Heavy habits Right on cues

Accepting this 8220;don8217;t blame me8221; notion not only eases the guilt and self-loathing that often accompanies obesity, say researchers behind the theory, but also might help people achieve a healthier weight.

To make people eat less and eat more healthily, they contend, the environment itself needs to be changed 8212; with laws regulating portion size, labeling or the places where food can be sold or eaten. That would be much easier, the researchers add, than overcoming human nature.

8220;Almost everybody is gaining weight in almost all socioeconomic groups. It8217;s not limited to certain people. It8217;s everywhere,8221; says Dr Deborah A Cohen, a senior natural scientist at Rand Corporation and the author of a recent paper on the environmental theory of obesity. 8220;Look at doctors, nurses and dietitians who are overweight or obese. If it has anything to do with knowledge of nutrition, we would never see people with such expertise be overweight or obese.8221;

To explain how so many people have become overweight, researchers start with the urge to eat.

Eating is an automatic behavior that has little to do with choice, willpower or even hunger, says Dr Cohen. Her paper, with co-author Thomas Farley of Tulane University8217;s Prevention Research Center, was published online December in Preventing Chronic Disease, the peer-reviewed health journal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cohen and Farley argue that automatic behaviors can be controlled, but only for a short time 8212; the reason most diets ultimately fail. A more effective approach would be to decrease the accessibility, visibility and quantities of food people are exposed to, and the environmental cues that promote eating.

8220;We8217;ve thought for a long time that if we just suggested to people that there are negative effects from obesity and if we provided reminders, they would be able to gain control over their behavior and act healthy,8221; says Wendy Wood, a Duke University psychologist who studies habits. 8220;There isn8217;t much evidence that works.8221;

Instead, ample research demonstrates that much of human behavior is automatic. Studies of people keeping activity diaries show that about 45 per cent of behavior is repetitious and unthinking.

In a study published recently in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, Wood showed that people fall back on their habits 8212; such as buying fast food 8212; even when they intend to do otherwise.

Several recent studies depict the folly of human food consumption. A 2006 study in the International Journal of Obesity found that when candy was placed in a clear dish, people ate 71 per cent more than when it was in an opaque dish. The same study found that the closer the food, the more likely it would be eaten.

The same research group from Cornell University8217;s Food and Brand Lab, also found that people don8217;t necessarily stop eating when full. People eating from soup bowls that were secretly refilled ate 73 per cent more soup. That study was published in 2005 in Obesity Research.

8220;Eating behaviors are like a lot of other lifestyle behaviors; you tend to repeat them, often in the same context, same location, with the same people, at the same time of day,8221; Wood says. 8220;When people repeat behaviors that way, they become automatic. They are cued by the context and no longer involve decision-making.8221;

That doesn8217;t mean people are weak or stupid. Human brains have to operate on autopilot sometimes to accomplish more difficult mental tasks that involve analytical, creative or abstract thought, Cohen says. So trying to change automatic behavior is going to be an exercise in frustration.

Food being everywhere in today8217;s society is a problem, Cohen agrees, because people appear biologically configured to eat, eat, eat.

Good intentions are often a poor foil to such overwhelming environmental and biological cues.

8220;I think a lot of people know what they should be eating,8221; says Ruth Frechman, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association who has a private practice in Burbank, California. 8220;But because of their habits, they aren8217;t doing it.8221; Changing routine behavior is painstaking and slow, Frechman says. She asks clients to start by focusing on one small habit. For example, instead of going to the vending machine for candy at 3 pm each day, she advises them to go to the office cafeteria and buy fruit.

Whether individuals can buck their environment is debated. Some experts think it8217;s just too difficult for most people.

8220;It8217;s hard,8221; Frechman says. 8220;I sometimes work with people for years to get them to change one little thing.8221;

8220;It8217;s not that people can8217;t think about what they8217;re doing. Of course they can,8221; Wood says. 8220;8230; If you ask people to limit their diet and eat healthful, everyone can do that for a short amount of time. Doing it for long periods is tough. If people rely on willpower alone, they are expecting too much of themselves.8221;

Other health experts say individuals can exert control over their own environment and lose or maintain weight despite the temptation.

8220;The environment, I think, to a large extent explains the obesity epidemic,8221; says Dr Robert H Eckel, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado and past president of the American Heart Association. 8220;But should we change the environment to alter the obesity epidemic? And how much do we need to change it? Those are difficult questions. To blame it all on the environment is a mistake. There is individual responsibility.8221;