A food environment that helps

How do you set up your home to make healthy eating easier?

Start with one small change to how food is arranged at home, because changing how a choice is set up tends to work better than only knowing what you should eat or intending to do better¹. Treat each change as something to try rather than a guaranteed fix.

Here are some ideas to try:

• Make the foods you want to eat more of easy to reach. Put them at the front of the fridge or on the bench where you see them, and put the foods you want to eat less of further back or higher up.
• Plan ahead. Think about what you will eat and when. Advice on being more active suggests that a little preparation can be the difference between getting going and making excuses⁴. You can try the same idea with meals.
• Link a new habit to a routine you already have. Activity advice suggests tying a new habit to something you already do, such as waiting for the kettle⁴. You could try this with eating too, for example having a piece of fruit while the tea brews.
• Use reminders you can see. Activity advice suggests visible cues and reminders⁴. A fruit bowl in plain view works as a gentle cue.

Give a change a few weeks, then ask yourself whether it made things easier. If it did, keep it. If it didn't, change it or drop it. There is no single right set-up, and no need to feel bad if something doesn't suit you.

How do you make healthy food the easy choice?

Change how the options are set up so the healthier one takes the least effort. Across many behaviours, this kind of change had a small to medium effect, and the effect was strongest for food¹. Making an option the default, so it happens unless you choose otherwise, worked better than only giving information¹.

For fruit and vegetables, these changes had a moderate effect on what people chose, bought or served themselves, and where food was placed had the largest effect². So the most visible, easiest-to-reach spot is a good place to start.

The other side is making foods you want to eat less of slightly less convenient. Foods that are harder to reach, or that need a little more effort to serve, tend to be eaten less³. You could keep them in a high cupboard or an opaque container, or serve them with tongs rather than a spoon.

Keep a few limits in mind:

• Results vary widely. A change often works only in the place where you make it, so you may need to repeat it in each place you eat or shop¹.
• A change may not be enough on its own. Even changes that work can fall short of solving the whole problem³.
• The choice stays yours. These changes are meant to make one option easier, not to take the other away. Notice how a change feels, and drop it if it doesn't suit you.

When to check with a health professional

If you live with a long-term condition, ask your doctor or a service for that condition (such as a diabetes or heart organisation) before making big changes to what you eat. Small changes to how food is arranged at home are a different matter.

For an injury or a health condition, see a health professional, such as your doctor or a physio.