The Ultimate Weight Loss Hack Nutrition Scientists Recommend for Effortless Results

Posted on May 19, 2026 by Igor Mitreski

When you gather at the dinner table, do you taking just a few bites, burp, and quickly finish your meal, or do you savor every bite with small nibbles?

While we often know our eating speed instinctively, the pace at which you chew significantly affects digestion, weight management, and overall health.

“Research indicates that simply slowing down your eating rate can substantially decrease your energy intake,” says Professor Sarah Berry, a nutritionist at King’s College London.

Research shows that reducing your eating speed by just one-fifth can result in a significant 11% to 15% calorie reduction.

Conversely, those who eat quickly are at a higher risk for obesity, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes compared to slower eaters.

Eating slowly with smaller portions can enhance digestion – Credit: Getty

Taking your time at meals can lead to less food intake, weight loss, and better digestion—all without feelings of hunger.

“If there’s one thing I’d change about tonight’s meal, it’s to slow down,” Berry advises.

The Benefits of Eating Slowly

Unlike calorie counting or carb restrictions, eating slowly is a natural weight loss strategy that reduces the desire to overeat.

Simply put, it’s the act of chewing that signals fullness, not just the digestion process. Chewing causes your stomach to stretch and triggers your intestines to release satiety hormones—chemical signals that inform your brain when you’re satisfied.

However, these mechanisms don’t respond immediately.

“These natural processes take time,” notes Professor Ciaran Forde at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, whose research focuses on how sensory input affects eating behavior. “There’s often a delay between eating and when your brain receives fullness signals.”

This lag can create a disconnect between consumption and perceived satiety. Eating too quickly can lead to overconsumption of calories before the brain registers fullness.

“These signals may reach your brain well after you’ve indulged in that 18th cookie, leaving you uncomfortably full,” Forde explains. “By then, it’s too late.”

While we can’t speed up these biological signals, we can create space for them by slowing down our eating pace.

Using chopsticks may encourage smaller bites and slower eating – Credit: Getty

A significant hormone involved in satiety is GLP-1, which is mimicked in popular weight loss medications like Ozempic and Wigovy, signaling your brain that you’re full.

Research from Waseda University in Japan found that participants released more GLP-1 when chewing shredded cabbage compared to swallowing pureed cabbage.

It’s effective in curbing appetite, allowing for less food intake without additional effort. Furthermore, in a 2021 study, Forde’s team discovered that slow eaters not only felt fuller but also exhibited a stronger insulin response to meals, improving their ability to process sugars.

“The initial stage of digestion happens behind the lips, not in the stomach,” Forde explains. “The way you chew can influence how your metabolism functions and your feeling of fullness post-meal, as your body prepares to digest nutrients.”

Read More:

Tips for Eating More Slowly

Eating slowly enhances feelings of fullness and optimizes your body’s metabolism. Yet, changing ingrained habits can be challenging.

For Berry, the key is mindfulness. “I often find myself distracted by the TV, which leads me to eat too quickly,” she admits. “We miss out on the family dining experience where we put down our utensils and engage in conversation.”

Eating in front of the TV can distract you from recognizing when you’re full – Credit: Getty

A simple approach is to turn off screens and enjoy meals with family. Engaging in pleasant conversation rather than focusing solely on your plate can create natural pauses in chewing.

Berry also suggests putting down your utensils between bites to help pace yourself.

Additionally, a study revealed that using chopsticks encourages smaller bites, better chewing, and overall slower eating.

Modify Your Diet

Turn off the screen, enjoy family meals, and employ chopsticks—these tactics can significantly improve your chewing habits.

Additionally, focus on making smart food choices that promote slower eating. Opting for chewier foods can naturally extend meal duration and reduce your appetite.

Forde’s research emphasizes this approach, as detailed in a popular study involving 41 healthy adults who participated in two distinct diets for two weeks.

Participants were free to eat as much as they wished, with meals designed for nutrition and taste, differing only in texture.

“We engineered the texture of these meals so that one required slower eating and the other was consumed quickly,” Forde explains.

“To our surprise, when participants weren’t given specific instructions, simply changing their meals to textured foods led them to consume an average of 370 fewer calories per day.” [with more textured food] “When they consumed soft foods, they collectively ingested around 5,200 extra calories over the two weeks. In contrast, the slow-eating diet resulted in adults losing nearly half a kilogram (1 pound) of body fat weekly.”

“These findings are significant, and we achieved this without issuing directives,” Forde states. “There were no labels or public health warnings—only the foods themselves drove the results.”

Soft, creamy, and sugary foods can lead to excessive calorie consumption – Credit: Getty

This means prioritizing crunchy meals over softer options, such as selecting crunchy rolls instead of soft buns, crispy roasted veggies over steamed ones, and grilled chicken instead of nuggets.

Forde emphasizes avoiding energy-dense, soft-textured foods and sugary drinks that you can consume quickly.

“Using excessive oil or sauce makes dishes easier to eat rapidly,” he warns. “High-fat, sweet, and creamy options can be inhaled effortlessly, leading to overconsumption. Before you know it, you’ve devoured three marshmallow tea cakes!”

