Does The Speed You Eat Affect Your Weight?

Many people who are trying to lose weight are starting to look for ways to reduce the number of calories they eat. On several occasions, they focus only on the things they eat and not the way they eat. Do you know how the speed you eat at affects your weight?

Some studies show that the speed at which you eat is related to weight gain. One possible reason for this may be that eating slowly encourages you to feel full faster. Eating more slowly seems to increase the amount of water you drink and the enlargement of the stomach. This affects the biological process that determines how much food a person eats.

In this article we will teach you how the speed you eat at affects your weight.

Saturation hormones

Eating too fast prevents the biological mechanism from working properly so you can know when you are full.

This information is regulated by a number of hormones, and the main hormone is cholecystokinin. When you eat, a process starts that informs the brain that you are already “full”.

By being aware of this feeling, you can stop eating foods you do not need because your nutritional needs are being met. However, this mechanism needs time to activate. You may have eaten more food than necessary if you eat too fast.

It has been proven that eating too fast reduces the segregation of hormones that indicate a feeling of satiety.

Study about the relationship between the speed at which you eat and weight gain

Several studies have shown that you can significantly reduce the amount of food you eat by eating more slowly.

Such a study was conducted among a small group of participants where they included people with normal weight and people who were overweight. Everyone was given the opportunity to eat in a relaxed manner under conditions that allowed them to do so slowly. They were asked to eat fast on another occasion.

The results showed that all participants ate less food when they ate slowly and felt less hungry later compared to when they ate faster.

What can you do to reduce your eating speed?

All meals eaten in less than 20 minutes are considered too fast no matter what you eat.

Below we will share some tips to help you eat slower:

• The place where you eat is important. It should be calm and invite you to eat in a relaxed way. Professionals recommend that you eat with the television off because it can steal your attention and make you eat faster unconsciously.
• You should chew 20 to 25 times per bite. You can try to identify the ingredients you eat when you do this.

• Use cutlery,  also for pizza and sandwiches.
• Eating with people helps you socialize and eat more slowly.

Finally, remember that you need to adopt good eating habits to stay healthy. It is not only the type of food you eat that is crucial, but also your routines and habits, such as the speed at which you eat.