We guarantee number #3 will shock you
We’ve heard our fair share of strange diets, to the downright extreme. But more often than not, they’re impossible for all but the most hardcore of us to adhere to. Either because they’re ridiculously stringent, or they’re just downright bad science.
Here are 8 clean eating health hacks probably you never knew existed — backed by science:
1. Eat Slowly: You Will Need Less Food
During WW1, rationing slogans in Britain advised the public to “Eat Slowly: You Will Need Less Food”. Back then, it might have seemed like a silly idea. But turns out, the science is behind this one!
A study of more than 60,000 people found that compared to those who scarfed their food quickly, people who ate at a normal speed were 29% less likely to be obese. Those who ate “slowly” were 42% less likely to be obese. The waist sizes of slow and normal eaters also shrank faster throughout the study.
2. Soylent
When my friend first introduced me to this futuristic food, he warned that my cousin nearly gagged on the first sip. Turns out, it tastes more like a slightly salty, unsweetened peanut-butter milkshake — with soy milk of course.
Despite what you may have heard, Soylent is a full nutritionally-balanced meal replacement. Each 400-calorie meal contains the optimal balance of protein, carbohydrates, lipids, and micronutrients for the average adult, based on the recommendations of the National Academy of Medicine.
While its inventor doesn’t recommend you live off nothing but Soylent, it does provide a great alternative to high-calorie, unhealthy food options like fast food.
3. Curry Noodles
What?? Did I just read that right? Yup, your eyes aren’t doing a number on you after your third straight all-nighter this week. While we often associate carbs with weight gain, there exists a special type of carbohydrate that is so poorly-absorbed by the human body, that a 280g pack of Japanese curry noodles made from flour of the konjac yam contains just 160 calories!
In addition to being near-zero calories, the glucomanan which makes up 40% of konjac flour is the most viscous natural food gum — about ten times the viscosity of cornstarch; its calorie-laden cousin. Drinkable meal replacements like soylent struggle to leave you feeling full — but these Miracle Noodles won’t!
However, a word of caution: unlike soylent-style meal replacements, foods made of this ultra-low calorie, high-fiber flour can greatly control your calorie intake, but cannot meet your nutritional needs.
4. Put that phone down
While Lost Kings ft. Emily Warren’s — Phone Down isn’t about dieting, you probably spend a good amount of your mealtime swiping through Instagram of Facebook on your phone, or in front of the TV. Ironically, there’s a good chance you’re doing it right now while reading this.
But new research shows that eating while distracted by things like watching the TV may tended to make people eat more at that meal. In contrast, those who paid attention while they were eating was linked to snacking less, and feeling more full.
So if you want to cut the calories, go on and really savor that meal.
5. Kid-sized crockery
Eating from smaller crockery such as plates, bowls and spoons can actually fool our brain into thinking that we are eating larger portions. Two studies conducted at Kent State University’s Applied Psychology Center involving a total of 110 university students, investigated whether the use of the portion control plate would result in smaller food portions compared to a larger dinner plate.
The visual illusion of eating from a fuller, but smaller plate increases the feeling of having eaten a larger meal. Conversely, eating from larger crockery encouraged people to fill their plates with more food than they needed otherwise!
6. Eat your veggies
Yes, science backs what your mom told you. Here’s why: just like the konjac flour in #3, vegetables are high in fiber (although not necessarily as extreme as konjac flour). This increases the feeling of being fuller after your meal, with lower calories as compared to higher fat, or carbohydrate-laden foods. However, not all high-fiber foods are created equal — different types of fiber affects satiety in many ways, depending on the fiber type, its ability to add “bulk” to foods, increase its viscosity, gel inside the stomach and ferment in the gut.
7. Pile on the proteins
Protein isn’t just for meatheads getting jacked, or bulking. Protein provides a “cleaner”, or smoother release of energy as its being digested over time, which makes you feel fuller for longer. Women who switched their diets to eating foods that were high in protein — even just for a day, reported feeling fuller throughout the day, compared to another day when they ate mostly fat, of the same calorie intake.
In short, when you’re looking to eat less, but still feel full: protein > carbs > fat.
8. Thicker-consistency foods
Foods that are thicker in consistency, require more chewing, or are more solid, not only slow down the rate at which you consume calories — making you more mindful how much you eat — but also trick your brain into thinking that more chews = more food.
Think we missed something that should be on our list? Comment below to tell us which food hacks worked for you!
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