Chew Food More, Lose Weight

Here’s some interesting news to chew on…

A recent study examined how the number of times you chew your food relates to satisfying your hunger. What they found was intriguing. Forty chews was the magic number.

When people in the study ate a small serving of almonds, 40 chews satisfied hunger better than 10. And even when they looked at people taking 25 chews with almonds, it wasn’t as effective. On top of the benefit of feeling full, the magic number of 40 chews also made the subjects feel full longer than the lower counts.

You are better off chewing almonds or any nuts slowly anyway, because they are calorie dense. To avoid too many calories, consider some lower-calorie snack alternatives, particularly raw vegetables.

The biggest challenge I face with managing weight is feeling full while eating light healthy food. Realage.com gives 10 handy tips to resolve hunger, and satisfy your appetite while staying healthy, some of these include:

• Eat protein for breakfast
• Store tempting foods out of reach, forcing you to literally take extra steps to attain them
• Get 8 hours of sleep
• Ask the waiter to serve half your meal, and box the rest
• Sit down and use utensils when snacking, you’ll consume fewer calories
• Start lunch with a vegetable soup and you’ll reduce overall calories by 20% for that meal

(via: Real Age)