If you're worried about packing on the pounds this holiday season, here's something to chew on: A new study revealed that simply slowing down during meal time can help you lose weight.

Researchers studied appetite-regulating hormones in a test group where each person was given the same thing to eat, 10 ounces of ice cream. One group was told to eat the entire bowl within five minutes; the other within 30 minutes. After reviewing participants' hormone levels before, during and after their meal, researchers concluded that eating too fast blocked the release of hormones that make you feel full. In short, the ones who ate within five minutes still wanted more ice cream when they were done, while the others didn't.

"Most of us have heard that eating fast can lead to food overconsumption and obesity, and in fact some observational studies have supported this notion," said study researcher, Alexander Kokkinos, MD, PhD, from Laiko General Hospital in Athens, Greece in a news release. "Our study provides a possible explanation for the relationship between speed eating and overeating by showing that the rate at which someone eats may impact the release of gut hormones that signal the brain to stop eating."

We always tell 5-year-old Danny to slow down and chew his food -- he's a pro at stuffing loads of grub in his mouth and then struggling to swallow it down. Our only real goal for this young boy is that he doesn't choke or heave his hearty helpings back onto his dinner plate. It seems we might also be teaching him how to to stay slim and trim.

Longer meal times and thorough chewing tend to decrease the amount of food eaten and lead to greater fullness and satisfaction for the older-than-Danny healthy female population. This, from a first-ever study on the topic of slower eating, concluding that smaller bites, pausing between bites, and chewing thoroughly is a key slim-down strategy.

So, what qualifies as slow? While I don't have a definite time frame to share, I do know that the meals during study were 21 minutes longer than quick meals. I also know that the female participants ate about 67 fewer calories and reported feeling much more satiated after eating slowly. Great news, which hopefully will transfer to other populations, like men and obese folks.

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Chewing gum might help you remember names, whiten your teeth, relieve your stress, and make you thinner. What? Yep, the sticky stuff holds so much promise as a health food that the Wrigley Company last year formed the Wrigley Science Institute to fund gum studies around the world. Is it that good, really? Seems it could be.

In one 2002 study, gum-chewers performed better than non-chewers on memory tests. The act of chewing gum apparently causes your heart to pump more blood to your brain, which results in more oxygen.

Another study, this one in 2006, suggests chewing gum results in less snacking and fewer calories consumed throughout the day. It might minimize cravings for sweets too.

Don't get your hopes up too high just yet -- research is still in the early stages and sometimes different studies turn up different results -- but try a stick or two a day and see what gum does for you. At the very least, it should help you fight cavities and bad breath. Just make it sugar-free and remember that chewing gum will never be a suitable replacement for good nutrition and exercise.

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Wouldn't you love it if your favourite guilty indulgence could be part of a healthy weight loss plan? Like, say, the cheesecake diet? The triple-meat-extra-cheese pizza diet? Sounds ridiculous, huh? But the ridiculous thing is, someone probably has already thought of it, marketed the idea and made a profit on it.

What, don't believe me? Check out this post on Mark's Daily Apple on the craziest diet ideas. Some of the wackiest ones?

• The alcohol diet, in which you imbibe regularly and frequently, provided you stick to low-carb, clear drinks like vodka and gin.
  
• The chewing diet, in which you chew each piece of your food 32 times and don't swallow it. Apparently, chewing it enough ensures you get the nutrients. Yeah, right.
  
• The cold foods diet, which is based on the idea that you'll lose weight eating cold things because your body will burn calories trying to warm it up. Which means you can eat ice cream -- yay!
  
  

Want to know more? Read the post, and feel free to share any bizarre diet plans you've heard of.

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Do you love to chew on ice? I've had friends who do and it seems like a fairly common habit to me, but apparently it can be (in some cases) a sign of anemia. The connection may not seem clear at first, but chewing on ice is a form of pica, which is defined as the practice of eating non-food items (often including metal and paper also). Pica is commonly a symptom of iron-deficiency anemia, although doctors aren't sure exactly why this is.

So if you have the habit of chewing on ice cubes it's probably a good idea to make an appointment and have your iron levels checked. The good news is that anemia is usually easily treated with iron supplements.

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Only if you eat about ten thousand of them! Yucky, yuck, yuck! I can't tell you how many people have asked me this strange question throughout my 18 years in the fitness industry. Too many to count. So! To anyone else who may be concerned about the belly bulging effects of fingernail chewing, here is my answer.

