The habit of eating fast can be considered in some cultures as disrespectful, but beyond the cultural senses it can have consequences that will manifest in your body sooner or later.
If you are that type of person who focuses only on their food and then realizes that they finished eating before the other diners, you should rethink your behavior when it comes to eating, not only because you can annoy other people, but because you miss the opportunity to socialize and digest food properly.
For these reasons, we tell you 3 things that can happen to you if you eat too fast .
3 consequences of eating too fast
1. Stomach pain and indigestion
Since we are little, our mothers advise us to eat slowly so as not to have a stomach ache later. However, many times we forget the advice given in our childhood and, when we are adults, we do what we should not.
When you have your lunch, dinner or snack in a very short time, you usually feel a feeling of discomfort after the act. People describe it as a feeling of heaviness and the existence of “fire” inside our stomach. This is because your digestive system did not have enough time to digest all that food. However, you should not worry too much, as the sensation should go away in a few minutes.
If for some reason the symptoms do not go away easily, you should consult your regular doctor and make sure that there are no other complications in your body that could be causing these problems.
2. You are more likely to gain weight
When you eat too fast, there is no doubt that you can gain a few extra pounds, as it usually happens when we eat junk food or something we crave. In fact, a study by the International Journal of Obesity found that eating too fast is associated with higher levels of body mass index, or BMI, and overall excess weight (Ohkuma et al., 2015).
The reason seems very simple: your stomach needs at least 20 minutes to process food and tell your brain that it is full. Our advice to avoid this problem is to chew more slowly, this way you will not consume extra calories without realizing it and the feeling of satisfaction will not be so sudden.
To back up this information, a study by Nutrients magazine has found that slower eaters have lower levels of a hormone called ” ghrelin “, which belongs to the hormones that cause hunger; therefore, they do not feel the same need to eat food as other people (Hawton et al., 2019).
It may be that by eating very fast you are suppressing this hormone and therefore you want to eat more and more.
3. Causes long-term disease
It is not news that poor eating habits increase your chances of contracting chronic diseases in the long term. The main one when eating too fast is metabolic syndrome , a group of conditions that put the individual at risk of developing heart disease and / or diabetes.
What’s more, BMC Public Health has done a study on it. They included around 8,000 people and found that those who ate faster had higher levels of blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, in addition to being more likely to develop abdominal fat (Tao et al., 2018).
The consequences of eating fast would not be so serious if the products we consume were healthy, but in general it is usually junk food.
How long should it take to eat?
You should at least allow 20 minutes for your stomach to have a chance to warn your brain when it is full of food. However, take more time if you can when eating, enjoy the food and do not rush the matter as if it does not matter.
If you’re still hungry after all that, you can afford to help yourself to one more helping of food.
4 tips to eat slower
- Always eat your food sitting in a quiet place without distractions. Disconnect from the world and connect with food.
- Take small pieces and chew patiently. Never put another piece of food on your silverware if you are not done with the previous one yet.
- Put down your fork and knife, socialize, or drink some water in between bites.
- Put on some music in the background to relax you, as long as it’s slow and quiet.
Conclution
We all make mistakes when we eat, the important thing is to assume them and do something so as not to do them again. Therefore, we hope that the next time you sit down to eat, you will do so with greater awareness.
References
- Hawton, K., Ferriday, D., Rogers, P., Toner, P., Brooks, J., Holly, J.… Hinton, E. (2019). Slow Down: Behavioral and Physiological Effects of Reducing Eating Rate. Nutrients . doi: 10.3390 / nu11010050
- Ohkuma, T., Hirakawa, Y., Nakamura, U., Kiyohara, Y., Kitazono, T. and Ninomiya, T. (2015). Association between eating rate and obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Obesity. doi: 10.1038 / ijo.2015.96
- Tao, L., Yang, K., Huang, F., Liu, X., Li, X., Luo, Y.… Guo, X. (2018). Association between self-reported eating speed and metabolic syndrome in a Beijing adult population: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. doi: 10.1186 / s12889-018-5784-z.
