prevent overeating and therefore weight problems in the long term.

As always, the best bits of weight loss advice are those simple tips which you probably have heard already but have discarded because they just sounded too boring and mundane to work. Recently for example a group of Chinese researchers conducted a study to show that people who chew on their food more are likely to consume less food over the course of the meal.

Every single child is told to chew their food a lot before swallowing it, and most people reckon that this is because they do not want to their children to choke, but the real benefit of encouraging this habit is that it will prevent overeating and therefore weight problems in the long term.

For this research project sixteen slim men and fourteen obese men were recruited and asked to go on a twelve hour fast. They were then monitored with video cameras while they consumed a traditional Chinese breakfast of pork pies. The men were all given the same size portions and were informed that if they wanted they could have more.

From the video evidence it was seen that the obese men chewed less food per bite.  The researchers also observed that both groups of men had the same bite sizes but the obese men tended to consume more calories.

The team of researchers working at Harbin Medical University also conducted another two experiments on different days with the same group of men but one day they were asked to chew each mouthful 15 times and on the other day they had to chew each mouthful 40 times.

The results showed that irrespective of whether the men were in the obese or thin group they consumed on average twelve percent less calories when chewing 40 times compared to chewing fifteen times. It was also seen that chewing 40 times resulted in a lower production of the appetite inducing hormone ghrelin.

This research which was published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition may be all that you need in order to keep your weight in check. It is often difficult to chew your food a lot especially when you are hungry but with a bit of discipline and by making the effort to eat slowly you could actually lose weight.