I'm not exactly sure how many calories are in each nail per se, but since they are made of keratin, a sturdy fibrous protein....it couldn't be much.They'd probably just run right through you. In fact, I think you'd have to chew through the hands and feet of everyone you know to even equal a moderately satisfying snack. Hmmmmmm. Yummy!

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Chewing the right kind of gum is a good habit for many of us: it gives us something to do when we are bored at work, it entertains our gums and burns calories and it can be a great replacement for overeating. If you used to smoke, gum may have helped you quit, too.

The sugared kind with artificial colors is not my top choice, though. Regardless of the type you choose to chew, isn't it annoying when that bubble pops and leaves a sticky mess everywhere?

Non-stick is something you usually hear referenced with cookware, but researchers may be showing the world a non-stick chewing gum soon. It can reportedly be cleaned from hair, teeth, clothes and public objects like sidewalks with ease.

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It seems as though another study has linked smokeless (as in, chewing) tobacco with an increase in the risk for throat cancer. Specifically, cancer of the "hypopharynx" was the area cited inside the throat that sees an increased risk of caner.

With many cigarette smokers having turned to the perceived "less harmless" smokeless tobacco venue, this study (among many others) indicates that the switch is just shifting a cancer risk from one are in the body to another.

So, if you've decided to quit smoking recently, don't shift tobacco use somewhere else -- get rid of it completely. Use whatever method works for you, but jettison tobacco use permanently.

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How often do you chew gum? Do you chew just to freshen your breath or as a way to relieve stress? I bet it does relax you at least a little, whether you realize it or not, because that's part of the appeal of gum versus breath mints. But chewing gum can cause problems if you overdo it (like anything) especially if you're feeling tense to begin with. According to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, chewing gum when you're stressed can cause you to chew more vigorously, which can lead to any number of problems like a strained jaw, fatigue, soreness, and even a serious condition of the jaw joint called TMJ.

Huh, who knew?

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Is your breath reaching people before your words? Has a dear friend or family member politely leaned into you to tell you that you have bad breath? The first thing you do is cup your hand to your mouth and blow in it to check your breath. Instead keep a pack of gum in your pocket or purse and pop it into your mouth. Chewing gum after a meal, when you can't brush your teeth, will freshen your breath and the chewing action of the gum mixed with your saliva will clean your teeth.

Two other helpful hints to keep bad breath at large is to lightly brush your tongue after you are finished cleaning your teeth. Your tongue holds a ton of bacteria that can get rather smelly. Drink your daily requirement of water. Water is a cure for practically everything including bad breath. By keeping yourself well hydrated, your bad breath will surely reduce.

In some cases bad breath may be the sign of a local infection in the respiratory tract, chronic sinusitis, postnasal drip, chronic bronchitis, diabetes, gastrointestinal disturbance, liver or kidney ailment. If your dentist determines that your mouth is healthy, you may be referred to your family doctor or a specialist to determine the cause of bad breath.

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With the lack of physical activity that most people's lifestyles are lacking, it's a good idea to pick up the pace and run, or at least speed-walk, to burn extra calories or just get moving. But there's one area where we should all learn to slow down -- eating.

I'm guilty of shoveling food down my gullet at record speeds -- with a busy lifestyle, I'm always thinking of where I need to be next. But it's a good idea to savor what you're eating. Also, by eating more slowly, you'll get full faster, and this will enable you to eat less overall.

But old habits are habits are hard to break. I'm going to make a conscious effort to chew each bite of food for at least 5 seconds before swallowing -- hopefully this will slow me down a bit. What about you?

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You've got to hand it to the scientists. Just when you think it couldn't get any better than fighting cancer with a cold, they go and try developing chewing gum that helps you lose pounds! Researchers out of the UK have come up with an ingenious way to deliver an appetite-curbing hormone to people trying to lose weight: through gum!

The hormone called pancreatic polypeptide, which can be found in the gut, helps tell your brain that you are full and to stop eating. Scientists will hopefully be able to find out how to alter the hormone to make it last longer. So why chewing gum? Well, if it were taken with a pill then digestive juices would end up destroying it. Of course you can always opt for the weekly injection too.

For the most part they are hoping that enough of the polypeptide can cross the membrane of the mouth to be effective. Imagine being able to just open a pack of your favorite mint-flavored dieting gum and curb your appetite on command. It would be a big leap for weight watchers everywhere!

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