It’s easy to absentemindedly chow down on junk food while watching TV or surfing the Web. But a few simple changes to your environment can make it just as easy to mindlessly munch on healthy foods, according to Brian Wansink, Ph.D., a food psychologist and director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University.

Speaking at the American Psychological Association’s annual convention in Washington, D.C., Wansink outlined findings from his lab’s numerous studies on food behavior showing, among other things, that things as basic as the size of a popcorn container or drinking glass can greatly influence the quantity a person consumes.

And you can’t necessarily rely on your stomach to tell you you’re full: When Wansink’s team created a bottomless soup bowl that slowly, imperceptibly refilled as participants ate, the group with the bottomless bowl ate 73 percent more than a group that ate from a same-sized bowl that didn’t refill—yet had no idea they’d eaten more than the bowl originally contained.

The good news is that simply being aware of such findings can help people make healthier choices, Wansink said. In particular, his group has found that people can lose up to two pounds a month by making these and other simple tweaks to their environment:

• Eat off of salad plates instead of large dinner plates.
• Keep unhealthy foods out of immediate line of sight and move healthier foods to eye level in the cupboard and refrigerator.
• Eat in the kitchen or dining room, not in front of the television.

Such strategies can help consumers take willpower out of the equation when aiming to eat healthier—an important advantage since research suggests that wanting to make better food choices isn’t always enough to overcome the biological and cultural imperatives encouraging us to eat, eat, and then eat some more.

See our tips for how to eat healthfully, as well as our updated diet Ratings.