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It’s been bothering you all summer long—some extra weight around your midriff. Sure, via exercise and eating better, you’ve managed to deflate it some but it’s still there. As the season changes, you may feel that you’re entering a last chance, lose-it-now-or-keep-it-all-winter phase of your body re-sculpting program.
Which means now is the time to make sure that the spaces where you eat are helping you develop healthy habits.
We eat more when we can see into the area where food is prepared and food is on view while we dine. If you own an open kitchen or dining area, putting in walls isn’t a cost-effective option, but adding some view-blocking screens can be.
We’re likely to eat more unhealthy food in spaces that are cluttered and disorganized. Being in a cluttered space is generally stressful for humans, so straightening up has multiple benefits.
Picking up pots, pans, and ingredients after using them, washing the dishes, and placing all but a few objects in cabinets or storage containers that have opaque sides is good for both our tummies and our brains. A space that’s too stark is a stressful place for us to be, so the trick is to leave a few objects on view—say one item on each smallish tabletop and one or two on a coffee table with a single piece of art on each wall. The exact number of items to leave out depends on the sizes of spaces and the vertical/horizontal surfaces. A rule of thumb that works for many: Prune until you feel uncomfortable being in a space and then add a couple of small items back into the room.
Design can help us get healthier in other ways.
- Humans are more likely to make healthy food selections in relatively brighter, as opposed to dimmer, lighting.
- We tend to eat less unhealthy food when we can see ourselves in a mirror as we dine.
- When we’re looking at sculptures of very thin people, such as those done by Giacometti, we tend to make healthier food selections.
- If you exercise at home, try getting out your paintbrushes. Adding saturated relatively darker colors such as emerald greens to your exercise space will up your energy level, which may translate to more working out. Seeing red gives us a burst of strength, so they are good choices for walls you’ll look at while lifting weights.
Designing for a healthier lifestyle can make losing weight just a little bit easier—but design alone can’t guarantee you’ll successfully battle back the extra pounds. A unified approach is your most likely route to victory.
