What stands between you and eating your most tempting food? Probably less than thirty seconds — and that’s the problem. A 2019 Cochrane review of 24 availability-and-proximity studies found that moving food farther away reduces how much people eat, at a moderate effect size, and it works below conscious awareness rather than by recruiting willpower. One study placed snacks at 20, 70, and 140 centimeters: both farther conditions cut intake, with no rebound in craving afterward.
This companion covers why effort matters, the brain’s cost-benefit calculation, what does and doesn’t count as an effort barrier — hiding food turns out to work through a different mechanism than moving it — and the asymmetry principle for making the easy path the one you want. (5 min read)