Counting Bites and Sips to Manage Weight?
To effectively change behaviors we need to identify the behaviors we want to stop, start and avoid. For example, if you are trying to lose weight you might need to START weighing yourself daily, STOP serving large portions at breakfast and AVOID starting to snack after 7pm. Determining which behaviors to change and how to reshape them in a way that is pleasurable enough to sustain can take consider learning from experience.
That is why I am always on the lookout for new methods or devices that help us become aware of the simple mechanical actions we take everyday. For example, researchers at Clemson have developed a simple device for automatically counting the number of bites of food or sips of drink you take during the day. You need to press a button to turn it on before eating and off when you are done but otherwise it is 90% accurate at counting your bites and sips. It doubles as a watch, weights less than an ounce, can store information on up to 320 meals or snacks and costs $799.
“At the societal level, current weight-loss and maintenance programs are failing to make a significant impact. Studies have shown that people tend to underestimate what they eat by large margins, mostly because traditional methods rely upon self–observation and reporting,” said Muth. “Our preliminary data suggest that bite count can be used as a proxy for caloric count.”
Even if bite count cannot be correlated to calories, this device offers a new and automated way of observing our eating behaviors. Focusing on bites and sips may afford new ways of modifying eating behaviors.
