Speedy Eaters 3x More Likely to Become Overweight

How long does it take you to finish your breakfast or lunch? If I am lucky, I get 10 minutes to eat lunch. I know that many of my clients “inhale” their lunches while working. We know that it takes 15-20 minutes for the stomach to signal the brain that you are getting full. But now there is another reason to slow down your rate of eating… eating quickly can lead to weight gain. The following study showed appeared in the British Medical Journal.

Speedy eaters seen likelier to get fat 
Tue Oct 21, 2008 7:23pm EDT
LONDON (Reuters) – People who eat quickly until full are three times more likely to be overweight, a problem exacerbated by the availability of fast food and the decline of orderly dining habits, Japanese researchers said on Wednesday.

The findings, published in the British Medical Journal, highlight how eating styles, and not just what or how much is eaten, can contribute to an obesity epidemic fueled by the spread of Western-style affluence in many parts of the world.

The World Health Organization classifies around 400 million people as obese, 20 million of them under the age of five. The condition raises the risk of diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart problems.

For their study, Hiroyasu Iso and colleagues at Osaka University asked more 3,000 Japanese volunteers aged 30 to 69 about their eating. About half of the men and a little more than half of the women said they ate until full. About 45 percent of the men and 36 percent of the women said they ate quickly.

Those who said they ate until full and ate quickly were three times more likely to be fat than people in the “not eating until full and not eating quickly” group, the researchers found.

They cited as causes both the availability of cheap food in big portions and habits like watching television while eating.

To counteract the “supra-additive effect” of speedy or glut eating among children prone to obesity, parents should encourage them to eat slowly and in calm surroundings, the study found.

The findings, published in the British Medical Journal, highlight how eating styles, and not just what or how much is eaten, can contribute to an obesity epidemic fueled by the spread of Western-style affluence in many parts of the world.

So what is a fast eater to do? We live in a fast paced world and often try to multitask. Often times eating a relaxed meal takes a back seat.

Tips to slow down your rate of eating:

1. Try not to do anything else while eating (i.e. watching tv, working on the computer)

2. Studies have linked fast music to more rapid eating. If you have music on while you are eating, pick a slower tune

3. Try eating with chopsticks. It is difficult to shovel in food rapidly with the little chopsticks (though the Japanese people in the above study were possibly using chopsticks and still managed to eat rapidly!)

4. If you are eating with a friend(s), try to be the last one to finish

5. The goal would be to take at least 15 minutes to eat your meal