5. Watch those portions. Even as you try to eat foods that are loaded with nutrients, pay attention to the overall amount you consume. Brian Wansink, a professor of marketing and nutritional science at Cornell University, explains that people have three measures of satiety: starving, could eat more, and full. “Most of the time, we’re in the middle,” he says. “We’re neither hungry nor full, but if something is put in front of us, we’ll eat it.” He suggests announcing out loud, “I’m not really hungry, but I’m going to eat this anyway.” This could be enough to deter you, or to inspire you to eat less.

Restaurants bring challenges, because portions are huge and tend to be high in fat and sodium. “Eating out has become a big part of our diet, about a third of our calories,” says Wootan. “When eating out, we should apply the same strategies we do at home — not on your birthday, but on a Tuesday night when there’s no time to cook.” One strategy: Share an entrée. You’ll eat a healthier portion size and also save money.

6. Eat, don’t drink, your calories. Beverages don’t fill you up in the same way that foods do: Studies have shown that people eat the same amount whether or not they wash down their food with a 150-calorie drink. And most beverages don’t contribute many nutrients.

In fact, all you really need is water, says Barry Popkin, head of the division of nutrition epidemiology at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill. “In a historical context,” says Popkin, aside from breast milk, “we drank only water in the first 190,000 years of our existence.”