Understanding the role of eating speed on weight
Today we take a look at the role of eating speed in weight loss and weight gain. Why? Well, because many people eat too fast and eating too fast causes weight gain.
If eating too fast causes weight gain, then eating slowly can reverse it. Eating slowly helps you to notice when you’ve eaten just the right amount of food for your body, plus of course, it helps you digest it better. Eating more slowly will stop you from wanting to eat more food to get the nutrients your body craves.
Eating slowly can be a helpful strategy for weight loss as it can help to decrease overall calorie intake and promote feelings of fullness and satisfaction. When people eat slowly, they tend to feel more satisfied with their meals and are less likely to overeat. Eating slowly also allows the body to better register fullness signals, which can help to prevent overeating. Plus it helps you enjoy your food more.
The effects of eating too fast
Eating too fast can have a number of negative effects on your health including:
Eating too much: Eating too quickly can lead to overeating, as your brain does not have enough time to register that you are full
Feeling discomfort: overeating can make you feel incredibly uncomfortable as you stretch your stomach too full
Weight gain: Once you overeat, your body stores excess energy as fat and the result is weight gain.
Digestive problems: Eating too fast can cause indigestion, acid reflux, and bloating.
Nutrient deficiencies: Eating too quickly can lead to poor nutrient absorption, as your body may not have enough time to fully break down and absorb the food.
Stress: Eating too fast can lead to increased stress on the body and mind.
Less enjoyment from food: If you eat food too fast, you simply don't get the same levels of enjoyment from food as you otherwise would.
Regret: People who eat too quickly and overfill themselves are likely to feel a sense of regret and low mood after eating.
Many people eat too fast
While, of course, not everyone eats at the same pace, many people tend to eat their food quickly, which can contribute to weight gain and other health problems. Eating quickly is often a habit that people develop over time, and it can be difficult to change.
According to an Eatiful survey of people who want to lose weight, 47% of people pay no attention to how quickly they eat. Women though are more conscious than men of eating speed; 43% of women pay no attention compared to 58% of men. 18% of women and 24% of men said they are very quick eaters. Only 7% of people said they were slow eaters and chewed their food at least 20 times.
The headline we look at in this data is that if only 7% of people eat slowly, a mind-boggling 93% of people eat fast or pay no attention to speed. In our studies, we know that paying no attention to slowing down, almost always results in eating fast.
What is eating too fast?
And what is too fast anyway? Some people might think they eat fast, but not too fast to notice fullness. Other people might worry that their slow or moderate eating is actually too fast. The bottom line is that it depends on you. There’s certainly no rule about how long it should take to eat a meal (although some people think otherwise). One way to know if you're eating slowly enough, and not eating too fast is to ask yourself:
“Do I enjoy every mouthful?”. If you genuinely enjoy, and I mean really savour every mouthful, the chances are you’re eating at a good pace. If you can’t say that it's likely you’re eating too fast. Too fast would be:
when you don't put your cutlery down between mouthfuls
when you don't sit down to eat
when you don’t consider your food or pause before eating
when you rush to consume more food
when you rush to eat everything on the plate
when you don’t notice each mouthful becoming less and less tasty
when you don’t notice feeling uncomfortable until after you've stopped eating.
If you think you may be eating too fast, and if you know that fast eating has contributed to weight gain, there’s good news for you. It is possible to slow your eating, learn to enjoy food more while eating less and use slow eating as a strategy to lose weight. We will take a deeper dive into the Science behind slow eating and how to slow down in a future article.
