Stop grazing!

A few years back, ‘grazing’ became a well known term in dieting circles. The idea was that you eat 5-6 small meals a day instead of 3 meals. The rationale was that you would never get too hungry and thus wouldn’t eat too much at any one meal. But a study published at the journal Obesity in 2010, found that people who eat low kilojoule diets feel more satisfied and less hungry when they eat 3 times a day as compared to 6 times a day. This suggests that mini meals aren’t beneficial for appetite control. People may also tend to graze on unhealthy foods such as crackers or biscuits.

Dietician Leslie Bonci says that most people don’t graze on vegetables or chicken. She explains that eating constantly throughout the day, increases salivary secretion and the production of digestive enzymes that stimulate the gut. She says that ‘the appetite switch is always on’ and that you can’t really know if you’re hungry or full if you are constantly exposed to food. As Bonci says: ‘Cows graze. People shouldn’t.’

 

1. Prev:Gastric bypass surgery: Who is it for?
2. Next:Exhale your excess weight: WIN a device worth R499,00!