Eating Too Fast? You May Be Increasing Your Risk of Obesity

Eating Too Quickly May Lead to Obesity

You’re sitting down to eat at home. It’s 6:00 p.m. and you haven’t had a bite to eat since noon. You can’t wait another minute to tuck into the roast beef, corn, and other trimmings on the table. You devour everything on your plate and go back for seconds. 20 minutes into your meal you feel bloated, as full as if you’d just eaten Thanksgiving Dinner.

Careful – research has found that people who eat quickly and until they feel full are three times more likely to be overweight than those who eat slowly.

Granted, eating too quickly is a tough habit to break. It may even be a sign of Emotional Eating.

It requires constant mindfulness to slow down the pace at which you eat, but there are eating strategies that will stack the plate in your favour.

If your stomach is grumbling with hunger you’re more likely to eat more than you need. Try to eat a small snack every three hours if the interval between your meal times is longer than this. A small energy bar or dipping into a bag of trail mix will provide a short term hunger fix.

You can also try putting your knife and fork down between bites. This will help you focus on chewing thoroughly, which aids digestion.

Perhaps most importantly, pay attention to your hunger level during the meal. Only by carefully paying attention to your body’s signals will you know when it’s time to stop eating.

For some people with weight problems, even the most diligent monitoring of eating habits isn’t effective. In these cases, you may want to consider alternatives like a medically supervised weight loss plan, changing your diet, or discussing surgical weight loss options with your doctor if all other avenues don’t produce results.