Eating Awareness Training

The first book I recall reading about diet is Eating Awareness Training written in 1985 by Molly Groger. It's subtitle is "The Natural Way to Permanent Weight Loss." Groger observed that her friends of optimal weight took food in more deliberately and often left food on their plates rather than finishing portions. She changed to this eating style, lost weight, and maintained good body weight with this approach. Her technique was to pay attention to the eating process, chew food thoroughly, and not eat while watching TV or reading. When she realized she was full she stopped eating.

Mindfulness techniques adapted from Buddhist meditation practices have been applied to eating, effectively the same approach Groger advocated.

German researchers recently designed an experiment in which obese people had their mouths wired so that they could not eat quickly or put a large amount in their mouths. There were no restrictions on types of food or quantity. All subjects lost significant weight, often in the hundreds of pounds, and many maintained much of the weight loss after the mouth wiring was removed. They had learned to eat more deliberately and consume less food.

My observations of overweight people support this approach. Many eat large quantities quickly and robotically not allowing time to recognize satiety (or often even enjoy their meal.) For those trying to lose weight this is a logical, painless way to cut back on calories without formal dieting.