Psychologist Richard Wiseman, who’s also a professor at the University of Hertfordshire in the U.K., says eating with your non-dominant hand could help you lose weight. So if you’re a righty, you’d be eating with your left hand, which Wiseman says would probably lead to eating less. He explains, “It means it actually takes longer and it’s more mindful to eat because you need to sort out coordination issues and so on.”
According to Wiseman, switching hands to eat is “really simple, but actually pretty effective,” adding that mindful eating is “one of the most enjoyable ways to make portions smaller.” He also says another mindful eating tactic that’s surprisingly effective is the “mirror theory” devised by psychologist Brad Bushman in 1998. His research had people eat food in front of a mirror and seeing their reflection made them more self-conscious, Wiseman says, so the participants ate less overall and ate healthier food.