Video | Chewing | Self-Compassion | Food Logging

Our world is set up for weight gain, with calorie-dense refined foods available 24/7 and sedentary jobs being common. Therefore, if weight loss is the goal, it requires us to buck the norm and be conscious of how we eat and how we move.

That is a big task, especially when life is already busy, so it makes you ask, is there anything I can do to help my body reach that goal? 

Here are three unconventional weight loss strategies that are backed by science. The first one sounds silly, the second one is vital, and the third may just be a game-changer. Let’s get started. 

3 Unconventional Weight Loss Strategies Backed by Science [Video]

In this video, you’ll learn…

• Three unconventional weight loss strategies.
• The science behind why each strategy is proven to work.
• Advice within each strategy to help you achieve optimal results!

Chewing

If you want to lose weight, chew your food long and slow. Yeah. You’ve heard it before. This first strategy is easy to dismiss. But I was blown away by how much research there is showing the weight loss benefits of more chewing. 

A systematic review and meta-analysis found that extra chewing slows your rate of eating, which improves hunger satisfaction and naturally reduces your calorie intake. It also helps you absorb more of the food nutrients and can even increase the release of gut hormones that make you feel full (1).

One study highlighted in the meta-analysis unveiled some interesting findings when it compared the chewing habits of lean and obese individuals. All study participants were fed the same meal and told they could ask for more if they wanted it. They found that the obese subjects chewed their food fewer times and consumed more calories. 

That was an interesting revelation. The researchers kept going. They brought the individuals back into the lab for another experiment. One day, they asked them to chew each bite of food 15 times. On a different day, they asked them to chew each bite 40 times. 

In that follow-up experiment, it didn’t matter if the participants were lean or obese: Chewing each bite 40 times reduced their calorie consumption by almost 12 percent, and the more complete chewing led to lower levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin, suggesting better hunger satisfaction. 

Chew your food 40 times. Is that the takeaway? Not necessarily. After all, you would not chew a strawberry as many times as you would a piece of steak, and the size of the bite also matters. But one thing is confirmed: taking time to chew your food completely makes weight control easier. 

Self-Compassion

You start your diet, and everything goes great until that one day when things just fall apart. Is it better to whip yourself into shape with a stern talking to or give yourself some grace? A study involving 140 individuals found that self-compassion is the way to go. 

The study revealed that those who demonstrated high levels of self-compassion experienced a better sense of self-control in the hours following a dietary lapse, making it easier to get back on track (2).

If you’d like to bring more self-compassion into your life, here are the three core components: 

Self-Kindness

The first is self-kindness. If you experience a lapse in your diet, treat yourself the way you would a friend. You wouldn’t call your friend a loser or pathetic, so don’t do that to yourself. 

Instead, treat yourself like a friend and acknowledge that it wasn’t your best moment, but you’re still loved and still worth the effort. 

Common Humanity

The second core component of self-compassion is common humanity, which is simply the understanding that everyone struggles. 

It is easy to imagine that others are doing better than we are, but that is just a perception. While we all handle problems differently, if you’re feeling disappointed or frustrated, that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. It means you’re human.

Mindfulness

The third component is mindfulness. When your diet takes a sidestep, you get a rush of thoughts and feelings that, if left unchecked, can carry you down a dark path. 

Mindfulness is the ability to take a step back from those emotions and notice what is going on in the moment without judgment. This decreases rumination on failure, making it easier to bounce back. 

Food Logging

If you already track what you eat and drink, you may not consider food logging an unconventional practice. However, did you know that it can double your results? 

In a weight loss study of nearly 1,700 individuals, those who kept a daily food diary lost nearly twice as much weight as those who kept no records (3).

What is it that makes food logging a game-changer? 

Awareness

One of the benefits of writing down your food and drink choices is awareness. Sometimes, we try to fix our diet without understanding what’s wrong with it. 

Food journaling helps you identify problem areas, such as patterns of overeating and things that trigger hunger or emotional eating. Once a light is shown on those issues, you can change them to help you lose weight.

Reluctance to Record

Another weight loss perk of keeping a food diary is that it can prevent us from consuming things that are uncomfortable to put in writing. In physics, there is a phenomenon called the Observer Effect. Plainly stated, it means that we have a tendency to change our behavior when we know someone’s watching, even if that someone is us. 

How to Journal

You can record your daily food intake using an online nutrition tracking tool or a notebook, and you can add as many details as you’d like. Three things to be sure to include are the time you eat, what you eat, and how much. 

Takeaway

Losing weight requires discipline and patience. Chewing your food more completely, practicing self-compassion, and logging your food intake can make your journey easier, less stressful, and more effective. 

Thank you for reading!

References:

(1) Miquel-Kergoat, Sophie, et al. “Effects of chewing on appetite, food intake and gut hormones: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” Physiology & behavior 151 (2015): 88-96.

(2) Hagerman, Charlotte J., et al. “The role of self-compassion and its individual components in adaptive responses to dietary lapses.” Appetite 190 (2023): 107009.

(3) Hollis, Jack F., et al. “Weight loss during the intensive intervention phase of the weight-loss maintenance trial.” American journal of preventive medicine 35.2 (2008): 118-126.

About the Author

Becky Gillaspy, DC, is the author of The Intermittent Fasting Guide and Cookbook and Zero Sugar / One Month. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with research honors from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1991.