In my last post, I discussed how convenience is key when it comes to nudging people to adopt healthier habits. It’s pretty clear that people have less free time than ever, and thus are willing to spend the big bucks on ready-made and ultra-processed foods in order to save time on cooking. However, this comes with some setbacks, as frequently eating out and eating ultra-processed foods promotes weight gain. Meanwhile, home-cooked meals tend to have better nutritional quality and promote weight maintenance and even weight loss. In this post, I will discuss three behavioral science strategies to help you cook when you have no motivation.
1) Reduce the Number of Choices to Eliminate Temptation
Jesus tells his disciples, “watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41). The choice overload effect refers to the idea that when presented with too many options, humans have a hard time making the right decision. In our case, “the right decision” would be eating a nutritious meal in the proper amount, not overindulging.
Choosing between food delivery via DoorDash, or stopping at the Drive-Thru of a fast-food restaurant, or picking up a frozen meal from the freezer aisle of the grocery store, or preparing a meal from scratch with ingredients at home is overwhelming, especially after a long day at work or school. It’s no wonder people tend to make the “wrong” decision.
With this in mind, it’s best to eliminate choice by deleting the food delivery apps and not keeping ultra-processed foods in the house. (Never purchase the family-size pack of chips or cookies)! Also, if snacking is your problem, it’s a good idea to reduce your choices of time-of-eating. Tell yourself, “I will only eat breakfast from 8am to 9am, I will only eat lunch from 12pm to 1pm and I will only eat dinner from 5pm to 6pm. I will not eat outside of these timeframes”. By reducing your eating occasions to just three times a day, you save yourself the hassle of choosing what and when to eat, and also save yourself tons of calories (and money)!
2) Pick a good Default Option and Make Mindless Choosing Work to Benefit YOU
Well, now that you don’t have the option to order delivery, heat up a salty frozen meal, or mindlessly snack on sugar-rich snacks all day, it’s time to choose a good default option. As described by The Decision Lab, the default option is “the pre-set option that is made available when we do nothing, and requires no effort on our part”. The Lab goes on to give as an example, automatic renewals: “when you subscribe to Netflix, your subscription automatically renews at the end of the monthly cycle, unless you choose to cancel it”.
In our case, the best default option for how to cook when you have no motivation is one that is convenient, repetitive and automatic. My tips are:
- have a pre-set meal plan for the week made up of fast recipes. (I can eat peanut-butter, banana, chocolate oatmeal every day for breakfast; and meat with potatoes, rice or pasta, plus roasted vegetables anyday for lunch)!
- have a pre-set weekly grocery list based on those meals separated by fresh produce, grains, meats, canned goods, frozen goods, and dairy (I get my weekly grocery shopping trip done within 20 minutes this way)!
- have the most difficult part of the meal done already (pre-chop the veggies and freeze them, wash the fruits right when you unpack your groceries, marinate the meat).
Technically, the default option requires a bit of effort at the beginning of the week (meal planning, grocery shopping, and chopping veggies). But, by doing this weekly, you automate your brain to mindlessly choose the healthy eating pattern that requires little effort and little choosing during the week.
3) Expect Error
We are not perfect. Some weeks, you just can’t bring yourself to the grocery store or truly have NO time to cook. That’s why it’s important to cut yourself some slack—that is find strategies to reduce the consequences when you may slip up.
One option is to, every once in a while, cook a large batch of food and freeze a portion to last you for those extra busy times. (Whenever I make spaghetti and meatballs, I nearly always freeze a container of meatballs for those weeks when I’m particularly busy. Then, when I’m ready to eat, all I have to do is boil some pasta and quickly cook a bag of frozen broccoli).
Or, if you must, keep a ready-made frozen meal on hand to pair with some frozen vegetables or canned beans. Or, if you really must, choose a default menu item from your favorite restaurant that resembles a home-cooked meal (a chicken burrito bowl from Chipotle, for example, usually does the trick).