Is Your House Making You Fat?

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When you think about what causes pounds to creep on, an immediate list of usual suspects comes to mind: junk food, skipped workouts, supersize portions. But you might want to add your house to that fat list.

“Everything from the lighting in your dining room to the size of your dinnerware could be making you gain weight,” says food psychologist Brian Wansink, Ph.D., author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. You can think of it this way, though: If your home can make you gain, it can help you lose, too.

Tip: Use the main entrance, not a side or back door that leads you through the kitchen. People who pass through that room tend to graze, eating 15% more than those who don’t, according to a study from Wansink’s Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University.