36 Quotes by Brian Wansink

It was basically an 'out of sight, out of mind' demonstration. The less visible and less convenient the candy, the less people thought about it and were tempted.

For an individual consumer, the money and effort spent purchasing these products is not trivial ? as many as 12 percent of purchased products are never used and eventually discarded. By understanding why we buy products we never use, we can change our purchase and usage habits to reduce product abandonment, thereby saving money and reducing waste,

Not surprisingly, the participants ate fewer candies when the Kisses were in opaque rather than clear candy jars on their desks and even fewer when the opaque jars were six feet away from their desks. The less visible and less convenient the candy, the less people thought about it and were tempted.

Also, with men, there's a preference toward comfort food that's a little more healthy, like meat, pasta and potatoes. Women choose things like chips, cookies, chocolate and cake.

People eat more when you give them a bigger container. Period.

In one study, people who listened to a lunchtime radio mystery show ate 15 percent more than those who didn’t. The basic rule: distractions of all kinds make us eat, forget how much we eat, and extend how long we eat – even when we’re not hungry.

Serving sizes start to make sense only when foods are individually packaged.

Beware of the health halo. The better the food, the worse the extras. People eating ‘low-fat’ granola ate 21 percent more calories, and those eating ‘healthy’ at Subway rewarded themselves by ordering cheese, mayo, chips, and cookies. Who really overeats – the guy who knows he’s eating 710 calories at McDonald’s, or the woman who thinks she’s eating a 350-calorie Subway meal that actually contains 500 calories?

The best diet is the one you don’t know you’re on.