Counting bites a simple way to weight loss

Could this eating secret help you melt away pounds?

It’s dietary entrapment!

I don’t know about you, but if I make it out of December weighing what I did at the start, I’ll be one happy camper.

It feels like this time of year, we’re practically bombarded with delicious cookies, cakes and candies. Add to that the holiday potlucks at church and all those end-of-year dinner invitations, and you’re looking at a recipe for serious weight gain.

But what if I told you there may be a way to avoid putting on weight this holiday season – all while continuing to enjoy the foods you love?

And it’s as simple as counting while you chew.

A new study published in Advances in Obesity, Weight Management & Control found that counting how many times you chew – instead of counting calories – may be an effective way to lose weight.

You see, people hate counting calories – and who can blame them? It’s a pain, and really hard to do when you’re eating out or snacking at a Christmas party.

But counting your bites makes you mindful of what you eat and it’s something that you can do no matter where (or what) you’re eating.

For the study, researchers from Brigham Young University recruited 61 overweight or obese people between ages 18 to 65, and asked them to write down bite counts after every meal or snack.

The volunteers didn’t even have to change what they ate or count calories.

Once the researchers established a baseline of how many bites the volunteers took each day, they were asked to reduce their bites by 20 to 30 percent. And the diet proved remarkably easy to stick with.

In just a month, the people in the study had lost an average of 3.5 pounds.

Listen, we Americans just eat way too fast. And that’s a big problem because it can take up to 20 minutes for your body to realize it’s full.

But bite counting forces you to slow down, which can reduce the amount of food you eat even if you don’t change a thing about your diet.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not giving anyone permission to spend the next month loading up on candy canes and gingerbread men.

But if you need a little help keeping that waistline in check during the holidays, start counting and trying to manage the number of bites you take in a day. It may just help you get through the season without adding another notch to your belt.

Sources:

Count your bites for weight loss

(well.blogs.nytimes.com)