Eat Slowly & keep diary to Lose Weight

These amazing findings come from two separate weight loss studies. Food diaries are not a new concept to help lose weight, but the fact that participants in an Oregon study who recorded their daily intake lost twice as many pounds in six months as those who didn’t keep a diary is pretty persuasive. The study was published in the August 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

As far as eating slowly is concerned, researchers at the University of Rhode Island asked 30 women to eat the same pasta-based meal on two different occasions. The first time the women were told to eat as fast as they comfortably could. The second time they were instructed to take small bites, put down their spoons between bites and chew each mouthful 20 to 30 times. When eating slowly, the women consumed 70 fewer calories from the same meal and felt fuller and more satisfied afterwards. One possible explanation: eating quickly doesn’t give appetite-related hormones time to kick in and signal the body that it’s had enough, so the faster you eat, the more likely you are to overeat. The study was published in the July 2008 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.