Have your parents ever told you not to eat so fast? And did you pay attention to it? If you didn’t, then that’s a shame, because there is growing evidence that eating fast increases the risk of weight gain and type 2 diabetes.
Swallowing food also means you’re swallowing a lot of air, which can cause bloating and gas.
The reason eating quickly leads to weight gain is that it affects the release of hunger-suppressing hormones such as glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), which is a natural version of drugs like Ozempic that currently cause both enthusiasm in the population. The world of weight loss.
Eating at a slower pace gives your body more time to tell your brain that you’ve eaten enough. This is because normally, after eating, food takes between 30 and 40 minutes to reach the stomach to the small intestine, where there are receptors that detect the arrival of food and release GLP-1; I’ve had enough. If you eat quickly, you will be able to eat many more calories before you realize you are full.
The idea that eating more slowly is beneficial is not new, although it was promoted by chewing each bite more.
Former Prime Minister William Gladstone claimed in 1885 that chewing food 32 times, once for each tooth, would aid “proper digestion.”
Eating leisurely gives your body more time to tell your brain that you’ve eaten enough.
This statement was taken up at the beginning of the 20th century by Horace Fletcher, a writer who suffered from heartburn and obesity. He became known as “The Great Chewer” due to his claims that chewing food 32 times would not only help reduce overeating but also improve overall health.
I’m not convinced that chewing your food until it’s almost liquid is necessary or desirable, but Gladstone and Fletcher certainly got it right when it comes to the benefits of eating more slowly.
In a study published in BMJ Open in 2018, researchers from the School of Medical Sciences at Kyushu University in Japan analyzed the medical records of nearly 60,000 people who had undergone regular medical checkups over a five-year period.
In addition to weight, waist size and blood tests, they had to complete detailed questionnaires, including whether they typically ate fast, normal or slow.
It turned out that, compared to those who admitted to gobbling down their food, slow eaters were 42 percent less likely to be obese. The same study also found that snacking after dinner and eating two hours before bed (things I try to avoid) were also strongly linked to weight gain.
A similar study, published in 2023 by Professor Tim Spector and other researchers behind the nutrition app Zoe, showed that people who eat quickly not only eat more but have larger blood sugar spikes.
The study, which involved healthy middle-aged volunteers, found that fast eaters weighed, on average, 6.9kg (a little more than a stone) than slow eaters and had greater increases in their sugar levels. in blood after eating.
So how do we define “fast” or “slow” feeding? While there is no single definition (it obviously depends, in part, on the size of the meal), a study on different eating rhythms, published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism in 2010, could be a guide.
The volunteers were asked to eat a large bowl of ice cream, containing 675 calories, on two different occasions. On one occasion they had to eat it in five minutes, on another they were encouraged to dawdle and take 30 minutes. When they ate more slowly there was a significantly greater increase in levels of GLP-1 and PYY, another hunger-suppressing hormone. So what can you do to deliberately reduce the pace at which you eat? Firstly, try to eat as many meals as possible at a table, as you are less likely to swallow food if you are sitting down than if you eat while running.
It’s also a good idea to avoid eating while watching TV, as there’s plenty of evidence that you eat more when you’re distracted.
Compared to those who admitted to gobbling down their food, slow eaters were 42 percent less likely to be obese, study found
Try to cook as much as possible from scratch, avoiding eating many ultra-processed foods (UPF), as they tend to be low in fiber and easier to swallow, prompting you to eat more in less time.
In a famous experiment published in 2019 in the journal Cell Metabolism, volunteers were housed in a laboratory and spent two weeks eating homemade meals, followed by two weeks eating ultra-processed foods, or vice versa. By consuming UPF, they consumed an average of 500 more calories per day.
Next, try to drink a large glass of water with each meal, taking sips between bites, as this prolongs the meal and ensures you get enough fluid. As a fast eater, I find this a more effective way to slow down my eating than, for example, putting down my fork between bites, which is sometimes recommended.
And lastly, pay attention to what you are eating and really savor the food. Eating should be a pleasure, not just a way to recharge.
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How bird watching can improve your mood
I love being in the woods early in the morning and especially enjoy the sight and sound of red kites. There’s something magical about watching them swoop through the air, making their haunting call – it really sets me up for the day.
Now, a study has shown that bird watching is a great way to improve your mood.
Published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, compared a 30-minute nature walk or bird-watching session with a control group: the walkers and birdwatchers experienced an improvement in their mood, but the birds who were victorious.
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Can a bra stuffed with tennis balls beat snoring?
Chronic lack of sleep doesn’t just leave you groggy and possibly cranky — it can have a lasting impact on your memory, specifically if you have a very common sleep disorder, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
OSA commonly occurs when you sleep on your back and your tongue falls back and blocks your airway. Because your oxygen levels begin to drop dangerously, your brain wakes you up. This can occur more than 20 times a night (symptoms include snorting, gasping, and pauses in breathing), although you may not even notice it. But the next morning you will feel devastated and may experience morning headaches and trouble concentrating at work.
Around 25 per cent of middle-aged Britons are affected, but less than 5 per cent of people with OSA have been diagnosed, let alone treated (which is worrying as it is linked to type 2 diabetes and heart diseases).
With mild sleep apnea, sewing a tennis ball into a bra and wearing it inside out could prevent you from rolling onto your back
Now, research from the Boston Medical Center in the US has shown that it is related to memory or thinking problems. The researchers asked more than 4,000 people to complete a questionnaire about sleep quality and brain function (such as periods of confusion or problems with decision making); People with apnea symptoms were 50 percent more likely to report memory or thinking problems.
This follows a review of studies, published in 2022 in the Journal of Sleep Research, which found that people with OSA were 28 percent more likely to have dementia. Lack of oxygen appears to be the main culprit: OSA can also interfere with our brain’s ability to forge new connections during sleep, which is so vital for establishing new memories.
If your partner tells you that you stop breathing at night or if you wake up repeatedly, it might be a good idea to see your doctor. In the case of mild sleep apnea, losing weight can be helpful, as can sewing a tennis ball into the back of your pajamas to prevent you from lying on your back. One reader told me he sleeps with his wife’s bra inside out, with a tennis ball in each cup. He said it felt a little peculiar at first, but it’s effective. It is not yet known what his wife thinks of him.
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Could you say that Donald Trump has the wide face of a conservative, while the liberal Vince Cable’s chin is a little smaller?
Can you really tell what someone’s political beliefs are just by looking at them? If you are an artificial intelligence system, the answer seems to be yes.
In a recent study, researchers at Stanford University “trained” an artificial intelligence system by showing it photographs of people, along with their political beliefs. The AI was then able to predict with more than 70 percent accuracy how a new generation of faces would vote, based solely on their image.
It seems that liberals tend to have smaller chins and downward-pointing noses, while conservatives have larger, broader features.