How to start eating healthier

Americans spend $33 billion a year on weight-loss products. Unfortunately, for all that effort, almost 66% of you are overweight or obese. But you can get around those challenges and succeed.

To help you do it, we want to suggest a new approach to the difficulties associated with upgrading your nutrition so that you can lose excess weight. A new French study in Marketing Science looked at the amazing power of subtle nudges to change eating behavior. Seems folks respond very positively to the unconscious power of convenience.

What kind of nudges work? They’re simple changes in how food options are presented. They’re ones that you don’t really have to think about and that naturally nudge you toward making thesmartchoice.

So we’ve taken the basic findings of the study and translated them into three simple nudges that can change your eating style, improve your nutrition and boost your weight-loss efforts.

1. Control portion size with new styles of plates and glasses.

— Look for “MyPlate” plates (they’re available online), which divide the surface into sections that hold healthy-size portions of veggies, protein, fruit and grains. They’re not just for kids! And for more info on MyPlate check out www.choosemyplate.gov.

— Yes, large glasses make for healthy servings of water, but if you’re drinking fruit juices or other sweetened beverages, you want to limit your intake until you wean yourself off them (that is the goal). Get 4-ounce juice glasses.

2. Change how you arrange food in the fridge.

— Store ripe apples, oranges, plums and pears in the front.

— Wash and cut up melons and berries, and place in glass storage containers so you can see what’s ready to eat.

3. Put good stuff out for snacking.

— Put walnut halves and almonds in a bowl next to grapes on the kitchen counter for a graband-go snack.

Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune into “The Dr. Oz Show” or visit www.sharecare. com.