Impact of Slow Eating in Weight Loss Mindful eating has been making quite a buzz these days, let us try to understand what we actually mean by the term. It is believed and has been observed that people who eat slowly without any distraction tend to not gain weight. A lot of people eat food fast without enjoying the very essence of food. This habit results in weight gain and other health problems. Slow eating on the contrary encourages the fact that food should be enjoyed and relished. Slow eating improves digestion, helps in better absorption of food, and lets you have a better grip on yourself as it calms your senses. The best part is that slow eating reduces the stress level. Let us find out through this blog the four major ways through which slow eating can help in the Weight loss regimen:
By inducinga congenial hormonal environment
Our appetite and calorie consumption are governed by our hormones. Once we are done with a meal a hormone called ghrelin is suppressed, which results in the release of fullness hormones. This makes the brain understand that we have had the meal and we are full. The entire process takes 20 minutes. So if we slow down our eating process, it helps the brain in receiving the signal in the right span of time. Whereas if we eat in a jiffy we tend to overeat as the brain does not process the signal of fullness. Eating slowly and enjoying the food also makes you have food in a portion-controlled manner which is a big contributor towards weight loss. 2. By consuming fewer Calories The Kingston University of Road Island has observedthat people who have their food slowly and chew well consume 70 calories less in each meal in comparison to people who eat their food fast. If we take five meals a day, we end up consuming 350 Kcal less every day as compared to what we did previously when we ate the same food fast. To lose one pound of body weight we need a deficit of 3500 kcal. If we deprive our body of 350kcaleach day, then in 10 days’ time, we end up creating a deficit of 3500 kcal thereby losing one pound and in 40 days we can reduce 2 kg of body weight just byeating slowly. 3. By facilitating carbohydrate breakdown If you take little raw rice and put it in your mouth for a few minutes you will feel a sweet taste. This happens due to the melting of carbohydrates in the presence of a digestive enzyme called amylase. Amylase helps in breaking down carbohydrates into simple sugars that can be used by the body to derive energy. This process starts right in the mouth as soon as the food is chewed and mixed with saliva. If we slow down our eating and chew our food properly, then 30-50%, of digestion would take place in the mouth itself. 4. By making our body more efficient to use food energy Our stomach expectshalf-digested food but if we do not chew our food well, we feed our stomach with semi-digested food. As a result, we need more food to get the same amount of energy. Since our body requires a lot more food to generate the same amount of energy, the body reaches a stage of inertia, increasing the sleep quota. This makes the body eat a lot more than required. The best part is that you can even have your favorite desserts if you eat mindfully. Take a few bites of our favourite dessert, eat slowly, enjoy the flavors and stop! Do not overeat. This process will save you from overindulgence and adding on extra calories.
In modern times we turn to more efficient and faster modes to save time. We use a car, lift, mobile, remote control to make our lives better, but we tend to neglect our bodies and end up eating fast to save time! This is a point that needs to be pondered upon, we value less the most valuable thing i.e., our body and give more importance to materialistic things, we save time by eating fast so that the time can be used to accommodate other luxuries of life! If you find it difficult to slow down initially, try to count every bite of your meal. Ideally, you should chew at least five to six times each bite to slow down your meal pace.
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