If you want to eat healthier or lose weight, here are 10 tips that don’t require calorie counting, logging, or tracking.

1. Portion Control. Buy foods in single-serving packages. If you’re buying large packages, portion out single servings in ziploc bags.You can also hack this by using smaller plates, bowls, and utensils.

2. Focus on your food. Have a designated place to eat, like at the dinning room table. Multitasking, working, and screen time while eating WILL cause you to eat more.

3. Make your plate rather than doing family style. (and from tip 1, use a smaller plates).

4. Slow down. People who eat fast are 2-3 times more likely to be overweight. Overweight people chew their food less. Pause before eating for a moment of gratitude. Check in and make sure you have physical hunger rather than emotional hunger (cravings, tired, bored, etc). Put your fork down between bites. This slows you down and keeps you present (both good for avoiding overeating). Chew your food 25-30 times. Set a timer and take a full 20-30 minutes to finish your meal so your mind and body know you’re full.

5. Eat more vegetables and eliminate processed foods. Adding more volume (but not more calories) to your food makes you feel fuller and ‘tricks’ your brain. Adding veggies takes up space and adds more fiber (good for health and weight loss). You can also add volume by adding water (making a soup or drinking more water all day long and especially before meals). Add raw veggies to cooked foods for some texture and crunch or add roasted veggies to a salad. A pilot study showed that people ate up to 500 more calories everyday when eating processed food vs whole foods. They hypothesize that the brain doesn’t recognize the unnatural combinations in processed foods. And this is impairing the signals of fullness so we keep eating more. Stop drinking diet soda. That’s driving you take in more calories to because the brain doesn’t understand sweetness without calories.

6. Eat regularly. If you’re skipping meals, you’ll make poor decisions about what to eat and you’ll end up eating more. Plan ahead and meal prep.

7. Out of sight, out of mind. If you have to have a candy dish at the office, move it far away from you and put it in an opaque dish. Don’t keep junk food in the house. If you are trying to get healthy and eating junk food is sabotaging your goals and sending you down a shame spiral, why are buying that stuff in the first place? If those foods are in your house because other people are eating them, just keep them out of sight. Make the things you don’t want to eat inconvenient and the food you want to eat convenient. Set your environment up for your success.

8. Be mindful that the more people you’re eating with, the more you will eat. Plan accordingly by using the other tips.

9. Be aware of the Halo Effect. We tend to overeat the “healthy” foods or the healthier versions of foods. We think we can eat more if we have a salad or a diet soda with an otherwise unhealthy meal.

10. Cut back on alcohol. Alcohol has a lot of calories (7kcal/gram while protein and carbs have 4 kcals/gram). And if you’re having mixed drinks with juice, soda, or diet soda, that’s also something to look out for. Alcohol lowers your inhibitions and impedes your decision-making process which can lead to making unhealthy choices around food.

Bonus Tip: Get more sleep! Studies have shown that people who are under-slept are more likely to be overweight. Being under-slept messes with your hunger hormones and can lead to eating carb-dense and high sugar foods as your body looks for quick energy.

Many of these tips come from the book Mindless Eating by Brian Wansick Wansick said after his studies, when he told people what he was studying, his subjects overwhelming said “I would never fall for that.” But they ALL did. So as soon as you think that this doesn’t apply to you, then you’re not on the lookout for it and you too will fall for it. We are all susceptible to these. This is why I still weight and measure and buy single servings packages. I don’t log or track anymore, but I am always working on these healthy eating tips.