Mind-over-platter-hack: Slow down, eat less

Research suggests that if you eat slower you tend to eat less. Why is that? Maybe it’s supposed to trick you into thinking you’ve eaten more than you actually have. Maybe the process allows your body to digest food a little faster.

Although quite effective for weight management, additional research* has proven how eating at different speeds results in even less over-eating.

The overweight participants in this study were given a lunch-time meal to eat, but were told to eat at different speeds: Normal eating rate; half the normal eating rate, and normal rate changing to half-normal eating rate.

The results showed that eating at half the normal rate affected men – who ate less – but not women. However, this changed when the meals were started at normal pace and then slowed down to half normal pace, with men and women showing significant appetite reduction.

In conclusion, the normal-slow pace of eating was proven much more effective than eating slowly all the time.

So to put this into practice, eat the first half of your next meal at a normal speed and then change to a slower gourmet style, where you enjoy and savour every mouthful (try pretending to be a Master-Chef judge and note the colours, flavours and textures of all the food in your mouth).

*C.K. Martin, S.D. Anton, H. Walden, C. Arnett, F.L. Greenway and D.A. Williamson (2007) ‘Slower Eating Rate Reduces the Food Intake of Men, but not women: Implications for behavioural Weight Control’.