Want to lose weight? Eat slowly

How many times have your parents yelled at you to chew your food well?

In
fact, Ayurveda even suggests you must eat your food slowly and chew
each morsel 32 times, since you have 32 teeth. This, says the ancient
Indian science, is beneficial for digestion and, consequently, results
in good health!

A recent
study, conducted by Kathleen Melanson, assistant professor of nutrition
and food science at the University of Rhode Island, USA, also shows
that women who eat their food slowly stay slim.

In
our busy life, most of us go through our meals without really tasting
or savouring it. Try this -- ask anyone you know what they had for
lunch the day before. Most of the people you ask this question to will
be unable to give you the right answer. Do you remember what you ate
yesterday?

We tend to eat so quickly that the meal rarely registers in our memory.

Chewing your food well and eating it slowly can have several benefits.

Chewing
helps to break down the food in the mouth itself. This is where the
first step of digestion takes place, where the food mixes with saliva.
If you tend to eat very quickly, without really chewing well, a lot of
gas bubbles get trapped in the food. This gives you the 'bloated'
feeling, resulting in the production of gas, and belching.

Having
your meal slowly can ensure you eat less. If you are aware of the
eating habits of the French, you will realise that most of their meals
consist of pastas, wine cheese. Then how do these people stay so
slim? The answer could lie in the fact that they eat small portions of
these foods.

But how to you feel full by eating smaller servings? By eating your food slowly chewing it well of course!

Our
body is designed in a way that our stomach sends the message to the
brain via neurotransmitters only 20 minutes after it is full. Which
means you may be quite full much before you realise it. As a result,
you may have eaten too much which will make you feel overfull later.

If
you are trying to lose weight cannot seem to get a hold on your
appetite, start your meal with thick vegetable soup followed by a large
helping of salad. Increasing your vegetable servings in this form helps
you feel fuller due to the fibre intake. It also makes you chew the
food more so that, by the time you reach the main course, you eat
lesser portions.

Eating high
fibre food like salad fruit is not just good for your waistline,
but also a great exercise to help your teeth gums remain healthy!

Choose more of whole foods
over processed foods. Take out some time from your schedule for your
meals. Don't gulp it down. Don't work at the computer while eating your
food. Another major culprit is the television -- switch it off at
mealtimes.

Instead, eat your
food slowly, preferably in the company of family and/ or friends.
Besides learning to really appreciate your food, you'll find you've
notched on several health benefits as well!

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