Summary: We live in a time when there are a million types of diets and fat free foods, yet Americans are gaining weight at alarming rates. It would appear that our eating habits and diets are not working. Today Dr. Howard Gurr talks to Dr. Brian Wansink about “mindless eating” and some surprisingly simple changes we can make to our eating practices that can really help. Dr. Brian Wansink (Ph.D. Stanford 1990) is the John Dyson Endowed Chair in the Applied Economics and Management Department at Cornell University, where he directs the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. He is the lead author of over 100 academic articles and books on eating behavior, including the best-selling Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think (2006) along with Marketing Nutrition (2005), Asking Questions (2004), and Consumer Panels (2002).His research focuses on how ads, packaging, and personality traits influence the usage frequency and usage volume of healthy foods. His research on consumption volume has won national and international awards for its relevance to consumers. His research has been widely featured on 20/20, BBC News, The Learning Channel, all news networks, and on the front pages of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times. " From 2007-2009 Wansink was granted a leave-of-absence from Cornell to accept a Presidential appointment as Executive Director of USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, the Federal agency in charge of developing 2010 Dietary Guidelines and promoting the Food Guide Pyramid (MyPyramid.gov). While there, web hits to Dietary Guidelines increased 44% to 5.4 million/day, and he was named ABC World News Person of the Week. In 1999, Professor Wansink founded the Wansink Consumer Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization which is funded by book royalties and speaking honorariums. The Foundation supports high school science projects dealing with consumer welfare and provides textbook–related scholarships to selected college–bound students who wish to promote consumer welfare through their studies. It also supports Consumer Camp, every June in Ithaca, NY. You can find out more about Dr. Wansink and mindful eating by going to his website www.mindlesseating.org or go to www.mmethodeating.com to find out more about a program to change your eating habits.
