Today’s Dietitian
Vol. 27 No. 8 P. 6
Have you ever walked through a buffet line where the salad or roasted vegetables were displayed first, and desserts last? Maybe a grocery store entrance caught your eye with a bright display of soda and snack items? If so, you’ve already experienced “nudging”—a principle of choice architecture—without even realizing it.
Choice architecture refers to deliberately designing environments to influence decision making without compromising freedom of choice. This concept, introduced by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein in their 2008 book, Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness, describes the way choices are structured and presented and how that presentation influences behavior. Dietitians can play a pivotal role in integrating food choice architecture into workplaces, homes, schools, and retail spaces to promote healthier outcomes.1
How Can Choice Architecture Improve Our Food Environment?
Consumers are faced with countless food-related decisions each day. Often, convenience wins and whatever is easiest becomes the default. The saying, “make the healthy choice the easy choice,” captures the essence of enabling positive dietary change through engineering environments to make those choices feel natural and accessible.
Chavanne Hanson, MPH, RD, food choice architecture and nutrition lead at Google, explains, “As a dietitian, I see food choice architecture as the thoughtful design of environments to intentionally guide individuals toward healthier and more sustainable choices, without restricting their freedom or limiting their choice.”
At Google’s headquarters, Hanson says food environments are designed to support personal food decisions while promoting collaboration, well-being, and engagement.2
Dining In and Out
Nudging strategies can be applied in any setting, whether at home, work, school, or in food service operations.3 Small environmental shifts—like adjusting food placement or portion sizes—can have a subtle yet important impact. “It may include how food is displayed in a cafeteria line, or the thoughtful placement of fruits and vegetables in a workplace kitchen or at home. Even the size and shape of dishes, plates, and bowls can impact choices,” Hanson explains.
“Choice architecture works best when the changes are small but consistent,” says Liz Weiss, MS, RDN, cookbook author and founder of LizsHealthyTable.com. Weiss emphasizes that minor, consistent changes can be powerful. “Showcasing hummus and baby carrots on a visible shelf in the fridge encourages healthier snacking and helps normalize nutritious choices,” she points out. “Over time, nudges like keeping soft drinks out of sight and making water more accessible, or serving salad before the main meal, can help reshape habits without any drama.”
The restaurant and food service industry can also use these same principles. According to Hanson, defaulting to a side of vegetables instead of fries or offering smaller standard portions can influence better choices without limiting freedom. “The goal isn’t to force decisions, but to nudge people in a direction that supports their wellbeing,” she explains.
Food Retail and Grocery Stores
Food retailers are a prime spot for seeing choice architecture in action. Supermarkets often place high-margin, less healthy items at entrances or checkouts to trigger impulse buys, not to promote health. However, that same strategy could be reoriented to influence healthier decisions.
“Food products can be arranged to highlight healthier options at eye level, with less healthy items placed higher or lower. Checkout aisles could feature fruit, nuts, and thoughtfully portioned snacks,” Hanson suggests.
“Grocery retailers understand their important role in nudging consumers toward healthier food choices at the point-of-purchase,” says Annette Maggi, MS, RD, LD, FAND, president of the Retail RD Exclusive. They leverage known techniques in choice architecture both in-store and online. In e-commerce, “Retailers offer better-for-you shoppable recipes, dietitian-curated bundles (such as heart-healthy or athlete-friendly), and suggest nutrient-dense alternatives when a consumer searches for a product online,” Maggi says.
Retail dietitians have unique opportunities to support shoppers’ healthier choices. According to Maggi, “Our dietitian teams make decisions in the company’s 400 stores for 52 weeks out of the year, using signage to draw additional shopper attention to these nutritious choices.” She adds that it’s not unusual for this team to influence the products featured on endcaps (the highly visible displays at the end of an aisle) in large grocery store chains.
Hospitals and Schools: Nudging Through Default Options
Choice architecture is also being used in institutional settings like schools and hospitals. For example, case studies have shown that offering an opt-out rather than an opt-in dramatically increases participation rates, simply by shifting the default option.4
According to Philip DeMaiolo, CEC, AAC, Sodexo corporate chef at NYC Health + Hospitals, the key is to make healthier choices appeal to your customer’s preferences, and ensure that they look and taste delicious. “People like choices,” DeMaiolo notes, “but you must know your audience and understand their cuisine.”
A partnership between NYC Health + Hospitals and Sodexo, entitled, “Power Up With Plants,” developed a food service program making a plant-based entree the “default” option.5,6
The plant-based entrees were created to appeal to the cultural foods and flavors of the local population. According to DeMaiolo,” We approached it by making the default a suggestive choice, similar to a restaurant. These nudges helped the program be accepted by the community.”