Read More:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

British companies recommend conducting video and face-to-face interviews to combat North Korean employment scams.

Posted on April 20, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

British companies are being advised to conduct job interviews via video or in-person to avoid the risk of inadvertently hiring North Korean employees.

The caution comes after analysts noted that the UK has become a prime target for misinformed IT workers recruited by North Korea. These individuals are typically hired to work remotely, evade detection, and funnel earnings back to Kim Jong-un’s regime.

In a recent report, Google revealed an incident from last year involving a lone North Korean operative, with at least 12 aliases operating across Europe and the US. These IT workers were seeking positions in defense and government sectors. The new tactic involves fake IT professionals threatening to leak sensitive company data post-termination.

John Hultquist, chief analyst at Google’s Threat Intelligence Group, highlighted North Korea’s shift towards Europe, particularly targeting the UK.

He explained, “North Korea is feeling the heat in the US and has shifted its focus to the UK to expand its IT worker tactics. The UK offers a broad spectrum of businesses in Europe.”

Fraudulent IT worker schemes typically involve individuals with a physical presence in countries aided by “facilitators” or agents of North Korea.

These facilitators play crucial roles like providing fake passports and maintaining local addresses. Laptops used by these individuals often connect to servers in Pyongyang, not their current location. However, they seek jobs that offer unique devices for easier monitoring.

“Ultimately, having a physical presence in the UK is key to their expansion strategy across various sectors in the country,” mentioned Hultquist.

Hultquist suggested that conducting job interviews in-person or via video could disrupt North Korea’s tactics.

Sarah Kern, a North Korean specialist at cybersecurity firm SecureWorks, emphasized that the threat is more widespread than perceived by companies.

She recommended thorough candidate screening and HR education on deception tactics. Companies should prioritize in-person or video interviews to verify the legitimacy of potential employees.

“In the US, conducting in-person or video interviews to verify candidates’ background details is effective in ensuring you’re engaging with truthful candidates,” she added.

Kern noted that IT workers may propose unconventional methods like frequent address changes or the use of money exchange services over traditional bank accounts.

Bogus IT experts are infiltrating Europe through online platforms like Upwork, Freelancer, and Telegram. Upwork stated that attempts to use false identities go against their terms of service, and they take strict action to remove such individuals.

As pointed out by Kern, North Korean IT workers often try to avoid video interviews, likely due to their working conditions in cramped spaces resembling call centers.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Researchers recommend making keeping spaces clean and tidy a global UN goal.

Posted on January 9, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Artist’s impression of space junk orbiting Earth

Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library/Alamy

The growing threat of space debris should be addressed with a new global agreement to protect Earth’s orbit, says a group of researchers calling on the United Nations to make space protection a key international goal.

Although there are existing guidelines for tackling space debris, such as the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty, the researchers write in the journal: one earth calls for further action to “raise awareness about the use of orbital resources and the increased risk of orbital contamination while sending a strong message that Earth’s orbit is not disconnected from Earth.”

Specifically, the research team proposes adding space protection to the United Nations’ existing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are 17 broad goals set for member countries to achieve by 2030. These goals include eradicating poverty, promoting quality education and gender equality, accessing affordable and clean energy, and tackling climate change. “We know from the ocean that it is very difficult to remove debris that has washed ashore,” Koldewey said. “We want to avoid the same thing happening in space.”

To fix this, the researchers want to add 18.^th The SDGs include ensuring that end-of-life satellites and rockets are removed from orbit to prevent collisions and the creation of new debris, as well as introducing fines and legislation to ensure accountability. “We know from the ocean that it is very difficult to remove debris that has washed ashore,” Koldewey said. “We want to avoid the same thing happening in space.”

The number of operating satellites in orbit has increased rapidly in recent years, from less than 3,000 in 2020 to more than 10,000 today. Most of that increase will come down to the roughly 7,000 satellites that make up SpaceX’s Starlink space internet megaconstellation. Other companies and countries, including Amazon and China, are planning thousands more services while building large groups of their own. In addition to this, there are thousands of empty rockets and millions of pieces of space junk orbiting the Earth.

Include space debris in 18^th says the SDGs have the potential to raise the profile of issues Heather Koldeway At the Zoological Society of London. “Anything that raises awareness of space debris has to be good,” he says. But he says getting countries to act is more difficult. “If you roll 18^th SDGs, what’s next?” he says. “All international agreements and treaties are products of compromise.”

Hugh Lewis A space debris expert at the University of Southampton in the UK said creating a space-focused SDG would be a “worthy endeavour.” However, he added that mechanisms to tackle space debris, such as the United Nations long-term sustainability goals For space activities and more localized activities, such as in the United States, where the Federal Communications Commission has introduced. 5 year rule Removing dead satellites from orbit. “It’s hard to argue that it’s not already on the UN agenda,” Lewis says.

There is also the question of whether the SDGs will achieve their goals. Last year, the United Nations reported: less than one-fifth Of the 17 existing SDGs, progress is on track.

On top of that, the problem is that nothing meaningful will happen without the agreement of SpaceX and its owner Elon Musk. “You can’t talk about space governance without talking about it now,” Newman said. “We can no longer just look at member states.”

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com