THE WAY YOU EAT IS IMPORTANT

Consider the saying, "You are what you eat." The way we eat will greatly affect the qualities that we obtain from our food. A recent study demonstrated that eating slowly led to greater emotional satisfaction even though less food was consumed.

In the study, conducted at the University of Rhode Island and reported in the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, volunteer female college students ate pasta to the point of "comfortable fullness." In one condition, the researcher instructed the women to eat as fast as possible. In the second condition, the instructions were to eat slowly, putting the fork down with each bite.

Afterwards, researchers calculated that the first group consumed an average of 646 calories in nine minutes while the second group consumed an average of 579 calories in 29 minutes. Interviews with the women an hour later indicates that the fast eaters were now less satisfied and more hungry than the slow eaters. Eat slowly, eat less, and enjoy it more - that seems to be the motto.