Eating slowly can help shed kilos

SAVOURING every bite is not only the key to enjoying your food, it may also help keep your weight in check.

eating slow

SAVOURING every bite is not only the key to enjoying your food, it may also help keep your weight in check.

How many times have you wolfed down food without really tasting it?

You probably ate more than you needed to because you didn't take the time to recognise that you were full. The hormones in your body that regulate appetite were sending signals that it was sated but you went full-speed ahead until the plate was empty.

Eating slower may be a simple but effective way to manage weight gain and even help us lose weight, according to research from the US.

New studies by the University of Rhode Island have found heavier people eat faster than slimmer people. A laboratory study found people who eat faster polish off about 88 grams of food per minute. Slow eaters consume 57 grams of food per minute - more than a third less.

Researchers also found people with a high body mass index (BMI) eat faster than people with a low BMI.

"It takes time for your body to process fullness signals, so slower eating may allow time for fullness to register in the brain before you've eaten too much," says Kathleen Melanson, associate professor of nutrition at the University of Rhode Island.

Her previous research found eating slowly reduces the amount of food we ingest. Women who were told to eat quickly consumed 646 calories in nine minutes.

When the same women were told to pause between each bite and to chew food 15 to 20 times before swallowing, they consumed only 579 calories over a 29-minute period.

Similarly, research at Osaka University in Japan studied the eating habits of 3000 people and found men who ate fast were 84 per cent more likely to be overweight. Fast-eating women were twice as likely to be overweight compared with women who ate slowly.

> > Fast living, fast food

"In Australia we seem to have a culture where people eat quickly and don't actually taste their food," says Melanie McGrice, a spokeswoman for the Dietitians Association of Australia.

Rushed eating means we often reach for convenience foods that can be devoured on the go rather than sitting at the dinner table, eating with cutlery and taking things slowly.

The University of Rhode Island research found when people ate wholegrain foods instead of highly processed items, they ate more slowly because the foods contain more fibre and need more chewing.

"Leave the skin on fruits and vegies to boost the fibre content so you have to eat them slowly," McGrice says. "If you have a piece of fruit, cut it into small pieces to eat rather than taking large bites quickly."

Skipping meals during a busy day also leads to fast over-eating. "It's common for people to rush around and skip meals and then be overly hungry, so when they do see food they eat fast," McGrice says.

"Hormones are produced by your body four to five hours after your last meal to stimulate your appetite so you eat again. If you override that, when you do eat, you'll eat quickly to compensate for your hunger. That's why it's important to eat regularly."

> > Lap band lessons

Professor Paul O'Brien, from the Centre for Obesity Research & Education at Monash University, says people who have a lap-band procedure have to eat slowly so food can be squeezed through the band into the stomach. "The oesophagus squeezes food four or five times to get just one bite down to the band and then squeezed past it into the stomach. That can take up to a minute," he says.

"Patients have to allow that mouthful of food to pass through this process before they have another mouthful.

We give patients a timer that runs for a minute to emphasise they have to wait a minute before swallowing again."

This also allows time for messages from the stomach to reach the brain and signal you are full. This process takes about 20 minutes.

"That's why it's so important to eat a little and then wait for a while to see if you feel full. If you continue to eat without actually being hungry, you could overeat and that can lead to weight gain," O'Brien says.

"Focus on enjoying smaller portions of food and focus on quality, not quantity."

> > Slowing things down

+ Focus on the flavour and texture of each mouthful.
+ Have teaspoon-sized mouthfuls of food.
+ Chew each mouthful 15 to 20 times.
+ Put your knife and fork down between mouthfuls. "Mentally envisage doing a lap of the room before you take the next mouthful," McGrice says.
+ Aim to only have a few bites of food a minute.
+ If you think you are starting to feel full, stop eating. Wait for 10 to 15 minutes and if you still feel full, stop eating.
+ Include wholegrain foods in your meal.
+ Don't skip meals.