If you're trying to resist the mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and bacon at the buffet, you might want to try filling your plate with fruits and vegetables first, a new study suggests.


Researchers at Cornell University found that when people ate healthy foods first at a buffet[1] , they consumed fewer high-calorie foods later on in the meal.


"The first three food items a person encountered in the buffet comprised 66 percent of their total plate, regardless of whether the items were high or low-calorie foods," study researcher Brian Wansink, a behavioral economist and professor at the University, said in a statement.


The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE[2] , included 124 people who were eating at one of two breakfast buffets. In the first buffet, healthy foods like low-fat yogurt, low-fat granola and fruit were presented first. In the second, unhealthier foods such as cheesy eggs, bacon and fried potatoes were presented first. All the diners were told they could only make one trip to the buffet.


Researchers found that nearly all the participants offered the fruit first -- 86 percent -- took it. But when the fruit was offered last, only about half -- 54 percent -- took it.


Meanwhile, when the cheesy eggs were offered first, 75 percent of the diners took them. But when they were offered last, only 29 percent did. Plus, when cheesy eggs were offered first, researchers found that people were more likely to also take the fried potatoes and bacon. However, fruit being offered first was not linked with a higher likelihood of taking any of the other foods.


"There's an easy take-away here for us … always start at the healthier end of the buffet," Wansink added in the statement. "Two-thirds of your plate will be the good stuff!"


Check out more strange things that can affect how much you eat -- without you even realizing it:


Where you're eating

Even if your food doesn't taste so good, you might continue chowing down depending on your environment[3] . A Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin study showed that people ate the same amount of popcorn in a movie theater, whether it was old and stale or fresh and just-popped. "The results show just how powerful our environment can be in triggering unhealthy behavior," study researcher David Neal, a psychology professor at the University of Southern California, said in a statement. "Sometimes willpower and good intentions are not enough, and we need to trick our brains by controlling the environment instead."


What your friends are ordering

eat with friends

Are your friends getting the fries or the salad? It could have an impact on what you choose to order, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Agricultural and Applied Economic Association. Researchers found that peer pressure did seem to have an effect[4] on what people ordered at a restaurant. "We want to fit in with the people we're dining with," study researcher Brenna Ellison, Ph.D., a food economist at the University of Illinois, said in the statement.


The size (and shape) of your wine glass

To curb overpouring of alcohol, consider opting for a slimmer wine glass, according to a Iowa State and Cornell study. Researchers found that certain factors tend to increase the risk of overpouring[5] , such as pouring into a glass held by a person (instead of when it's on a table), pouring into a wider glass, and pouring into a glass that doesn't match the color of the wine.


The ambience

Harsh lighting and loud music could be spurring you to eat more calories. Cornell researchers found in a Psychological Reports study that when lighting and music were made softer in restaurants[6] , diners not only ate fewer calories, but also enjoyed their food more. "There are clear implications for restaurants wishing to help consumers slow down and enjoy their food. Yet there are also implications for consumers who want to eat less," the researchers wrote in the study.


What's visible in your kitchen shelves

eat with friends

You're most likely to eat the first thing you see in your kitchen cupboards or fridges, according to another Cornell study. "It's not just where we place our food in the cupboards or in the refrigerator," Wansink, the author of this study, previously told HuffPost. "It's whether we have a cookie bowl sitting out instead of a fruit dish. It's all these factors, that we think we're too smart to be fooled by -- those end up being our demise."



Also on HuffPost:




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  • Use A Bigger Fork


    A study published in the <em>Journal of Consumer Research</em> shows that restaurant-goers who <a href="http://www.jcr-admin.org/files/pressPDFs/071311193612_mishra.pdf" target="_hplink">eat with really big forks</a> (20 percent bigger than a normal fork you'd find at a restaurant) eat less food and leave more on their plates than people who eat with really small forks.

    A possible explanation for this finding is that when people use small forks to eat, they feel like they are not making any big <a href="http://healthland.time.com/2011/07/15/using-a-big-fork-may-help-you-eat-less/?xid=huffpo-direct" target="_hplink">progress in eating their meal</a> and quelling their hunger pangs, <em>TIME</em> reported. In addition, the restaurant-goers who ate with the smaller forks and were given bigger portions of food at much more food than if they just had the smaller forks or if they just had the bigger portions.




  • Eat From A Smaller Bowl


    Research from the Georgia Institute of Technology shows that people eat 31 percent more ice cream when they eat out of a 34-ounce bowl, rather than 17-ounce one, ScienceDaily reported. Researchers explained that's because people eat about 92 percent of what they serve themselves -- so if you <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060803082602.htm" target="_hplink">serve yourself more, you'll eat more</a>.




  • Get Some Sleep


    Columbia University researchers found that <a href="http://www.thirdage.com/news/sleep-deprivation-may-increase-hunger_3-26-2011" target="_hplink">sleep deprivation can also lead to more calories consumed</a>. They found that women who only got 4 hours sleep the night before ate 329 more calories in a nine-hour period compared with if they weren't sleep deprived, while men ate 263 more calories when <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-michael-j-breus/sleep-more-lose-weight_b_857080.html" target="_hplink">sleep-deprived</a>.

    "It has an impact on cognitive restraint," study researcher Marie-Pierre St. Onge told ThirdAge. "High-fat food is tempting, and maybe on <a href="http://www.thirdage.com/news/sleep-deprivation-may-increase-hunger_3-26-2011" target="_hplink">short sleep you can't restrain yourself</a> as well, while on full sleep you can resist more easily."




  • Mind Your Environment


    <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/02/mindless-eating-environment-location_n_945712.html" target="_hplink">WHERE you eat your food</a> could also factor in to how much you eat and whether you're eating food even though you're not hungry, according to research from the University of Southern California.

    Researchers had movie-goers say whether they were regular popcorn-eaters or not, and then they had them eat either stale popcorn or freshly popped popcorn. The regular popcorn-eaters ate just as much stale popcorn as fresh popcorn, while people who didn't consider themselves regular popcorn-eaters ate significantly less stale popcorn than fresh since it didn't taste as good.

    "The results show just how <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/02/mindless-eating-environment-location_n_945712.html" target="_hplink">powerful our environment can be</a> in triggering unhealthy behavior," study researcher David Neal said in a statement. "Sometimes willpower and good intentions are not enough, and we need to trick our brains by controlling the environment instead."




  • Hide The Junk Food


    Research from Cornell University shows that we are three times more likely to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/29/see-first-eat-visible-food_n_984004.html" target="_hplink">eat the first thing that we see</a>, compared with the fifth thing we see.

    In that study, researchers took photographs of 100 kitchen cupboards and asked the owners to keep records of what they ate. Researchers also tried moving the food around in the cupboards to see if that impacted their food choices -- and found that it did.

    The research shows that "we end up being masters of our own demise, to some extent," study researcher Professor Brian Wansink, Ph.D., author of "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think," told HuffPost.




  • Eat Using Your Non-Dominant Hand


    Research published in the <em>Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin</em> shows that <a href="http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/20/overeating-which-hand-are-you-using/" target="_hplink">eating with your non-dominant hand</a> can help you to decrease the amount of food you consume, CNN reported.

    The finding was part of the same movie-theater/popcorn study, where it was discovered that environment plays a part in mindless eating. Like in that experiment, researchers gave study participants either fresh or stale popcorn. They found that people who used their non-dominant hands and ate the stale popcorn ate 30 percent less than if they used their dominant hands, CNN reported.




  • How to Avoid Mindless Eating


    Food Think with Wansink: Economy-size snacks can cause you to eat more