Big Bites Can Lead to Overeating

Posted March 31st, 2010 at 7:44 pm in Low Carb

When I was a kid I used to watch in awe as my Dad chowed down on a sandwich he made with liverwurst or other deli items (usually a Dagwood size, if you recall what that was and if you are too young to know about a Dagwood sandwich, well, just think huge). He would rub his hands together in anticipation, open his mouth as wide as he could, and take these monster bites, rolling his eyes and moaning with pleasure. He didn't restrict his great white bites to just sandwiches either, just about anything he consumed was done in a manner that suggested it might be his last meal.

Of course, when my mouth could handle it I too started eating like my Dad, I didn't just pick up this eating style during my stint in the Marine Corps, although I ate fast because I either had to or was in a hurry to get somewhere. The marines will tell you "eat all you want, but eat all you take".

Ufortunately, as a result of his eating habits, Dad became extremely overweight, developed diabetes and died at the tender age of 62 from complications of a gastric bypass operation.

I had to learn how to eat all over again. In USMC boot camp I was always hungry, not because they starved me (just the opposite) but because I was expending so many calories in training I needed the nourishment. And the food was darn good too! Since leaving the marines I have had to watch what I eat and was not always successful. Before I discovered the low-carb lifestyle I was headed toward repeating my Dad's mistakes and fortunately I woke up in time to reverse it.

As a low carb aficionado my sandwiches (I call them roll-ups) now consist of ingredients such as ham, turkey, cheese and lettuce, minus the bread and I don't really miss it. I may never be able to give up bread completely but the carbs I have not resisted not eating bread with a sandwich allow me to eat other carbs I enjoy, especially pasta (low-carb) and fruit.

What brought all this up was coming across an article in Men's Health titled Chew on This which brought back memories of Dad's eating habits because the article is about what Dutch researchers discovered; big bites (and fast chewing) can lead to overeating. I didn't know about this and was surprised to read that people who chewed large bites of food for 3 seconds consumed 52 percent more food before feeling full than those who chewed smaller bites for 9 seconds. Their findings suggest that tasting food for a longer period of time (no matter how much you bite off) signals your brain to make you feel full sooner.

I wish these Dutch scientists had discovered this in time to help my Dad, he might have lived longer had he been able to change his eating habits by taking smaller bites and chewing longer.