Using the CAN Approach to Make Healthy Habits Stick

Ever notice how willpower seems to vanish right when you need it most? You're not alone! Despite our best intentions, about 95% of diets fail within six months. The good news? Making better choices doesn't have to rely on willpower alone. New research reveals a surprisingly simple approach to changing eating habits that doesn't require iron discipline or constant vigilance.

The Willpower Myth
We've all been there: standing in front of the refrigerator at 10 PM, having a mental wrestling match between the carrot sticks and the chocolate cake. Conventional wisdom says we just need more self-control, more nutrition knowledge, or a stronger commitment to our health goals.

But here's the surprising truth: education and willpower are vastly overrated when it comes to changing eating behavior. Research shows there's actually a very unreliable link between knowledge and behavior. Most public health programs that rely solely on education show small effects at often large costs.

The 200 Decision Problem
Although the typical person believes they make about 20-30 food-related decisions each day, research shows we actually make closer to 200! About 90% of these decisions happen without our full awareness because they don't involve careful deliberation. They're quick, instinctive choices made on autopilot.

This gives us a tremendous opportunity. Instead of trying to overhaul your entire relationship with food through sheer willpower, you can set up your environment so your automatic, instinctive choices naturally favor healthier options.

The CAN Approach: Your Secret Weapon

The most effective way to change eating behavior isn't by convincing yourself that an apple is better for you than a cookie. It's making sure the apple is the most:

• Convenient choice to make
• Attractive option available
• Normal thing to choose

This CAN approach has been proven effective in dozens of studies across homes, grocery stores, restaurants, and schools. Let's break down how each element works:

1. Make Healthy Choices More Convenient
The easier something is to see, reach, grab, and eat, the more likely you are to choose it. Some ways to apply this principle:

• Keep pre-cut vegetables at eye level in your refrigerator
• Place fruits in a bowl on your kitchen counter
• Store less healthy snacks in hard-to-reach places or opaque containers
• Pre-portion healthy snacks in grab-and-go containers

In school cafeterias, simply placing fruit in a nice bowl in a well-lit part of the lunch line increased fruit sales by 103% for an entire semester—without changing prices or the fruit itself!

2. Make Healthy Choices More Attractive
We eat with our eyes first. The more appealing something looks, the more likely we are to choose it. Try these strategies:

• Serve food on nicer plates (people rate brownies as tasting better and are willing to pay twice as much when served on proper dishes versus paper plates)
• Give foods fun, descriptive names (children eat significantly more vegetables when they're called "Dinosaur Trees" instead of "broccoli")
• Add a small garnish to make healthy dishes look more gourmet
• Use attractive containers for healthy foods

3. Make Healthy Choices More Normal
We're social creatures who naturally gravitate toward what seems popular or typical. Here's how to leverage this tendency:

• Keep fruit bowls visible in your home, even if they're not being used
• Place healthier options in the front of your refrigerator to make them seem like the default choice
• Use smaller plates and glasses (people eat 37% more food when using larger bowls)
• Divide your shopping cart in half and commit to filling half with fruits and vegetables

Start Small: Your First CAN Changes
Ready to put the CAN approach into practice? Here are some easy ways to get started:

1. For your home: Place pre-cut vegetables on the middle shelf of your refrigerator and move bread out of sight. Buy more tempting salad dressings with interesting names and keep salad bowls on the dinner table every day, even if they aren't being used.
2. At the grocery store: Create a shopping path that hits the produce section first. Challenge yourself to fill half your cart with fruits and vegetables. Look for recipe cards near healthier items for inspiration.
3. At restaurants: Look for menu items with descriptive, appealing names. Ask for a to-go box when you order and immediately pack half your meal before you start eating.

These small changes require no willpower once they're set up, and they can have powerful effects on your daily food choices. The best part? You won't feel deprived because you're not banning any foods—you're just making the healthier options the ones you naturally reach for first.
So skip the willpower battle and redesign your environment instead. By making healthy choices more convenient, attractive, and normal, you'll find yourself naturally gravitating toward better foods without the mental struggle.

After all, it's much easier to become slim by design than by willpower alone!

References
Chandon, P., & Wansink, B. (2002). When are stockpiled products consumed faster? A convenience-salience framework of postpurchase consumption incidence and quantity. Journal of Marketing Research, 39, 321-335.

Hanks, A. S., Just, D. R., & Wansink, B. (2013). Smarter lunchrooms can address new school lunchroom guidelines and childhood obesity. The Journal of Pediatrics, 162(4), 867-869.

Just, D. R., & Wansink, B. (2009). Better school meals on a budget: Using behavioral economics and food psychology to improve meal selection. Choices, 24(3), 1-6.

Van Ittersum, K., & Wansink, B. (2012). Plate size and color suggestibility: The Delboeuf Illusion's bias on serving and eating behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 39(2), 215-228.

Wansink, B. (2014). Slim by design: Mindless eating solutions for everyday life. William-Morrow: New York.

Wansink, B., & Sobal, J. (2007). Mindless eating: The 200 daily food decisions we overlook. Environment & Behavior, 39(1), 106-123.
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Wansink, B., van Ittersum, K., & Painter, J. E. (2006). Ice cream illusions: Bowls, spoons, and self-served portion sizes. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 31(3), 240-243.