Quick Tips

Get seafood baskets with Ipswich clams, oysters, scallops, or jumbo shrimp.

The advocacy group that helped to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in Colorado is reminding people to please “consume responsibly.”

Wednesday marks the launch of a new public education campaign from the Marijuana Policy Project, a group tha…

Can everyone stop talking about the iPhone 6 and start talking about this?

The days of a restaurant menu that reads more like a chapter book may soon be coming to an end.

As foodie-ism invades American culture, diners are looking for restaurants that excel at one thing instead of offering dozens of mediocre dishes. Fast-casual chains like Chipotle and Shake Shack, which make a small number of items well, are flourishing. Restaurants that have ballooned their menus in recent years, like McDonald’s and Olive Garden, are suffering.

“The thought was if I load up my menu, I’ll drive more people to the doors,” John Chidsey, the former CEO of Burger King, said of restaurants weighing down their menus. “It just got so complicated in the kitchen, and the accuracy and the quality of what got made suffered,” added Chidsey, now executive chairman of Red Book Connect, a technology company that helps restaurants become more efficient.

Restaurants are paring back their menus in response:

Menu sizes are coming down from their 2007 heights, according to Datassential:

The success of these slimmed-down menus encourages new restaurants to limit their offerings to a few things that can be easily customized. In Washington, D.C., for example, there are several independent eateries that can be dubbed “The Chipotle of” Indian, Greek, Korean food and more, The Washington Post reported this week.

Michael Lastoria, the co-owner of &pizza, a restaurant where diners build their own pizzas, scoffed to WaPo that traditional menus “scream fast food.”

The difference in average menu size at new restaurants and established restaurants, according to Datassential:

McDonald’s executives admitted in January that the burger chain’s menu had grown too complex, making it hard to serve food as quickly as people expect. From 2006 to 2013, the chain’s menu mushroomed from 86 to 107 items, according to research firm Datassential.

“We overcomplicated the restaurants,” said Tim Fenton, McDonald’s chief operating officer, on a conference call with analysts in January. “If you remember, we introduced McWraps, we introduced Egg White Delight, we introduced Quarter Pounder Toppers and really didn’t give the restaurants an opportunity to breathe.”

Along with complaints about breadstick temperature and unsalted pasta water, investment firm Starboard Value criticized Olive Garden’s menu strategy in a scathing 294-page presentation last week. Starboard argued that slimming down the menus at chains owned by Darden Restaurants, Olive Garden’s parent company, could save $10 million to $15 million a year. Starboard also said the complex menu increased the risk of errors and required too much training for cooks and servers.

Starboard slide on Olive Garden’s menu strategy with a customer complaint circled in red:

Darden Restaurants, the parent company of Olive Garden, defended its new menu in a report released Monday, arguing that it offered diners variety, value and convenience.

McDonald’s and Olive Garden are examples of how the industry responded to stagnating traffic by trying to offer everything to everyone, said Maeve Webster, a senior director at Datassential.

But complex menus can also scare people away.

“If you’re offering everything, you’re not doing anything specifically well,” said Darren Tristano, executive vice president at Technomic, a food research firm. Tristano compared McDonald’s more than 100 menu items to California-based In-N-Out Burger, where the menu hovers around just 10 items, including drinks.

“You know when you go there you’re getting burger, fries and a drink,” Tristano said. “What a customer wants is to know your story. Why are you in business? What are you known for?”

To be sure, there’s one restaurant that’s known for successfully executing a wide variety foods, ranging from Thai lettuce wraps to a macaroni cheeseburger: The Cheesecake Factory. That chain offers extensive training unmatched by competitors, so that anybody who comes to work at the restaurant will be able to make anything on the menu, according to Webster.

“It’s taken a lot of effort in order to be able to pull that off,” Webster said.

But most chains should probably look for other ways to increase variety without adding a million things to the menu, like offering something for a limited time, according to Tristano.

Wendy’s Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger was a limited-time offer that was so successful it become permanent.

