MyPyramid PodCast #1 – New Year’s Resolutions

Person #1:  My new year’s resolution definitely is going to be lose weight. I have to lose weight. I have no other choice. My doctor threatened me. I have to lose weight. My husband threatened me. My dog threatened me. So, I’m going to lose weight.

Person #2:  …Portion control and more veggies on my plate.

Person #3:  Yes, I have a resolution to lose at least 10 pounds.

Brian Wansink:  Welcome. I’m Dr. Brian Wansink, I’m the Executive Director for USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. And I want to give you an idea for a new year’s resolution.

If you’re like most people, you make the resolution on the 1st of every January to lose weight and to eat better. But if you’re also like most people, by the 3rd of January, you’ve totally forgotten about it, you’ve given up, and you’ve gone back to your old ways.

What we want to tell you is there’re some very small changes that you can make in your life, that can help you eat a little bit better, help you lose a little bit of weight, and at the end of the year you’re going to be a lot happier. Let me give you one example – it involves dishes.

Let’s take plates for example. We’ve got two plates here – a small one and a large one. What we’ve found in study after study is that people end up putting about 28% more pasta or anything they’re serving themselves, on a big plate than a smaller plate. And they end up eating everything they put on it. So let me give you an example here. Exact same amount of pasta on two different dishes. You’re going to serve a lot more on this dish, ‘cause it just looks like it’s empty right now.

This is just one of many small changes you can make this year that can help you eat a little bit less, lose a little bit more weight, and it’s very doable.

So, go to the website MyPyramid.gov, and you’ll get a lot of cool tips about these small, itty-bitty changes you can make to actually keep this year’s new year’s resolution. 

I’ll see you in a month.