Food is food. People don't view it as packages of nutrients.

Assisting more people in making better choices in more frequent situations is one way the obesity epidemic could be turned around.

While habits tend to be stable over time, barriers to change in the category are actually very low. It takes very little to get people to try a new restaurant or new food, particularly when prompted by social influences. Likewise, it takes very little for them to reject foods or outlets because of health concerns.

Partners or husbands can also play a role in changing our eating habits. Dating someone from another culture is often the start of a whole new relationship...with food. Partners may also influence women to make healthier food choices.

Many believe that foods make you put on weight because of what it is, rather than how much there is. They often over-emphasize the role of portion content and don't put enough emphasis on portion size. This can lead to people thinking that more radical changes are needed to prevent weight gain than may be the case, and making choices that lead to less personal satisfaction and that they will be less likely to stick to over time.

Given the growing importance of out-of-home eating, our lack of a reliable mental process to assess relative calorie values of foods and drinks, could be putting us at risk of obesity over our lifetimes.