The theory that eating too quickly causes you to eat more has been around for a while. It’s thought that faster eating does not allow your body time to feel full, and the result is that you overeat. Fast eating is also thought to reduce the level of appetite suppressing hormones, so you keep on eating because your hunger isn’t satisfied. In addition, fast eating may have a negative effect on your absorption of nutrients, and in turn your metabolic rate. Eating quickly may prevent food from being chewed thoroughly, making it harder for your digestive tract to absorb nutrients from larger food particles.
Recent research has indicated that eating slowly may help people to eat less and reduce their kilojoule intake. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism compared the hunger response in volunteers who ate the same meal on different days, but at different speeds. In the first session, subjects ate 300 ml of ice cream (about 2 1/2 scoops) divided into two equal portions consumed 5 minutes apart. In the second session, they ate 300 ml of ice cream divided into seven equal portions every 5 minutes, consumed within 30 minutes.
The results showed that slow eating increased the level of two appetite-lowering hormones (called peptide YY and glucagon-like peptide-1). These levels remained high for 2 1/2 hours after eating slowly. Slow eating was also associated with higher fullness ratings immediately after the meal compared to fast eating.
Eating slowly may seem simple enough, but the speed at which you eat is a habit, and slowing it down may take time. Following are some strategies to help reduce your eating speed.
References available on request