Making Taste with Intention Part Two: Reshaping Consumption with Slow Eating Foods

Byline Dave Lundahl, Founder & CEO at InsightsNow

In part one of ‘Making Taste with Intention’, we discussed the need for innovation in the food and beverage industry to transform the function of foods, especially since U.S. consumers are continually looking for ways to tackle the obesity crisis; evidenced in the shocking projected figures of GLP-1 users in the U.S. (1). In part two of this series, we move a step further—exploring how companies can address the obesity epidemic by redesigning foods to be naturally eaten more slowly, leveraging sensory and behavioral science — and coordinated marketing strategies — to influence eating rates and support healthier habits.

A call for innovation. Who’s going to answer?

Studies have debunked that ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are the sole cause of obesity, showing that the real drivers are not simply that foods are processed. The real issue is how foods are designed. This revelation creates a major opportunity for food companies to redesign foods to be both enjoyable and healthier — combating the root cause of the obesity epidemic.

While it’s well known that consistently overeating leads to weight gain, an overlooked factor is how quickly people eat, not just how often. Researchers have shown that eating speed is a significant factor to weight gain, especially when foods are energy dense.

In a recent 14-week controlled feeding trial in the Netherlands, foods designed to be eaten slowly resulted in weight loss, while fast-eating foods led to weight gain — even when both food types are equally liked and equally energy dense (3). When foods are designed for rapid consumption, people tend to overeat before feeling full. This finding has profound implications for how companies can help combat obesity, offering a new pathway for consumers to achieve their weight management goals and lead healthier, happier lives.

Considering the four-decade obesity trend in the U.S., it’s no surprise there’s growing demand for ways to eat less and eat better. Food innovators now have a pivotal opportunity — not only to address obesity, but to chart a new direction for the entire food market. Only by developing a new category of products designed to influence eating habits and encourage mindful consumption (without compromising enjoyment), will companies meet the evolved needs of today’s consumer.

But short of sitting on people’s shoulders and telling people to slow down, how can the industry disrupt this ingrained habit? The goal is to encourage eating for satisfaction, not overconsumption.

Using behavioral science to introduce slow eating habits

Behavioral science has evolved significantly since marketers first began applying it in the early 20th century. Today, food innovators have a framework to translate this science into practical actions — nudging people along their journeys with brands or disrupting old habits to create new ones. When cross-functional teams align around this framework, their collective efforts in designing, developing, and marketing food products can drive these nudges or disruptive behaviors.

Habit Flywheel™

How to apply this framework to address the current challenge for food brands

The rise in GLP-1 users highlights that many consumers are focused on ‘weight management,’ a concern that the right marketing messages and claims can address to trigger consumer choice for healthier products. For slow eating foods to be associated with this benefit, brand communications must complete the cycle: connecting the consumer’s concern (achieving weight loss), the motivators of choice at retail (claimed benefits of slow eating food), and the delivery of the reward (sense of wellbeing toward weight management goals). Brands that can close this loop have the opportunity to capture market share in the weight loss sector by providing an alternative to traditional weight-loss programs and GLP-1 prescriptions.

However, marketing alone is insufficient to cycle consumers around the Habit Flywheel. Brands must deliver on their claims that slow-eating foods will provide the promised reward. Products must also be designed to ensure a baseline of liking or acceptability, providing a rewarding experience. They also need to offer functional benefits, such as convenience, required for their category.  

Over time, products that promote satiety and improve digestion enable consumers to interact with them, continually moving through these Habit Flywheel cycles. These repeated positive experiences reinforce that the product fulfills their needs and helps them naturally shift from fast-eating, hyper-palatable foods to slower, more satisfying options. This approach to innovation through Behavioral Design applies behavioral science to offer consumers meaningful outcomes toward effective weight loss without difficult tradeoffs.   By leveraging sensory science, product developers can design foods that enhance enjoyment and satisfaction, while discouraging overconsumption.

When the stars (don’t) align

While the Habit Flywheel helps shape purchasing decisions, it’s important to recognize that disrupting even one factor in the flywheel can undermine habit formation and erode brand trust. For example, if the product experience fails to deliver on its promise to resolve the concern that triggered the purchase — or proves irrelevant — it won’t influence habits. Worse, it may actually undermine healthy habits, as consumers begin to avoid the product after a disappointing experience.

Similarly, marketing claims that don’t align with people’s needs can interrupt the initial trigger to ‘choose the product’ in the first place. So, while product developers must create the right slow eating experiences, food and beverage marketers also need to ensure that brand messaging, claims, and positioning are aligned with both consumer needs and the actual product experience. Aligning slow eating foods — even those that may be ultra-processed — as part of the solution to weight-related concerns can be a powerful strategy. To ensure messaging resonates, it’s essential to accurately test whether claims and cues encourage rational decision-making or simply reinforce habitual purchasing. This distinction is key to guiding consumers toward slow-eating options over more familiar, fast-consumed products.

The Challenge Ahead

While the behavioral science behind the Habit Flywheel is invaluable for addressing people’s current needs, leveraging it requires more than just understanding its mechanics — it demands cross- functional alignment within innovation teams. Teams that operate in siloes can fail to achieve behavior impact. By putting too much emphasis on maximizing liking—a strategy that, while successful in driving preference, has not addressed, and may have even contributed to, the obesity epidemic.

To maximize impact, every innovation team member — brand, product development, packaging, sensory, consumer insights, and communications — must operate under a unified vision, ensuring every consumer touchpoint reinforces the desired habit-forming experience. Sensory science, messaging, and product positioning must also work together so that the ‘experience’ and ‘reward’ phases feel authentic, reinforcing healthier habits rather than disrupting them.

The future of food and beverage lies in moving beyond the old paradigm and embracing the principles of behavioral design. By aligning cross-functional teams around the Habit Flywheel, brands can ensure the cycle is completed — creating real behavioral impact and reshaping habits for a population increasingly concerned with obesity. When science, strategy, and storytelling are aligned, brands don’t just meet consumer needs — they transform them.