How Cutting Food Smaller Helps You Lose Weight

Cutting your food into small pieces could help you lose weight. How is this so? Well, according to a study by US researchers from the Arizona State University, cutting your food into smaller portions could make you eat less food later on – hence the weight loss.

Researchers provided 301 students with a bagel. Some had their bagel cut into quarters while the others were given a whole one. After twenty minutes, all volunteers were served with another meal and were encouraged to eat as much or little as they wished.

They found that those who had eaten bagels cut into quarters ate less of their bagel and less of the meal afterwards. This was later backed up by experiments on rats who were given the choice of one large food pellet or 30 small pellets with a similar calorific value. Overall, the rats were more likely to head for the smaller pellets.

One explanation for these findings was that smaller pieces created an optical illusion, tricking the brain and stomach into believing more pieces meant more food. It was also thought that cutting food into smaller pieces causes us to eat more slowly. This gives the brain more time to register the fact that we're becoming fuller, therefore preventing us from overeating.

Various studies have shown that different methods can be used to trick the brain into helping us eat less. These include chewing our food for longer, putting the fork down between bites and sitting down to eat while concentrating on every mouthful of food being eaten.

If overeating is a problem for you, it may be worth trying out some of these diet tricks. You've got nothing to lose, except hopefully, a few unwanted pounds.

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On a personal note, I've been using the 'cutting into smaller pieces' method for many years. I look forward to meals and somehow feel cheated if it's over and done with in a couple of bites.

I may get a few raised eyebrows when eating out and I'm always the last to finish. But I find this a great way of slowing down my eating and making a meal last longer, plus I feel fuller at the end of the meal and am less likely to want a dessert. 


Related:

How Your Mind Can Help You Slim - Read Post
Tips to Slow Down Your Eating - Read Post



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