Eating Habits, Food Portion Size Contributes to Weight Gain

A person's eating habits, including the food he's putting on his plate and how fast he eats, could determine the amount of food he is eating. Meaning, he'll know if he is possibly overeating.

A new study showed that when people are given larger portions of food for lunch like cheese and macaroni, they tend to eat more, as much as 43 percent, when the portion size was increased by 75 percent.

A Medical Xpress specified that people who ate faster and took bigger portions tended to eat more food, as well.

According to Pennsylvania State University doctoral student and study author Paige Cunningham, "I think both of our main findings" have consequences for health and amount of food eaten, and, one step advance, maintaining and gaining weight.

How Much and How Fast Should We Eat?

Involved in the study are 44 men and women. They were gathered for a weekly lunch for four weeks, providing them with different-sized portions of macaroni and cheese in random order, served with water.

The videoed meals in order for them to assess the speed at which volunteers ate, including their bites' sizes. Participants of the study aged between 18 and 68 years old. Approximately two-thirds were women. More so, 45 percent were obese or overweight.

Their eating speed did not change with larger portion sizes. The volunteers ate more when they ate faster or were found to have taken larger bates. They also took more bites or ate for a longer period.

In a similar report, WebMD specified, the reason why people ate more when eating faster could be a matter of the response of the body to how long food is spending inside the mouth of a person.

When one is eating fast, Cunningham explained; obviously, the food spends less time inside the mouth. And when really large bites are taken, the food spends less time inside the mouth, as well.

Therefore, added the expert, such signals are taking longer, it takes longer for these signals to tell when to stop eating, and one ends up eating more when larger bites are taken, and food is eaten faster.

Awareness of Portion Sizes

Knowing that an individual is eating more when his portion sizes are bigger, one recommendation from experts is being aware of the proportions he is giving himself.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one can offset more consumption of energy or calories as well, compared to what they need by selecting choosing foods with fewer calories each gram.

Cunningham explained, if people are eating foods that provide less energy, they will consume less energy and still able to eat such satisfying portions.

These foods, Barbara Rolls, co-author of the study and professor in the nutritional sciences department in the College of Health and Human Development at Penn State, said, can be water-rich foods like fruits and vegetables.

She also said even though slowing down eating might be an option for the reduction of overeating, it is difficult to do, and some evidence suggests the speed of eating is an inherently biased behavior.

Rolls also said she thinks it is clear that if people could be more watchful, slow down and pay attention, they'll be more inclined to eat less. However, elaborated Rolls, it is like all of the things concerning weight management; it's difficult to actually convince people to do it.

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