Who doesn't know that junk food is bad for you? It's empty calories, puts on the pounds and is awfully, terribly, almost impossibly hard to resist. It turns out, though, that you'll buy less junk food if you put away your credit (or debit) card and always pay cash. That's the finding of a Cornell University study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
The study
U.S. researchers analyzed the shopping behavior of 1,000 households over six months and found that the participants' shopping carts contained a larger proportion of impulsive or unhealthy food products when they paid with credit or debit cards rather than cash.
Foods that shoppers perceived as "virtuous" - like vegetables, milk, meat and grains - were more likely to be planned purchases. When shoppers paid for groceries in cash, they were inclined to stick with the virtuous staples and forgo the impulse junk food. Researchers determined that paying with cash was psychologically more painful than paying with plastic.
"Parting with a hundred dollar bill is a very vivid and concrete action," the authors wrote. "However, charging $100 to one's credit or debit card is an abstract and less vivid action." But people with cash were happy to spend their money on foods they thought would improve their well being.
The logic may not be very mysterious, but it's definitely worth being aware of if you want to keep both your spending and your weight in check. When you use cash, you usually have to plan the purchase, estimate how much money you'll need, then go to the ATM to withdraw it, says David Just, an associate professor of behavioral economics at Cornell University, who has studied the use of plastic versus cash in food-purchasing decisions.
"But a credit card is there whenever you have the urge for a snack," Just says. Making those cash calculations also forces you to get your brain churning, Just says. "The act of counting gets you thinking, not just about money, but about the long-term effects of the food," he says, and that makes cash-paying consumers more likely to opt for apples over Apple Jacks.The study
U.S. researchers analyzed the shopping behavior of 1,000 households over six months and found that the participants' shopping carts contained a larger proportion of impulsive or unhealthy food products when they paid with credit or debit cards rather than cash.
Foods that shoppers perceived as "virtuous" - like vegetables, milk, meat and grains - were more likely to be planned purchases. When shoppers paid for groceries in cash, they were inclined to stick with the virtuous staples and forgo the impulse junk food. Researchers determined that paying with cash was psychologically more painful than paying with plastic.
"Parting with a hundred dollar bill is a very vivid and concrete action," the authors wrote. "However, charging $100 to one's credit or debit card is an abstract and less vivid action." But people with cash were happy to spend their money on foods they thought would improve their well being.
"With cards, you just put the stuff in the basket, walk over and swipe the card. It takes so little thought."
Worried your credit card might be plumping up your other bottom line? Here are five ways to ensure that plastic doesn't derail your diet:
No. 1: Pay for food with cash
"The notion that mode of payment can curb impulsive purchase of unhealthy food products is substantially important," write the authors of the above-mentioned study. "The epidemic increase in obesity suggests that regulating impulsive purchases and consumption of unhealthy food products is a steep challenge for many consumers." Given that many consumers struggle so mightily to make healthy choices, understanding that using plastic increases their vice purchases may help people control impulsive behavior. The authors suggest that there may be a connection between rising obesity and changing modes of payment. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 34% of U.S. adults are obese. And nearly 40% of all purchases in 2006 were paid by credit and debit cards. "The relationship between these trends suggests that self-control is not entirely volitional; it can be facilitated or impeded by seemingly unrelated contextual factors that influence people's visceral feelings."
No. 2: Go cash-only for treats
If you prefer using plastic for your groceries, you could take a hybrid approach: buy only nutritious foods with a card and buy your treats with cash. In a 2009 study led by the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, researchers found that students who paid cash for school lunches, instead of using prepaid debit cards, spent 30% more on healthy items such as low-fat milk, bottled water, fruits and vegetables. Researchers also saw that students made similar healthy food choices when they were given a debit card that could be used only to purchase foods that were good for them, and were given additional cash they could use to buy anything they wanted, Just says.
If you walk into a store with only $50 in your wallet, you'll probably spend less than if you go in carrying a credit card that has a $5,000 limit, experts say. "People who have credit have more money to spend, so they tend to spend more freely," Just says. You could nix the credit card for your food purchases and instead load up a debit card with a set amount each week or month. Then once the money is gone, it's gone. "That's a modern incarnation of the old budget trick where people would take cash out and put it in an envelope," Just says. While this method likely wouldn't be as effective as using cash, it's still a way to trick yourself into staying on track with your purchases, experts say.
No. 4: Make a grocery list and stick to it
If you make a grocery list just so you won't forget anything, it probably won't help you in your resolution to avoid unhealthy foods, Just says. Sure, you'll remember the cabbage you need to make your veggie soup, but you might also grab those cream puffs you definitely don't need. But making a list of nutritious items and deciding ahead of time not to buy anything else probably will help a lot, Just says. "You need to make your decisions before you even walk in the door," says Lisa Galper, a Phoenix psychologist and expert in the psychology of weight loss. That can mean making a grocery list, going over a menu online to decide what to order before you head out for a business lunch or even vowing to order only one pastry before you walk into a doughnut shop, she says.
First it was fast food restaurants. Now vending machines are starting to take credit cards, according to Capital Processing Network. Experts say that consumers need to think ahead about ways to avoid temptation or make it harder for themselves to pull out a card, swipe and munch.
One tactic is to avoid the temptation altogether. For example, Just says that there is a vending machine that takes credit cards right down the hall from his office, so he tried not to walk past it.
Another option? Lock your wallet in your desk drawer, he suggests. Galper recommends locking your purse in your car trunk if driving past fast food restaurants makes you crave a greasy burger. "No one wants to pull into the drive-through, put the car in park, go around to the trunk and get their purse out," Galper says.
For the same reasons that plastic can make it easy for consumers to get into debt, credit and debit cards also can promote unhealthy eating habits, Galper says. "People tend to spend and eat mindlessly, so it's important to be mindful."
Sources: http://www.sciencedaily.com, http://health.usnews.com/health-news/, http://www.binghamton.edu/magazine/, http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/, http://money.msn.com/credit-cards/
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