If you find it hard to stick to a regular diet, the key to weight loss could be chewing your food for prolonged periods like a cow. In addition to regulating your appetite and curbing the amount of food you eat, this can also turn you off fatty foods for good.
Cow picture from Shutterstock
As we discussed in a recent article, humans tend to eat whatever is put in front of them, which can lead to unnecessary weight gain. One way to avoid this is to act like a cow at mealtime. Bear with us.
Cows are primarily known for three things: giving milk, going “moo” and chewing cud. The first two attributes don’t concern us here (although we suppose they could burn off a few calories). Chewing, on the other hand, is a powerful appetite suppressant that requires relatively little willpower.
Cattle and other ruminant species digest their food in a series of stages with lots of chewing in-between. While we don’t recommend regurgitating your lunch, prolonging the mastication process can lead to an increase in weight loss.
It typically takes the human brain between 10 and 20 minutes to signal to the stomach that it’s full. By chewing more slowly, you’ll consume less food in the intervening period (as opposed to stuffing your face for an additional twenty minutes). Once you adapt to your fullness signals, you’ll alter your meal sizes accordingly.
In addition to this, chewing food for longer breaks down the consistency to the point where it becomes a liquefied mush. This doesn’t have a huge impact on the flavour of fruit and vegetables but it can make fried foods taste highly repellent. (Check out our bacon milkshake video for the horrible proof.)
So instead of avoiding fast food, force yourself to chew every mouthful at least 40 times. This takes less willpower than going cold turkey, but the results will be the same. After a few days of choking down oily sludge, you’ll find yourself turning towards healthier options by your own free will — the key is to stick to the 40 chews.
So to summarise, if you start grazing like a cow you’ll soon stop looking like one! Boom-tish! Try the veal.
How many times do you typically chew your food? If you’re not sure, count during your next meal and let us know!
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