Dec 30
3:00 PM

If You Eat Slower, Will You Stave Off Hunger?

If You Eat Slower, Will You Reduce Calorie Consumption or Stave Off Hunger?

Remember how your mom always used to tell you at the dinner table to shut down Hoover mode and eat more slowly? Turns out, she might be right. Eating more slowly may help you consume fewer calories and leave you less hungry, according to a new study from Texas Christian University.

The study, being published today in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, found that eating slowly significantly reduced the number of calories consumed by normal-weight subjects — they actually ate an average of 88 fewer calories than their counterparts who ate more quickly. Overweight and obese subjects who ate slowly also ate less overall, but the difference was not statistically significant.

“Slow eating probably allowed the subjects to better sense their feelings of hunger and fullness,” lead author Meena Shah, PhD, told SELF. In other words, when you take your time at a meal, your brain has a better opportunity to detect when you’ve had enough.

Also worth noting: Study participants who ate slowly also drank more water during their meals than those who ate quickly — about a third more. That extra H2O may have helped the slow eaters feel more full, too, helping them eat less.

Just another reason to savor each bite!


Image Credit: Arthur Belebeau

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