Welcome to the 10 minute gum diet. spread the word far and wide!
There are a thousand fad diets out there and some of them work and some don't. Most require you to buy a book or a piece of exercise equipment. How would you like to find one that requires hardly anything to get started and is so simple that you can read all of the instructions in about 10 seconds. In fact, if you looked at the pictures above you already know all of the instructions for the diet. Don't worry I'll explain it a little better but first a little back ground.
In today's busy world most of us don't take enough time to eat (and enjoy) our food. This hurried approach to our meals is largely responsible for the primary cause of obesity (over eating). When we don't take our time while eating we don't give our body time to send signals to our brain to let us know that we are full. This means that if your goal is to eat an entire large pizza all by yourself then you should of course eat it as quickly as possible. Your brain won't have time to tell you that you are full and you may get the whole thing eaten before you realize what a mistake it was and get the secondary signals of indigestion and stomach pains. The reverse is also true, if you eat your meals slowly you will not only enjoy your food more but you will become full half way through the meal and will often leave some of it uneaten and yet walk away from it feeling completely full and satisfied. As we began to eat faster and faster our portion sizes increased proportionately. This is why we can go to fast food restaurants and super size it without feeling we are over eating. Have you ever noticed that when you go to the nicer restaurants where you take over an hour to eat your meal in many courses the portion sizes are usually much smaller!
Now that you have the background, here is a simple method for taking this knowledge and putting it to use today in what is sure to become the newest fad diet to sweep the world.
Step 1 Stop half way through your meal.
Step 2 Chew a piece of gum for 10 minutes.
Step 3 If you are still feeling hungry go ahead and finish your meal, otherwise simply walk away from it.
This may sound over simplistic but you may just find that it really does work. If you tend to eat very quickly it may be hard at first to stop half way through your meal but rest assured in the knowledge that if you are still hungry you will be allowed to finish your meal. The 10 minute break in your meal simply slows things down and gives your brain time to decide whether or not you are already full. The gum just gives you something to do for the 10 minutes and keeps you chewing in case you want to feel like you are still enjoying your meal. It doesn't matter what kind of gum and if you don't happen to like gum you could certainly substitute a fresh mint or even a cup of coffee. The important thing is to slow down and give yourself time to decide whether you really need the rest of your meal before eating it. Also try to resist the temptation to eat it all anyway, even if you are not full in order to avoid 'wasting food'. The food is still wasted even if you eat it, it just sits wasted on your thighs and backside instead of wasted in the plate. If you eat when you aren't hungry you are not only wasting the food, you are also risking health problems and taking away from your own quality of life. When you learn to apply these simple rules you will inevitably lose weight and you'll have more energy, feel generally better and be healthier for your efforts. Eventually you will probably learn what portion sizes are really appropriate for you and you will start to prepare less food. In these cases, you should still take time to eat slowly or chew gum for 10 minutes half way through. With smaller portions you'll probably find that you are still hungry enough to finish the meal but if you don't take that extra time, you may find yourself hitting the cookie jar right after finishing those smaller portions. Just keep the gum handy and the cookie jar much further away!
Disclaimer: Obviously there is no way to guarantee that this will work for everyone and you will have to use your own discretion to avoid such things as choking on your gum, blowing bubbles and getting gum in your hair, You could always get a full refund on what you paid for this wonderful advice (oh wait, it was free!).