If you wondering why your weight loss strategy, which includes a strict diet and religious workout sessions, is not bearing fruits?
Look closer. The devil is in the details. It might not be what you eat, but how you eat that’s holding you back.
Do you know how to eat your meal?
Before you ask ‘What kind of question is it’, hold your horses. Think again. Are you aware of how you must eat your food? Looks like you are not alone. Many people do not know how to eat.
Well, that’s exactly why you must follow these science-backed tips. If you are someone, who eats a meal in 20 minutes or less, it’s time to slow down. These tips from scientists will tell you, how you can have your cake and eat it too.
1. Slow down
If you complete your breakfast, lunch, or dinner in less than 20-30 minutes, it means you are eating too fast. Your stomach takes about 20 minutes to communicate to your brain via hormonal signals that its are full, according to Leslie Heinberg, at the Center for Behavioral Health at the Cleveland Clinic, as quoted by AP. So, when you rush the meal, you end up eating beyond your stomach’s fullness limit, as these signals haven’t reached the brain yet.
2. Eating too fast is not beneficial
When you gulp food too quickly, you are likely to swallow more air, which could lead to bloating or indigestion, Heinberg said. If you are not chewing your food properly, it can also affect digestion, and as a result your body won’t be able to absorb the nutrients from your food. Unchewed pieces of food could also get stuck in your esophagus. Previous studies have shown that people who eat quickly have the highest risk of obesity.
How to slow down?
First things first, turn off the TV and give your phone a rest. If you eat, while you watch the TV, you tend to pay less attention to the body’s signals that it’s full. Mindful eating is the key. This way you won’t engage in mindless eating and will stay healthy. It also comes with some perks. When you focus exclusively on eating, you will be able to enjoy the meal more and eat less.
Though the pace of eating is often considered an ingrained habit, you can still change. Simple changes like using your non-dominant hand to eat, trying utensils like chopsticks, that you might not ordinarily use, or taking a deliberate break to drink water when your plate is partially empty, can help. Well, it’s not always possible, especially if you eat lunch at a work meeting or snack while running errands. Sarah Berry, chief scientist at the British nutritional company ZOE recommends being “mindful of what the food tastes and feels like,” whenever possible. “If we’re not fully present, it’s very easy to eat more quickly and not notice how much we’ve consumed,” Berry said.
Listen to your mom – Chew your food
The best way to decrease the pace of your eating is to chew. Yeah, your mum was right after all. She might be no scientist, but she surely knows why chewing food is important. Helen McCarthy, a clinical psychologist with the British Psychological Society notes that one of the simplest things to do is to increase the number of bites you take. “If you chew each mouthful a little bit longer, that will slow down your eating,” she said. This also depends on the food. For instance, it is much easier to eat ultra-processed or fast foods quickly because they typically have a softer texture.
“It’s hard to eat vegetables and protein at the same rate as something that’s highly processed and requires less chewing,” McCarthy adds