Counterintuitively, stripping down a menu can give people more choices. Five Guys has only burgers, fries, hot dogs and a few sandwiches on its menu, but diners can customize their order with toppings, like grilled mushrooms and A.1. Sauce. At Chipotle, there are 60,000 ways someone could place an order, even though the chain only sells tacos, burritos, burrito bowls and salads, the company claims.

In fact, customization has become so trendy that McDonald’s may be expanding a test concept for a build-your-own burger joint in an aim to compete with the Chipotles and Five Guys of the world.

“Customization is replacing the need to have so many options on the menu,” Tristano said.

You’ve probably heard about the Paleo diet; maybe you’ve even tried it. The “primal eating” trend is everywhere.

Paleo, of course, encourages us to eat like our ancient ancestors did.

The concept is this: Humans evolved on a diet very different from today’s eating habits.

Therefore, the Paleo proponents argue, to be healthier, leaner, stronger and fitter, we must re-think our diet and remove some of the food groups we consider basic.

Promising everything from fat loss to more energy and clearer skin, Paleo certainly has appeal.

But what is Paleo really? Is it a diet worth trying?

Why “Paleo”: The basic concept of eating primal

To understand Paleo thinking, we’ve got to go back in time. (My DeLorean is parked right outside.)

Let’s have a quick look at what our ancestors ate:

• 60 million years ago: Our oldest cousins, the earliest primates, ate a lot like, well, primates. They subsisted mainly on fruit, leaves, and insects.
• 2.6 million years ago: Evolution at work! Humans started using tools and fire, and moved to a hunter-gatherer diet.
• 10,000 years ago: At this point, “agriculture” had taken the world by storm.

Paleolithic humans definitely got some eating habits right. In general, they consumed:

• three times more produce than the typical American,
• more fiber,
• more protein,
• more omega-3 fatty acids,
• more unsaturated fat,
• more vitamins and minerals,
• and much less saturated fat and sodium.

That said, Paleo fans tend to overlook the fact that hunter-gatherers were not models of pristine health. Paleolithic humans suffered from parasites, infectious diseases, and even atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

The dangers of our modern diet

Fast forward to today. Our diet has changed significantly, and not necessarily for the better. For one thing, it contains far more processed, packaged and commercially-produced foods than ever.

Case in point: The top six calorie sources in the U.S. diet today are:

• grain-based desserts (cake, cookies, etc.),
• yeast breads,
• chicken-based dishes (and you know that doesn’t mean roast chicken),
• sweetened beverages,
• pizza,
• and alcoholic drinks.

Yikes. Not only are these foods not ancestral, some of them could barely be called food.

Meanwhile, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases have dramatically increased over the past 50 years.

The Paleo claim that our modern Western diet isn’t healthy rings true. So what should we do to make it better?

According to Paleo: What to eat and what to avoid

Paleo fans suggest we return to the meat and produce-based diet of our past. Specifically, the Paleo dietary model encourages us to base our diets on the following foods:

• animals (especially a “whole animal” approach, including organs, bone marrow, cartilage, and organs),
• animal products (such as eggs or honey),
• vegetables and fruits,
• raw nuts and seeds,
• and added fats (like coconut oil, avocado, butter, ghee).

Notice what’s missing from the list? Paleo tells us to avoid grains (even “whole grains”), heavily processed oils (such as canola and soybean oil), and processed foods in general.

Legumes and dairy are typically off limits too, though some guidelines allow these foods as the Paleo diet continues to “evolve.”

Should you stop eating grains and legumes?

We already know the above list of processed foods and treats aren’t good for us — but what about whole grains and legumes?

Let’s tackle legumes first. Paleo people say we shouldn’t eat legumes because of their high concentration of anti-nutrients like lectins or phytates. Supposedly that reduces their nutritional value to zilch.

Fortunately for bean fans, that’s not true.

Research suggests that the benefits of legumes outweigh their anti-nutrient content. Cooking eliminates most anti-nutrient effects, and some anti-nutrients (like lectins) may even be good for us.

As for grains, Paleo proponents say grains can lead to inflammation and related health problems. This can be true for people with celiac disease (about 1 percent of the population) and for those with non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

But a substantial body of reliable research suggests that eating whole grains improves our health. At the very least, whole grains appear to be neutral when it comes to inflammation.

