Do You Know How Eating Speed Affects Weight?

Dieters tend to look for ways to reduce the number of calories they eat, but often they focus only on what they eat, not how they eat. Do you know how eating speed affects weight? Keep reading!

Some studies have shown that eating speed affects weight. One possible reason for this may be that when you eat slowly, the feeling of satiety comes faster. Slow eating would also seem to increase the amount of water drunk, which in turn fills the stomach. This affects the biological processes that determine how much a person eats.

In this article, you will learn more about how eating speed affects weight.

How eating speed affects weight: satiety hormones

Eating too fast prevents the proper functioning of biological mechanisms that indicate satiety. This information is regulated by numerous hormones, the most important of which is cholecystokinin. When eating, a process begins that informs the brain that the eater is already “full”.

Awareness of this knowledge will help you stop eating foods that you don’t need because your nutritional needs have already been met. However, this mechanism needs time to start. Thus, eating too fast may cause you to eat more than is needed.

Eating too fast has been shown to reduce the secretion of satiety-indicating hormones.

Studies on the relationship between eating speed and weight gain

Several studies have shown that eating more slowly may significantly reduce the amount of food eaten.

One such study was conducted on a small group of participants who included normal-weight, overweight, and obese people. Everyone was given the opportunity to eat casually and at a slow pace, while the second time they were asked to eat fast.

The results showed that all participants ate less when asked to eat slowly, and they felt less hungry compared to when they ate faster.

How can the pace of eating be slowed?

The pace of eating is considered too fast if a meal is eaten in less than 20 minutes, regardless of what is eaten.

Below are some tips to help slow down your eating pace:

• Where you eat matters. The environment should be calm and tempting to eat in a relaxed way. Experts recommend holding the TV on while eating, as it can distract from food and make you eat faster without realizing it.
• Chew each mouthful 20-25 times. When doing this, try to identify in your mouth the ingredients you are eating.
• Use cutlery, even for pizza and sandwiches.
• When eating with others, you should also chat, which slows down the pace of eating.

Remember that good eating habits help you stay healthy. Not only the food eaten matters, but also other habits such as eating speed.