To get all employees on board, individuals at all levels had a part to play. “Prior to rolling this out we developed a road show for all employees and all departments of the hospitals, including the doctor’s and nurse’s C-suite.” DeMaiolo says. The culinary and clinical team worked together to showcase the clinical benefits and flavorful, restaurant-style presentations.
Practical Tips for RDs
Choice architecture doesn’t require fanfare. RDs agree that Americans need more fiber through whole grains, pulses, seeds/nuts, fruits, and vegetables. However, constantly talking directly about “healthy eating” can lead to message fatigue. “As a cookbook author, my goal is never to ‘sneak’ fruits, veggies, whole grains, or beans into recipes, but rather to incorporate them in ways that feel natural and delicious,” Weiss says.
At home, Weiss suggests a “fruit first” strategy with children—offering a platter of sliced strawberries, orange segments, kiwi, or melon cubes at breakfast, or a wholesome smoothie after school to satisfy hunger before introducing other snacks. “Once hunger is in check, offer things like chips and salsa, cheese and crackers, or leftovers from the night before,” she says. This is not to say that a cookie with a glass of milk is never offered, but the default ensures a healthier option is consumed more of the time.
RDs can help clients organize their kitchen, promote less wasteful practices, and offer easy-access, shelf-stable ingredients with which to build quick, nutritious meals. “The freezer is one of the most underrated tools in choice architecture,” Weiss says.
Hanson believes food choice architecture can have positive influences on systemic aspects of our food system as well. “By shifting the environment through a variety of levers, we can make healthier food choices and active behaviors more accessible, appealing, and convenient for a wider population,” she says. According to Hanson, urban planning can reflect positive choice architecture, too. “Farmers’ markets could be strategically located in underserved communities or stores could be incentivized to stock fresh produce. The design of public spaces to encourage walking and cycling can be seen as a form of choice architecture that positively impacts overall health as well.”
— Rosanne Rust, MS, RDN, is a mom of grown sons, author, blogger, and truth-seeker who focuses on helping people set realistic health goals. She’s published several consumer books, including Zero Waste Cooking For Dummies, the second edition of DASH Diet For Dummies. You can find her as Chew the Facts on social media and learn more at rustnutrition.com.
Food Choice Architecture in Action
Within Reach: In homes or cafeterias, place healthier options like fruits and veggies at eye level. Keep the healthiest choices within sight and reach. Store less healthy snacks, such as those higher in added sugar, out of sight or preportion them to reduce overconsumption.
Appealing Snacking: Whether at home or at work, offer precut and preassembled healthy options in an attractive and accessible display, such as colorful fruits and vegetables with hummus or seed/nut dips.
Blend New With Old: In school cafeterias or snack carts, showcase popular choices (eg, tacos, grilled sandwiches, pasta dishes) with new recipes that may be more plant-forward (eg, mixing chopped mushrooms or soy crumbles into ground beef for tacos or macaroni, offering whole grain breads and more veggie toppings for sandwiches).
Support Easy Meal Prep: Preparing balanced meals in advance helps ensure that when hunger strikes, the default choice is a healthy one. A bento box has its own choice architecture built right in!
Food Order and Delivery Apps: Dietitians can work with fast food or food delivery systems to cue balanced options. How products are placed, presented, and cued impacts choice.7
References
1. Pilat D, Krastev S. What is choice architecture? The Decision Lab website. https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/psychology/choice-architecture. Updated 2025. Accessed June 12, 2025.
2. Google is re-engineering the way employees eat. Wellable website. https://www.wellable.co/blog/google-is-re-engineering-the-way-employees-eat/. Published February 19, 2020. Accessed June 10, 2025.
3. Ensaff H. A nudge in the right direction: the role of food choice architecture in changing populations’ diets. Proc Nutr Soc. 2021;80(2):195-206.
4. Erhard A, Boztuğ Y, Lemken D. How do defaults and framing influence food choice? An intervention aimed at promoting plant-based choice in online menus. Appetite. 2023;190:107005.
5. NYC Health + Hospitals celebrates 1.2 million plant-based meals served. NYC Health + Hospitals website. https://www.nychealthandhospitals.org/pressrelease/nyc-health-hospitals-celebrates-1-2-million-plant-based-meals-served/. Published March 14, 2024. Accessed June 15, 2025.
6. Morgenstern S, Redwood M, Herby A. An innovative program for hospital nutrition. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2025;19(2):320-323.
7. Lohmann PM, Gsottbauer E, Farrington J, Human S, Reisch LA. Choice architecture promotes sustainable choices in online food-delivery apps. PNAS Nexus. 2024;3(10):pgae422.
