With Christmas quickly approaching we need the secrets to figure out how not to gain weight before the party season.

While we’ve tried every fad diet and cleanse under the sun, there could be something making you gain weight that you haven’t even thought of.

So put down that salad and listen up!

Pic: REX

The way we eat our food could be contributing to our growing waist band!

Apparently, eating your food too quickly can make you gain weight. Eating quickly can cause fluctuations in your blood sugar which then promotes insulin resistance.

Back in 2008, yes almost 10 years ago, a team from Hiroshima University in Japan studied 642 men and 441 men with an average age of 51.2 years of age.

None of those who were studied had any metabolic syndromes.

They were divided into three groups, slow eaters, average paced eaters and fast eaters.

Five years later, the researchers then reassessed those who participated.

Pic: Getty

They found that those who ate quickly were 11.6% more likely to have developed metabolic syndrome than average paced eaters (6.5%) and slow eaters (2.3%).

And eating quickly was also associated with weight gain because there isn’t enough time for the brain to process what the body is consuming.

The slower you eat, the more conscious the brain is of how full the body is becoming. This means that you’re more likely to stop eating earlier on.