It's common knowledge that what we eat affects our weight – but did you know that how we eat can make a significant difference to how much we eat, which, in turn, influences our weight?
Here are four common eating habits that we need to steer clear of if we're trying to lose weight.
Simply slowing down our eating speed will make us end up consuming comparatively less by the time the brain receives the signal that we're full.
Since the suppression of ghrelin simultaneously reduces our appetite, you can see how slowing down our pace would help curb overeating. Another great advantage is that it can prolong the mastication of our food, which goes on to aid digestion.
It doesn't exactly have a direct impact on our weight, but watching or reading something while eating can prevent us from noticing the amount of food that's being consumed.
"That which is measured, improves".
In many regions, it's a time-honoured tradition to eat dessert after every meal – but it can be more than just an inconvenient habit when trying to lose weight.
You may have heard that when you don't eat, your body goes into "starvation mode" – or, if you prefer the more scientific term, 'adaptive thermogenesis' – which is the body's natural survival mechanism, where it begins to conserve energy by reducing the amount of calories being burnt.
Although this is true, adaptive thermogenesis doesn't take place when your body doesn't get food for just a few hours.
The most plausible reason that the eating-every-two-hours pattern works for some people is because it helps them control their meal size. As most people would agree, it is very difficult to exert willpower and consciously eat less (or even healthy) when you are starving.
However, those who force themselves to eat every two hours, even when they're not hungry, may just end up increasing their daily calorie intake, which defeats the purpose. Eventually, an eating routine that fits in with your daily schedule is the most sustainable to follow.
And when a healthier habit is easy to sustain, you wake up one day realising that you haven't just reached your weight goals, but you're also living a healthier lifestyle.
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