Since 2008, the Craving Change program has helped people be more aware of how powerfully our ‘food environment’ influences our thoughts and our eating habits. The program outlines how a wide range of factors such as food portion and package size, accessibility, convenience, variety, and marketing influence our food choices. A recent article in Today’s Dietitian by Rosanne Rust, MS, RDN names this concept –’Choice Architecture’. Introduced by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, choice architecture refers to ‘deliberately designing environments to influence decision making without compromising freedom of choice’. The Craving Change program provides myriad examples of how to ‘renovate’ one’s food environment or food choice architecture to foster healthier eating habits resulting in increased eating self-efficacy.
Read Rust’s interesting article, Nudging Healthier Habits as it reinforces the power of awareness and a cognitive-behavioural approach for eating behaviour change.
