which of these methods works best for you. My list excludes more drastic nudges, such as self-induced electric shocks or encasing your snacks into a concrete cast and throwing them into the depths of the sea.

Keep in mind that all of these techniques are “self-nudges"—tricks to change your behavior that you, the consumer, have to initiate and enforce yourself. Whether or not you have the requisite willpower in the first place is another question.