Brie and Candied Bacon Grilled Cheese Bites

Multiple large-scale studies on eating pace and metabolic health have found that fast eaters are significantly more likely to be overweight, have elevated blood sugar levels, and develop metabolic syndrome compared to slow eaters — independent of the actual content of their diet. A 2017 study published in the British Medical Journal found that self-reported slow eaters had a significantly lower body mass index and waist circumference than fast eaters, with the difference persisting after controlling for diet quality, physical activity, and other confounding variables. The pace of eating appears to be an independent variable in metabolic health — making slow eating one of the most accessible and most evidence-supported dietary practices available, requiring no change in what is eaten but only in how it is eaten.