Bottom line on grains and legumes: Completely eliminating these important foods from our diet is probably a bad idea.

The problem with Paleo

Paleo-style eating has a lot of good qualities: It emphasizes whole foods, lean proteins, vegetables, fruits, and healthy fats. Incorporating more of these foods into your diet would likely be a big improvement.

However, the Paleo diet has some flaws. The evolutionary arguments don’t hold up, and the evidence for excluding dairy, legumes, and grains isn’t strong (yet).

But my biggest concern is this: A one-size-fits-all “best diet” approach doesn’t work.

Strictly following a list of “good” and “bad” or “allowed” and “not allowed” foods is problematic for most people.

Even more, long-term, it’s tough to be consistent on a strict diet regime like Paleo. Sure, most people can follow it for weeks or months. Maybe even years. But decades? That’s unlikely.

Of course, without being consistent, you can’t make progress.

What you can do today

Instead of signing up for a strict lifestyle template, think about small changes you can make in your “modern” life that support what your “ancient” body needs.

For example, look for simple ways incorporate a bit of what’s good about the ancestral lifestyle into your day. Could you:

• Eat a little more fresh food, like adding some fresh fruit or vegetables to dinner tonight?
• Consider replacing a bit of the processed food you might normally be eating? (Not all of it, just some.)
• Get outside for some movement and fresh air?
• Go to bed a little earlier to get a good night’s sleep?

These small actions — done consistently — can do much more for your health and happiness long-term. And consistency is more important than any food list or evolutionary theory.

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Want some help finding the best diet for you? Download this free guide: Paleo, vegan, intermittent fasting…Here’s how to choose the best diet for you.

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About the author

John Berardi, Ph.D. is a founder of Precision Nutrition, the world’s largest online nutrition coaching company. He also sits on the health and performance advisory boards of Nike, Titleist and Equinox.

Dr. Berardi was recently selected as one of the 20 smartest coaches in the world by livestrong.com, the internet’s most popular fitness site.

In the last five years, Dr. Berardi and his team have personally helped over 30,000 people improve their eating, lose weight, and boost their health through their renowned Precision Nutrition Coaching program.

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Chew on this: When it comes to eating healthfully, our environments may be working against us.

Not always on purpose. But simple elements — from the color paint in our kitchens to the size of the plates we use to whether we eat lunch at our desks or in the office break room — all seem to influence the way we eat.

Fortunately, food psychologist and behavioral economist Brian Wansink, Ph.D., director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University, has some actionable tips for not getting duped by our environments. Wansink literally wrote the book on mindless eating, and now his new book — titled Slim By Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life, out Sept. 23 — explains how we can avoid having our diets derailed by the design of our homes, restaurants, offices and grocery stores.

“We find 80 percent of all eating decisions are made within five miles of where you live — it’s your home, it’s the two or three most-frequented restaurants, it’s where you shop for groceries, it’s where you work,” Wansink tells HuffPost. The aim of the book is to give readers “a bunch of things you can do as an individual … as well as small changes you can ask restaurants, grocery stores, schools and work sites, that will help you mindlessly eat better.”

In fact, Wansink points out that many of the design tweaks offered in the book — for restaurants to make side salads a more attractive menu option than French fries, for instance — are not only good for people, but are also smart from a business standpoint because they could end up cutting costs.

We asked Wansink to share some of the biggest dietary pitfalls in our environments and easily implementable tips from his book to set ourselves up for eating success:

At the grocery store…

The pitfall: Falling for the snack food aisle. When you’re perusing all those processed snacks, “you start imagining or simulating what it would be like to eat those potato chips,” Wansink says. The crunch, the crinkle, the saltiness — “the more you simulate it in your mind, [the more] you think ‘Oh, I need some potato chips.'”

The fix: Before you step foot in the grocery store, pop a piece of gum in your mouth. Wansink found in his research that when you give people a piece of sugarless gum, not only do cravings and hunger for foods drop, but they also buy less snack food.

