Why Eating Slowly Can Help You Lose Weight
By Dr Matt Denos, PhD
If you are like most people, your mother may have
told you to slow down your eating and enjoy your meal. So, is there really any
reason to heed such advice? Yes, according to studies by three independent
research groups and you might well want to listen if you are worried about
putting on extra weight and wanting to lose weight.
Eating Quickly Leads to Greater Caloric Intake
A 2008 study
published in the Journal of American Dietetic Association found out that there
is a distinctive link between the speed at which a person eats and the number
of calories a person ingests.
Andrade, the author of the study used two
groups of test subjects to test the effect of eating speed on calorie intake.
Both groups received the same amount of food. However, one group was given a
bigger spoon and told to eat faster while the other group was given a smaller
spoon and advised to take small bites and chew them at least twenty times
before swallowing the food.
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Andrade found that there was a significant
difference between the calories consumed by each group. Those eating more
quickly consumed more calories.
Those eating more slowly consumed fewer
calories but drank more water. Perhaps most strikingly was the finding that
those who ate faster actually reported feeling less full than those who had
eaten slower even though they consumed more food.
Eating Fast And Obesity
The effect of eating speed has received plenty of
research attention in the past decade or so. In a 2008 study published in the
British Medical Journal by Maruyama and his team of researchers discovered a
link between the speed of eating and obesity.
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According to Maruyama's research, people who eat
quickly are statistically more likely to be overweight. An additional
correlation was discovered between eating until feeling full and being
overweight. It was postulated that both eating until satiated and eating
quickly could have an even larger impact on being obese.
The Influence Of Hormones
Although a link between obesity and eating
speed had been established, it was not until this year's publication of a
study by Kokkinos et al. in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology (Jan. 2010)
that a physiological causal link was identified. Kokkinos hypothesized that
eating speed could affect hormone production and that these hormones could
explain the difference in satiety ratings given by fast eaters and slow
eaters.
Kokkinos went about testing this hypothesis by
feeding ice cream to two groups of test subjects. The first group received its
ice cream in two servings given just five minutes apart. The second group
received the same amount of ice cream broken into seven servings. Each serving
for the second group was given five minutes apart throughout a half hour
period.
Researchers kept track of hormonal levels
with blood samples taken regularly throughout the experiment. Researches
discovered two significant trends. First, the fast eating group had much lower
levels of the hormones PYY and GLP-1. Secondly, it was found that two hours
after the meal, those in the fast eating group had higher levels of the
hormone ghrelin.
This research is important because it helps us to
understand what actually happens when eating slowly or quickly. The hormones
PYY and GLP-1 are responsible for making a person feel full. These hormone
levels increase when eating slowly, but not when eating quickly.
This means that the slow eaters feel full
after eating, but fast eaters are left feeling hungry. Ghrelin is the hormone
responsible for creating the feeling of hunger. This hormone remains at low
levels hours after eating slowly (but not after eating quickly) indicating
that eating slowly will help a person feel full longer.
What
Does This Mean For Dieters Who Want To Lose Weight?
The above studies offer insight into the dieter's
dilemma. Weight gain is generally the result of consuming more calories than
the body uses. To prevent weight gain, a person must either burn more calories
through physical exertion or must eat fewer calories.
Exercise is often used by dieters to burn
extra calories and dieting is often used to reduce caloric intake. However,
dieting can seem impossible to a person who feels extremely hungry.
As we see in the Kokkino research, eating
quickly ( a hungry person usually does) only leads to increased hunger shortly
after eating. This leads to a vicious cycle that for many people makes dieting
seem almost an impossible task.
Fortunately, the Andrade study offers weight
loss dieters fresh hope. Dieters can follow the eating methodology for the
slow eating group and that is taking small bites so as not to eat too quickly.
This will result in fewer calories being
consumed at each meal because enough time will pass for your body to feel
full. Furthermore, you will feel satiated for much longer periods which will
thus help dieters to curb snacking between meals.
So if maintaining your weight is difficult
and you tend to put on weight easily, perhaps you should keep an eye on how
fast you normally eat. If you discover you are a fast eater, then make an
effort to slow down and change your eating speed. It could be that eating a
little slower and savoring your meal is the sought after key to managing your weight
loss goal.
Best Wishes
Matt
Denos
About the Author
Matt
Denos is a writer and biology scientist with a special interest in the subject
of weight loss and obesity treatment. His website, which focuses on weight
loss programs, can be visited at medifast
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