Having trouble losing weight? A new weight loss device could now make it easier to slim down–but this device is hardly ordinary, say experts.
Researchers from South Carolina’s Clemson University say they’ve invented a watch which times how many bites you eat everyday–and warns you when you’ve had too many.
“It’s a little bit like a pedometer for your mouth,” says Eric Muth, a Clemson psychology professor who helped design the device earlier this year. “The research team is now designing a study with National Institutes of Health funding to test the effectiveness of the 100-bite diet.”
Based off findings which found that counting bites helped people lose more weight, Muth, along with computer-engineering professor Adam Hoover, designed the Bite Monitor–a small, watch-like device which counts how many bites of food you take, starting from 100 and ending at 0. According to their research, 100 bites are the sweet spot for losing weight, causing men to consume an average of 1,700 calories (or 1,100 calories for women). That alone could help men and women shed those stubborn last few pounds.
Other experts say that timing how much you chew could also enhance satiety, making you feel fuller faster.
“There’s very strong evidence pointing to the importance of chewing,” says Kathleen Melanson, director of Energy Balance Lab at the University of Rhode Island. “The nerves that feed into the muscles in the jaw connect to satiety areas in the brain.”
The question is: Would you try it?
Other Alternatives to the The Bite Monitor
Though the Bite Monitor promises to help you eat fewer calories, there’s one catch: It isn’t available yet. Researchers are evidently “hard at work” to make this device available soon, but in the meanwhile, other health experts there are better ways to monitor your bites.
One such invention is the HAPIFork.
“Eating too fast leads to poor digestion and poor weight control,” say the makers of the HAPIFork. “The HAPIfork, powered by Slow Control, is an electronic fork that helps you monitor and track your eating habits. It also alerts you with the help of indicator lights and gentle vibrations when you are eating too fast.”
And while it won’t count the amount of bites you take, it will track other statistics designed to make you eat slower, such as how long it takes to finish a meal, how many “servings” you eat per minute, and how long you wait to eat between bites. It also warns you when you’re eating too fast–slowing down your consumption of calories.
Unfortunately, it’s not cheap. Just one fork–and that includes a lithium polymer battery and a USB connector–will cost you around $100.
On the contrary, say other researchers, you could also just try counting each bite of food you take, from 100 to 1.
“Getting people to limit themselves to 100 bites a day doesn’t seem to work if they start counting from zero,” say researchers. “[We] plan to ask study participants to count down from zero.”
Readers: What else have you tried to help you lose weight?
Sources:
HAPIFork Information – HAPI.com
The 100 Bite Diet: Less About What You Eat, More About How You Eat it – METRO.co.uk
How Many Bites Do You Take a Day? Try For 100 – WSJ.com
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