Your food environment has more power over you than you think. Much of that influence occurs on a subconscious level (outside our awareness). Many experts believe that our weight problems are almost entirely caused by the fact that we live in an environment that leads to overeating and weight gain.

Good News

The good news is your food environment is something you can fix to a great degree -- meaning you can use it as a tool for weight loss. Even better, the ideas aren't that difficult to follow.

Some people have used this tactic alone to lose a lot of weight. A little bit of wise planning can go a long way.

The two main factors are:

Food cues (visibility)
Availability and preparation effort

It all comes down to convenience - how easy it is to see, access and eat food. If you make it harder to see, access and eat calorie-dense or trigger foods (See Avoid Trigger Food), and easier to see, access and eat weight loss foods, then you have successfully created an environment that supports weight loss.

Food Cues (Visibility)

Food cues in your environment trigger areas in your brain that governs motivation and choice, often subconsciously. Even if you do realize what's going on, food temptations can easily overcome your willpower. The solution is to reduce your exposure to those food cues.

It's a simple tactic but it really works -- in fact, cue-avoidance is one of the very best treatments for drug addiction. When a crack addict sees a crack pipe, smells crack smoke, or walks near a street where he/she has often bought crack, his urge and motivation to smoke crack skyrockets immediately. A similar thing happens when you see, smell or have a small taste of your own trigger foods, or any food that you just really love. That reaction is not something you have control over.

However, if you can avoid those sensory cues, you'll actually crave them less -- because the cue or trigger isn't there -- and the need for you to exercise willpower is eliminated or reduced. Makes sense, right? And when you are eating less .. your calorie consumption goes down and you lose weight or avoid gaining. Pretty simple.

For food you are trying to avoid:

Remove them from counters and tables
Don't stock them in your cupboards, refrigerator or freezer
Don't put them in your shopping cart (if you add it to your cart, it ends up in your home, and you WILL end up eating it)
Don't go to the store hungry or in a bad mood, if you can help it
Minimize your exposure to food advertising whenever you can
Minimize your exposure to sensory-rich environments (bakeries, etc)

In contrast...

For weight-loss food you are trying to eat:
(Especially fruits and vegetables)

Put on counters and tables
Stock them in your cupboards, refrigerator, freezer
Add them to your shopping list

Availability and Preparation Effort

You already know this -- one of the reasons it's easier to eat junk food is because it's so darn easy. There's no preparation involved. The more work it takes, the less likely you are to eat it -- or eat a lot of it.

Do whatever you can to increase the visibility, availability and convenience of fat burning foods.

Add them to shopping lists.
Find pre-packaged items.
Find a set of easy recipes to use.
Cook in bulk so you have leftovers for a couple of days (you can also freeze individual serving sizes for much later).

A few more tips...

To limit consumption of nuts to healthy amounts, choose nuts in shells
For food you plan to eat OFF-plan for Flex Meals or occasional treats -- don't stock them ahead of time -- require yourself to make a separate trip to the store.

Another Trick - Plate or Bowl Size

Studies have shown over and over that when portion size is increased, we tend to eat more.

In one study, when researchers increased portion size of test meals by 50%, women ate 400 calories more a day (2900 calories per week) without realizing it. Worse, they didn't eat less in the following several days (the homeostatic system detects energy levels and in theory ought to have noticed the extra calories and reduced later calorie intake).

Basically, we tend to eat whatever is in front of us. If that's more than we really need then we overeat. A simple solution is to use smaller plates and bowls. This doesn't mean you can't refill your plate -- just that it helps avoid mindless overeating, just because it's on the plate.