Many stories and myths have been said about how food should be consumed. In this day and age where people are conscious about what they eat and how it affects their overall health, understanding how to consume food would be the best thing. Some would suggest using tools like chewing food with your mouth closed, woman eating in a "dainty" manner or most mothers would also always remind their children not to gobble food but to chew slowly before swallowing.
Are eating behaviors such as the manner of chewing or swallowing quickly really linked to weight gain and obesity? Does the old saying of chewing food 32 times help in losing weight?
For decades, chewing food slowly has been a strategy for weight management. A book by Dr. Leonard William, 1926 book on obesity has some good examples of the medical ideas and processes at that time. He said the stomach needs food to be broken down by the teeth properly with the help of the saliva; this can be done by chewing properly.
Recently, it has become a common dietary advice that n order to lose weight, food should be chewed properly and there are even a specific number of times a food should be chewed for every bite or mouthful. Some people would even say to make sure to put the knife and fork down after every mouthful so it can slow down the process of eating and consumption of food.
Researchers from The University of Birmingham confirmed that not only does prolonged chewing reduce meal intakes, but snacking two hours later can be reduced as well.
Some people think that if they don't chew their food well, like peas or corn that it can be a good thing. They think that this process can be a good weight-control strategy; however, this is of course wrong. There should be enough time to allow the brain to identify that the person already ate.
If you eat too fast tendency is you might eat too much even before the brain could recognize the process therefore resulting to overeating more than how much the body needs. This is why the idea of slowing down the eating process as a weight-management strategy can work.
