Rapid eating causes obesity

Speed of eating turns out to be one of the earliest predictors of obesity. And obesity is a risk factor for diabetes.

In a study by Robert Berkowitz and colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania, rapid eating (higher number of mouthfuls per minute) of a single laboratory testmeal was a remarkably strong predictor of subsequent weight gain in kids.

At 4 years of age, 32 children of overweight mothers and 29 children of normal weight mothers were given a test meal in a controlled laboratory setting. Mouthfuls of food per minute at this single meal not only predicted changes in BMI from 4 to 6 years but also changes in sum of skinfolds and total body fat. Of course you can always trick your 4-year old into eating slow by providing foods that take longer to eat and if your 4-year old prefers to play with her food and takes forever to finish, you can at least comfort yourself with the notion that she is probably not in danger of having to worry about excess weight any time soon.

But what about you? People who eat rapidly are at risk of being overweight. Research has shown that obese people eat fast and maintain the same rate of eating, whereas normal weight people slow down their rate of eating during the course of the meal. Slowing down allows the stretch receptors to signal to your brain that your stomach is full. Eating quickly means you pass the Full point and reach Stuffed before your brain has been alerted to the meal.

Another interesting piece of research by Yvonne Linne at Huddinge University Hospital shows that eating with a blindfold decreased the intake of food, without making subjects feel less full. Eating blindfolded, therefore, may force subjects to rely more on internal signals. Most of us have stopped using internal signals to guide our eating, and we are getting overweight as a result. With practice, we can start to identify when we are hungry (most of us never feel hunger) and when we are full.

So, focusing on your internal cues helps you reduce weight. To help you achieve this:

eat slowly (putting your hands in your lap between mouthfuls really slows you down)
do nothing else whilst eating (no telly, no radio, no reading)
use a small plate

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What makes you fat also makes you sick

For example, the more refined (white) flour a person eats, the more insulin must be produced to cope with it. And insulin promotes the storage of body fat and so encourages weight gain. It also leads to more triglycerides in the bloodstream and this can lead to serious disease such as diabetes

Dr Susan Jebb confirms this link. She is the head of Nutrition and Health Research at the Medical Research Council. She mentions research at the University of Leeds that shows that people who eat a high fat diet are 19 times more likely to become obese. When we are planning to lose weight, the number one goal is to avoid becoming obese, because it is so much harder to lose weight after that.

How can you cut down on refined flour and too much fat? A good start is to drastically reduce the number of takeaways you are eating. Aim to eat no more than one takeaway a fortnight. That should be a good start.
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Are you pouring on the pounds?

A New York campaign has just been launched to limit consumption of fizzy drinks.
Read it.... Scotland is second only to the US in obesity rates.

Clearly it is not just me banging on about fizzy drinks. Fundamentally I suppose I feel that pop is for children, who need the sugar while they are growing rapidly. And we adults just don't need these sugar-filled drinks - and they really are sugar-filled. You wouldn't put 10 teaspoons of sugar in your tea, would you? Would you? Check the next can of pop that you buy. Most are around 150-200 calories. A teaspoon of sugar is 16 calories. Find out more here!

Most of Americans increase in weight over the last 30 years comes from adding these sugary drinks to their diet. Since making a change to other drinks is relatively easy, here is a way to reduce your weight with very little effort indeed. Give it a try!

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com