After years of hectoring by health experts, we all know we’re supposed to eat a healthy diet, with lots of fruits and veggies and minimal highly processed junk food. But when researchers analyzed how many Americans maintain a healthy lifestyle a few years back, they found a measly 2.7 actually met basic health recommendations.
Why are we so bad at making healthy choices when we know better? There are many answers to this question, from inflation to less than walkable neighborhoods that offer limited food choices. But you can sum up many of these factors simply. Many Americans just don’t live in an environment that makes it easy to live a healthy lifestyle, including eating a healthy diet.
You can’t single-handedly lower prices at the grocery store (though you can shop strategically) or convince PepsiCo to please make Cheetos less tempting. But according to a new study conducted by marketing professors conducted by marketing professors from Southern Methodist University and INSEAD, the European business school headquartered in Paris, there is one simple way you can make it just a little easier to eat healthier with minimal effort.
And as an added bonus to entrepreneurs in the food business, it can also help you sell more healthy options too.
More trees help you eat healthier
Health conscious consumers want to eat healthily, of course. But companies that sell healthier food options would also like to sell more of their wares. Pierre Chandon, a professor of marketing at INSEAD, and his collaborators recently set out to help them do just that. They designed research to test what messages and approaches nudge consumers to pick healthier products.
If you are a health food brand, check out his recent appearance on the INSEAD Knowledge podcast to learn much more about his findings. But one particular discovery will be of interest not just to those selling healthy foods, but all of us trying to eat more of them despite our busy modern lives.
The studies that led to this discovery came about when one of Chandon’s collaborators, Maria Langlois, an assistant professor of marketing at the Cox School of Business at SMU in Dallas, noticed something odd when she was out on long bike rides. When she was riding through the city, she would often be tempted to stop off for fast food or other unhealthy snacks. But when she rode through the countryside, she would crave healthier options like fruit. Does our environment influence what foods we choose to eat? Langlois began to investigate.
Together with Chandon she devised a series of studies to find out. Sure enough, “a natural view makes people more willing to trade off taste for natural healthy food,” Chandon reports on the podcast.
For instance, iIn one study the team showed people either pictures of natural, green landscapes or a pleasant city environment. Then they let the volunteers freely choose what to take from a buffet of more and less healthy foods. Those that looked at nature chose healthy options 73 percent of the time. Those that looked at city streets opted for a healthy choice just 33 percent of the time. Different environment, different choices
In the podcast, Chandon points out the implications for restaurants and food retailers. If you want to nudge people to buy healthier choices, adding some potted plants or images of nature will make your job instantly easier.
But he stresses the same is true for individuals and business leaders too. Change the decor of your kitchen or office break room to remind people of green natural settings (snowy landscape, it seems, don’t have the same effect) and they’re likely to subconsciously opt to eat a bit healthier. No effort required.
You could even opt to go for a quick walk in a local park before sitting down to eat on your lunch break and reap double the health rewards. Not only will it be easier to choose to eat something healthier but you’ll get all the research-backed benefits of a little outdoor exercise. Healthy eating: a science-backed benefit of nature
And the happiest part of this research is that the benefits of adding more greenery to your environment will likely go beyond just nudging you to eat healthier.
Amazon included tens of thousands of plants in its Seattle office because it was aware of all the research showing that just looking at nature lowers stress and boosts productivity. Creativity experts insist adding natural elements to your space helps you come up with more and better ideas. And if you manage to find awe in the natural world too (even in just the rainbow swirl of a single drop of dew), a stack of psychology studies says it will boost your happiness and mental health.
So take a look around your kitchen or your break room? Is there anything there that reminds you of a leafy green landscape? If not, consider adding a touch of the great outdoors. Just being closer to nature is likely to offer you a host of health benefits for next to no effort, including the urge to eat healthier.