Growing up, I was fortunate to have a full plate of food at every meal. Feeding three growing boys added up, so my parents were adamant that we didn’t waste food. If we even thought about not finishing our meal, we were quickly reminded that there were people less fortunate than ourselves.

As a means to do what I was told, despite how full I was, I would scarf down everything on my plate as quickly as I could. After all, I was the youngest AND smallest of three brothers.

My mom would often joke, “You guys eat so fast, can you even taste it on its way down?”

While my competitive level eating skills did come in handy with putting on weight and packing on the muscle for football, it’s a habit that has been hard to break over the years. As an adult, I can be prone to overeating and have had difficulty maintaining a steady weight because of it.

Put the Fork Down

While attending a health and wellness retreat in Costa Rica, I learned an old trick from a Zen Buddhist. He advised me to put my fork down after each bite or to use chopsticks. The belief is that pausing after each bite slows down your eating rate and reduces overeating. But is there any science to back these claims?

Eat Slower

A systematic review of 22 studies found slower eating to be associated with reduced energy intake (1).

“Reducing the eating rate may be an effective intervention to decrease energy intake as part of behavioral strategies to prevent and treat obesity”. -Robinson et al., 2014

Furthermore, a slower chewing rate and smaller bite sizes have been associated with decreased energy intake, whereas the inverse has caused increases in calorie consumption (1). The researchers believe that there might be a muscle memory between bite-size and the feeling of fullness.

“It may be that some people have developed a learned association between the number of sips, bites, or chews and feelings of satiation that bring a meal to an end. -Robinson et al., 2014

That’s great news, but eating slowly is hard!

While eating, it can be very easy to become distracted by our phones, Television, or even just good old fashioned people watching. We can slip into autopilot and polish off a full plate of food without even realizing it, that is, until the belly bloat and food coma set in, of course.

Sound familiar? Or am I the only one?

Practice Makes Perfect

I’ve implemented the fork strategy over the past month and have definitely seen progress with overeating, but despite this new trick in my arsenal, I still have a LOT of work to do. At times I can get half-way through a big meal while staring at my social media without giving a single bite the attention it deserves. As they say, old habits die hard.

How hard exactly?

Studies have shown that new habits can take up to eight to ten weeks (2), so stick with it and be patient!

Remember, knowledge is not enough to change a routine. If that were the case, we wouldn’t have an obesity epidemic. The time it takes to learn a new behavior depends on how many times and how well you perform the skill.

Through consistent practice you can change your old habits and create healthier new ones. Thus, it would be best to combine education with actionable principles. By putting the fork down after each bite, you are building the muscle to eat slower. It serves as a subtle reminder to slow down and chew your food.

References

Robinson, E., Almiron-Roig, E., Rutters, F., de Graaf, C., Forde, C. G., Tudur Smith, C., Nolan, S. J., & Jebb, S. A. (2014). A systematic review and meta-analysis examining the effect of eating rate on energy intake and hunger. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 100(1), 123–151.
Gardner, B., Lally, P., & Wardle, J. (2012). Making health habitual: the psychology of 'habit-formation' and general practice. The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 62(605), 664–666. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp12X659466

A Simple Tip To Reduce Overeating