One set of plans was followed by a stronger habit of buying vegetables
Who it’s about: Adults
- Mixed
Plans to buy vegetables built no stronger habit at first, but the authors report a stronger one by six months.
- Action: Make an if-then plan for your obstacletested
- Action: Eat fruit and vegetablesused
- Rule: Anchor it to an old habitused
- Rule: In a single sessionused
Randomised trial of 198 UK adults who ate few vegetables · vs the same goal and video without plans · they rated themselves
The study
Who took part
198 adults in the UK took part. They did most of the food shopping at home and ate few vegetables. They were about 41 on average.
What they did
Both groups set a goal to have vegetables at home for dinner. Both watched a video on how to cook them. One group also wrote if-then plans, such as "if I shop for dinner, then I buy two vegetables". They wrote backup plans for problems too. Then they pictured themselves as they chose vegetables in the shop. It was all one online session.
What happened
Right after the session, the planning group's habit was no stronger. By 6 months the authors report it was stronger, mostly in people who started with a weak habit. That 6-month result comes from a model, and the paper doesn't print each group's 6-month scores.
Source
Rooted in routine: Fostering higher order vegetable‐shopping habits using a randomised simple planning intervention (2025)
DOI: 10.1111/aphw.12649 (opens in a new tab)Tools in this study
Action4
Make an if-then plan for your obstacleImplementation intentions or WOOP/MCII: if this obstacle happens, then I will do that.