Other tips:

• Go through the aisles with the healthiest foods first. For some reason, we’re more inclined to load up on what we see first. So if you initially set your sights on fruits and vegetables… well, you get the gist.

• Eat a healthy snack first so you won’t be starving. While Wansink found in his research that you won’t necessarily spend more money if you shop on an empty stomach, you will be more inclined to buy the less-healthy convenience foods.

In the kitchen…

The pitfall: Leaving chips and cereal out on the counter. Wansink conducted a study where he and his colleagues took photos of kitchens in 240 homes in Syracuse, New York. They examined every detail of the kitchens, from the measurements to what kinds of foods were sitting out. Their findings were startling: Having potato chips visible anywhere in the kitchen was associated with weighing 9 pounds more than the neighbors. And having breakfast cereal out was even worse: For women, it was associated with weighing 21 pounds more than the neighbors. “You think, ‘Cereal is healthy, here’s a box, let me grab a handful,'” Wansink reasons.

The fix: Keep fruit out instead. That study also showed that people who keep a fruit bowl out weigh 8 pounds less than their neighbors. “You can debate the causality: Is it slim people who have fruit bowls, or do fruit bowls make you slim? I don’t know. But if you want to be slim, once you start at least doing what [slim people] are doing, you’re tilting the field in the right direction,” he says.

Other tips:

• Be strategic with how you serve food. Using a bigger plate makes it look like there’s less food on it — so you’ll end up heaping more onto it. Same goes with serving dishes: If you serve out of a bigger container, you’ll be tricked into thinking that it’s OK to give yourself more. So opt for smaller dishware — it could help prevent over-eating.

• Make your kitchen a little less comfy (so you won’t want to spend all your time there). There’s a correlation between time spent in the kitchen and the amount of food you eat, so the less time you spend in the kitchen, the less you’ll likely eat.

At the office…

The pitfall: You eat lunch at your desk. Maybe it’s because you want to prove your intense work ethic and dedication to your coworkers or boss. Or maybe you’re just too shy to ask a coworker to grab a bite with you. No matter the reason, eating at your desk is associated with eating less healthfully because people will “either eat worse foods, or they compensate later that day,” Wansink explains. “Because they were such a good worker bee, they think, ‘Oh, I can stop on the way home to get something for my commute home, since I had such a big day spent at my desk.”

The fix: Make a point to get up from your desk for lunch. “You’ll eat better, you’ll eat slightly less and I think that, more importantly, you’ll probably not be so stressed out,” he says.

Other tips:

• If your office has a cafeteria, make a point to put fruit on your tray first. Wansink’s research shows that when people are given a free piece of fruit first in the lunch line, they make smarter lunch choices.

• Pay with cash. For some reason, people seem to purchase fewer desserts and soft drinks when they pay with cash, his research shows.

Out to eat…

The pitfall: You order all the things. “Nobody goes to a restaurant to go on a diet,” Wansink says. To this effect, it’s easy to overdo it and order everything your heart desires.

The fix: Follow the “Restaurant Rule of 2.” Go ahead and order the entrée you want, and then in addition to that, allow yourself to have two other items. Maybe it’s a piece of bread and an appetizer. Maybe it’s a glass of wine and a dessert. But what it can’t be is one of everything. “We find that when people do this, they don’t feel put out, they don’t feel compromised,” Wansink explains. “Because what happens is they think, ‘Wow, I can take the two things I want most? Cool, I like that.’ And on average, people report to us, they eat about 21 to 23 percent fewer calories.”

Other tips:

• Ask your waiter to box up half your meal ahead of time. With restaurant portion sizes being what they are today (you know, giant), help yourself out by not even giving yourself the option to polish off your entire plate.

• Be menu savvy. There are clues on chain restaurant menus that seem to be linked with the calorie counts of the dishes they describe. For instance: Buttery = high-calorie. Marinated = low-calorie. Loaded = high-calorie. Roasted = low-calorie.

For more information on what you can do to “mindlessly eat better,” as well as information on advocating for healthier design at restaurants and grocery stores, visit slimbydesign.org.