Tip The Easiest Way to Improve Insulin Sensitivity Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness EatingSupplements Tip The Easiest Way to Improve Insulin Sensitivity Do this at the dinner table to allow insulin to deliver nutrients to muscle instead of fat by TC Luoma May 16, 2017February 2, 2022 Tags Belly Fat, Carb Control, Diet Strategy, Nutrition & Supplements, Tips Wolfing It Down Young men, almost universally it seems, eat fast. Whether they're just always in a hurry or they were raised by a family of wolves who might at any moment snatch their mutton chop away from them is unknown. One thing for certain, though, is that if their habit of eating fast continues into adulthood, they run the risk of having higher fat reserves and developing type 2 diabetes. Fast eating correlates with eating more; it doesn't allow enough time for hunger suppressing hormones like ghrelin, hormone peptide YY (PYY), or glucagon-like peptide 1(GLP-1) to kick in. Hence wolf boys don't get that full feeling until long after they've left the table to go romping through the woods. Furthermore, fast eating doesn't allow enough time for insulin to do its thing. Nutrients don't get delivered to the right address. They end up in the fat mailbox instead of the muscle mailbox. Scientists have studied this phenomenon more than once. In 2006, Japanese researchers studied the relationship between fast eating and body mass index (BMI). They looked at the eating habits of 3737 men and 1005 women and had them categorize their eating speed as "very slow," "relatively slow," "relatively fast," and "very fast." The faster their eating speed, the fatter they were. Another study conducted in 2008, again in Japan, looked at the eating habits of 2704 men and 761 women over a one-month period. While adjusting for age, energy intake, and lifestyle, fast eaters showed a statistically significant gradual increase in insulin resistance. A more recent study from Lithuania in 2013 looked at both insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Scientists recruited 234 people who'd recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and compared their data with 468 people who didn't have diabetes. Fast eaters were twice as likely to have type 2 diabetes than the slow or normal-speed eaters. Clearly, eating fast is a bad habit as far as health and looking good naked is concerned. Eating slowly, on the other hand, conveys several benefits: Digestion works better. Food is metabolized more efficiently. Weight control works better. Eating slowly allows the hunger-regulating hormones to kick in and put the kibosh on appetite. Insulin sensitivity is maintained. Eating slowly allows insulin to do its job. Nutrients get delivered to muscle instead of being stored as fat. A Simple Trick To slow your eating down, simply put down your fork or spoon after each bite. This will force you to become more conscious of your eating. Otsuka R et al. Eating fast leads to obesity: findings based on self-administered questionnaires among middle-aged Japanese men and women. J Epidemiol. 2006 May;16(3):117-24. Otsuka R et al. Eating fast leads to insulin resistance: Findings in middle-aged Japanese men and women. Prev Med. 2008 Feb;46(2):154-9.. Radzevičienė L lea Fast eating and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a case-control study. Clin Nutr. 2013 Apr;32(2):232-5. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Supplements Tip Eat This Much Protein Per Meal The experts were horribly wrong about how much protein you could absorb in one meal. Here's the new science. Dietary Myth Busting, Nutrition & Supplements, Performance Proteins, Protein, Tips TC Luoma March 10 Diet & Fat Loss Tip Metabolic Drive Muscle Cookies High-protein cookies with no added sugar. Easy to make too. Get the recipe here. Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements, Protein, Recipes, Tips Chelsie Lysenchuk April 27 Diet & Fat Loss Tip Fix Your Diet Stop Ignoring the Obvious Disregard the quick-fix advice that most women's magazines are pedaling these days. Zero in on the big habitual blunders. Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements, Tips Dani Shugart April 18 Supplements Tip Take Curcumin Every Day Not only is it a great natural anti-inflammatory, it also has 7 other benefits. Check 'em out. Curcumin, Nutrition & Supplements, Super Health, Tips TC Luoma January 1