A Big Fat Crisis Read Online Free PDF

grains they would eat, which could lead to substantial improvements in the American diet across all social classes.
    Of course, to be sustainable the Supermarket of the Future has to be profitable—or at least to break even. If such a store keeps people healthy and doesn’t lose money, then it is a no-brainer for the government, health insurance companies, and large employers to sponsor the enterprise. There appears to be a widespread belief in the food industry that the only way a supermarket can be profitable is by selling foods that increase our risk of chronic disease. I believe, however, that there is a good chance that healthier supermarkets would also be very successful.
    For example, Whole Foods’ business model is built on the premise that it offers its customers healthier foods. As a consequence, it hasbecome a highly profitable company. But a new kind of supermarket model could go well beyond what Whole Foods offers and provide more support for consumers to choose a healthy diet without the higher cost.
    We need supermarkets that link meal planning, purchasing, and consumption so that people can optimize their nutrition. Having a functioning, practical supermarket-based consumer laboratory that studies how people decide on food purchases could be a critical scientific endeavor that could make an enormous difference in population health.
    A hybrid supermarket/consumer behavior laboratory would have two main goals: first, to identify marketing techniques that can help people choose foods for a healthy diet; and second, to determine whether promoting healthy foods and discouraging the consumption of discretionary calories can be economically sustainable and/or profitable. By documenting the arrangements and presentation of foods and keeping track of the nutrient value of the purchases made through cash register receipts, it will be possible to track not only how changing store factors might influence diet, but also how profits can be maximized without sacrificing health.
    What Will the Supermarket of the Future Look Like?
    I believe the best size for a Supermarket of the Future would be relatively small, less than ten thousand square feet, and considerably smaller than the fifty thousand square feet of today’s average supermarket. The Supermarket of the Future will carry a limited number of items, a fraction of the 40,000–50,000 items that major supermarkets typically carry. The arrangement of displays and shelf space will be considerably different from those of traditional markets.
    Because most Americans need to cut down on salt by nearly 50 percent, a supermarket that promotes a healthy and tasty diet should have a special spice and herb section. Here, customers could learn how to flavor foods and make them delicious without adding too much salt. Store employees would encourage customers to taste foods with different flavors. Spices could be provided in small quantities for sampling, as well as in bulk.
    Indeed, tasting and sampling would be a primary strategy for introducing new foods. Offering free samples has been successful because it provides the consumer with valuable experiential information and an implicit obligation to return the favor as a result of having been given a taste. Arizona State University Professor Robert Cialdini calls this phenomenon the principle of reciprocity. 8
    The Supermarket of the Future will also carry some foods that are not entirely healthy, like sweets and other desserts, but the relative amount of shelf space devoted to items whose consumption we have to moderate would be sharply curtailed in contrast to that of the typical supermarket. These items won’t be displayed as impulse buys at the cash register or at the end of an aisle, but reached only after the shoppers have made all their other purchases.
    The experimental supermarket can study how changing prices and promotions affect purchases. Just using words like “sale” and “discount” often leads to buying