The risks of speed eating were recently published in the British Medical Journal:

“Japanese researchers queried nearly 3,300 people about eating habits and discovered that those who reported eating quickly until they felt full were three times as likely to be overweight as slow eaters who stopped before they were full.”

I find it interesting that this study was done in Japan, because in Okinawa, a place known for its healthy and long-lived populace, there is a saying – hara hachi bu – which loosely translates “Eat until 80% full.” If you have a tough time slowing your pace of eating, do what the Okinawans do. There’s no guarantee, but you have nothing to lose but weight.