The Key to Consuming Less during Holiday Meals: Chew More

Though Thanksgiving ended yesterday, chances are you're still scarfing down left overs of turkey, sweet potatoes and biscuits. Yet an excessive amount of fatty foods can not only cause weight gain, but lead to future health complications including higher cholesterol levels, cardiovascular issues and less energy for daily exercise and activities. 

Fortunately, a recent study looks at the tips and tricks to enjoy extravagant holiday meals without missing out on the fun or creating a new health issue for yourself. 
So what's the catch? It's as simple as chewing your food more. 

In a series of studies, researchers found that this is really all it takes.

According to the study authors, the first study took an undisclosed number of participants that ate five Totinos pizza roles each and were then asked to document the number of times they chewed each bite. The second part of the study involved 47 participants compromising of normal weight, overweight and obese who attended three different weekly lunches. First, all participants were given 60 pizza rolls each and asked to eat as many as they wanted till they felt full. The researchers asked participants to chew each bite as many times as they did in the first study. The second and third lunches involved participants to chew each bite at a different pace: 50 percent and twice as much more, respectively. 

The end of the study asked researchers to note when participants chewed their food 50 percent more. They found that these individuals typically ate ten times less food, accounting for 70 calories less than they would usually consume. The findings showed even greater results when they chewed food twice as much, consuming 15 percent lesser food accounting for 112 calories. 

At the end of their research, study authors discovered that it takes roughly 20 seconds for the brain to realize that the stomach is full via digestive hormone signals secreted by the gastrointestinal tract. Unfortunately, as many eat their food too fast, this may not allow the brain enough time to analyze the signals that have reached a state of satiety. 

The average individual consumes as much as 4,500 calories and 229 gm of fat on each Thanksgiving alone. 

Will you chew more in order to properly digest holiday left overs?

Share in the comments below.

More information regarding the study can be found via the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.