Eat Smaller Bites to Lose Weight

Eating smaller bites of food to lose weight sounds simple enough, but does this technique work?
The Journal of the American Dietetic Association released a study this month that researched whether or not snack size bites influenced how many calories each participant ate.

Methods and Research

• 33 female college students with average healthy weights were selected. 29 of those students participated and ate candy that was offered while completing an unrelated computer task.
• One half of the participants were given whole candies and the other half were given the same candy cut in equal pieces. The total amount of the candy was identical for each group.
• Participants performed unrelated computer tasks and were allowed to eat as much of the candy as the wanted while completing the task.
• The participants who were given the cut-up candy ate less by weight compared to the group given the whole candy resulting in about a 60 calorie difference.
• Some participants reported they felt a serving size of about 10 candies was appropriate, so that is how many they ate no matter the size.
• Hunger, personal dietary restrictions, and the type of candy had no affect on the results.

Conclusion

This is strong evidence that how we eat our food and the size of our food bites is significant. Even though this was a very small study, it brings to mind the importance of making dietary changes.
Perhaps there will be a small bites diet in the future. More importantly, we should take this new research to remember to eat mindfully and slowly. Cutting up your food and eating more bites takes time. One thing we know for sure is that eating more slowlylikely results in fewer calories eaten. If taking smaller bites helps with weight control and helps to improve health, why not try it?