Awareness isn't action

6 May 2024
Adarsh Gopal

Here’s why I don’t think consumer education alone cuts it. Awareness works only when there is action. And action happens only when it is far too inconvenient to do the counterproductive thing. Basically your environment should make it damn near impossible to do a counterproductive thing.

Awareness does not directly result in you eating better. Awareness shapes the choices you make for your immediate environment. This action in the form of restrained shopping, knowing the volume of your daily plates, cups and spoons and stocking well and sufficiently provides the environment for you to eat better without thinking too hard about what and how much you are eating.

Here are a few more specific examples:

The kind of dairy products you shop for. Is it low fat dairy or packed with fat?
A sweetbox arrives at home. Take half a piece and quickly give away the rest.
You create a small 80-100 grams portion of nuts to snack on through the week. No randomly rustling through the packet for an arbitrary serving.
You serve yourself in vessels whose portion sizes you are familiar with. It’s 120 ml or 240 ml serving sizes. 5 ml or 15 ml spoons. Portion control does not work if you don’t know what the portion size is.
Set a quota for oil/ghee/butter consumption in the household. It could be anywhere between 300 ml to 1.2 litres a month based on household size.
Pick the smallest serving size for your indulgences. Travel sizes of chocolate bars, smallest portions of ice creams, single pieces of sweets.

Takeaway

Awareness and education are step 1 of being an informed consumer. Step 2 is actually creating the environment. You need to work on this day in day out for years to create a healthier default. Step 3 is prepping, serving and eating without constantly fussing or thinking about how much or what you are eating. The choices you made for your pantry and food preparation directly resulted in a better looking plate.

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