Pausing Between Bites At Lunch Equivalent to Starving For 
Two Weeks
Researchers at the University of Rhode Island recruited 30 women and asked them to visit their lab for lunch twice. Each time they were given a large plate of pasta and told to eat as much as they wanted. The only difference in instructions was that on one occasion they were told to eat quickly - and they did, consuming 646 calories on average in nine minutes. Whereas, on the other occasion they were told to pause between mouthfuls and chew each mouthful 15 to 20 times - during this session their meal took 29 minutes and they consumed only 579 calories, that's around 67 calories less.
If you did that at every lunch-time for a week you'd save 469 calories or nearly 2,000kJ for the week!! (Note: 1 calorie is equivalent to 4.2kJ). Eating slowly every lunch-time for a year would add up to a 104,000kJ energy reduction over the course of that year. An average sized woman would normally consume around 8,000-9,000kJ of energy each day or 56,000-63,000kJ per week. So slow eating at lunch-time for a year is basically the same as starving yourself completely for about 13-14 days!! And I know which one I'd rather do.
Practical Tips for Slow Eating
All very well, I say. But, how am I going to change the habit of a lifetime and slow down my eating? I've realised that I'm very susceptible to eating fast when other people around me are doing the same thing. But, by forcing myself to pause between each mouthful and chew it 15 to 20 times I'm hoping that I can reduce that influence. Other ideas for slowing ourselves down include:
- Pace yourself with the slowest eater at the table - frustrating but effective
- Eat sitting down - no meals while multi-tasking
- Focus on our eating - switch off the television, ditch the newspaper and get away from your work-desk and that computer screen you're staring at right now
- Eat with your non-dominant hand - could be messy but give it a try!
- Set a minimum target meal-time - aim to make a healthy sized plate of food last 20 minutes
Spring Clean Your Eating Habits plus more!
My favourite info source for all things useful, Lifehacker has much the same advice about eating slowly backed up by similar studies and links and such. Jenny has different ideas on the French Paradox and has a fascinating article in The NZ Listener on alcohol and the studies that expound wine's virtues without a balanced view of the dangers.
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