A recent study by researchers from Monash University’s Centre for Health Economics has found that planning meals and using a shopping list will aid weight loss.
The study, published in Nutrition and Diabetes, looked at whether pre-commitment strategies such as shopping to a grocery list were likely to be cost-effective in facilitating healthier diets, weight loss and ultimately better health among overweight and obese individuals.
Lead researcher, Dr Nicole Au said behavioural economic strategies essentially exploit people’s behavioural tendencies and habits to nudge them towards decisions which are healthier and more in line with their long-term goals.
“Recent research suggests that novel strategies drawn from behavioural economics may prove to be much more effective than mainstream approaches (such as information provision) to assist individuals in making healthier lifestyle choices,” Dr Au said.
” And the good thing is some of these behavioural economic strategies can often be carried out at very low costs.”
Dr Au said a predetermined grocery list committed shoppers to buy only the foods that were on that list thereby helping them avoid the temptations of unhealthy food purchases.
“When individuals worked with detailed meal plans and a grocery list to make the meals it could have a meaningful impact on weight loss and long-term health among overweight and obese individuals,” Dr Au said. “We found because the planning of meals and writing of the shopping list could be carried out relatively cheaply, it was a cost-effective weight-loss tool when compared to the alternative of ‘doing nothing’.”
While many consumers realise overeating and under-exercising leads to weight gain and increased risk of chronic illness, it is impulsiveness or poor self-control that leads them to go astray.
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