Too Fat Too Curious

For me, December woul not be complete without family and class reunions, wedding anniversaries and Christmas parties. Of course, there’s no other way of celebrating it but by serving good food. For us Filipinos, when we say good food, we mean the opposite, like I’m sure all of you will agree with me, that we are fun of serving and eating fatty and carbohydrate rich foods during parties. Obviously, this is one of the reasons why we gain so much weight during holidays.

But do you know that you can still enjoy this holiday season without getting fat? According to a study done on more than 3000 Japanese adults published in the British Medical Journal found that those who ate their meals quickly were about twice as likely to be obese as their slow-munching counterparts.

Based on one of the articles of Reader’s Digest on obesity, people who ate quickly and who ate until they were full were three times more likely to be obese. The research supports previous evidence that people tends to consume more calories when they eat quickly, but also that eating quickly is linked to obesity regardless of how many calories are eaten.

According to Dr. Elizabeth Denney-Wilson, an obesity expert from the University of New South Wales says research suggests people can learn to eat more slowly and recognize their internal cues for fullness. She adds that while it is not known what drives us to eat quickly, behavior such as eating while distracted and eating fast food on the go may be to blame.

Setting aside meal times and chatting between bites can help slow the rate of eating and allow your body to send fullness signals before you’ve overeaten.

So fast eaters get fat? In my opinion, fast eater or not I think one of the most important factor of obesity, other than eating high carbohydrate food is sedentary lifestyle. Thus, eating the right food and regular exercise still plays an important role in preventing obesity that could lead to diabetes and hypertension.

Though, we still have nine days to go before Christmas, I would like to remind everyone that on this holiday, “hinay-hinay lang sa pagkain kaibigan” especially if you're a fast eater.