The Upside of Slow

Excerpt from Better Health, September 2009

'...If your life is busy, eating can become something to fit in while you’re on the move or catching a spot of TV. But it may be that slowing down, making eating your priority and consciously enjoying your food, is the way to become both healthier and happier. And there’s scientific evidence that it may help you control your weight as well.

A number of studies have linked eating quickly with overweight. A 2008 Japanese study which followed over 3,000 adults for three years, questioned them about their eating habits. They found that those who reported eating quickly and until full were three times more likely to be overweight than those who said they did neither. The researchers said that while previous studies had revealed a link between eating quickly and weight gain, which held regardless of total energy intake, their study showed that the combination of eating quickly and until full “may have a substantial impact on being overweight”.

A 1996 American study which followed the weight gain of 438 fire fighters over seven years also linked eating quickly with increased weight gain.

Making the time to sit and down and share meals with others may help with controlling your weight. A 2009 University of Minnesota study which surveyed almost 1,700 young adults on their eating habits found that eating dinner with others was significantly associated with better diet including higher consumption of fruit and vegetables. On the other hand, eating on the run was associated with more fast food and increased intakes of soft drinks and fats.

A small but intriguing experiment investigating how TV affects food intake in teenage boys suggests that, if you are trying to keep your food intake under control, it might be wise to turn the TV off at meals.

Canadian researchers from the University of Toronto, provided pizza lunches to 14 boys aged nine to 14. They “preloaded” some of the boys with sugar drinks 30 minutes before the lunches to see if the boys compensated for the extra energy by reducing their food intake, and also looked at what happened if the boys were allowed to watch episodes of The Simpsons while they were eating.

When there was no TV, the researchers found that the boys tended to naturally reduce their food intake, compensating for the extra calories they had consumed in the sugar drink. But when the TV was turned on the effect tended to disappear. The distraction of watching TV meant that the boys’ normal feelings of satiety from eating a meal were delayed.'