Slow Down Your Eating!

We have all heard that we should slow down while we’re eating, but why? We live in a time-crunched world, so there had better be some good reasons why we should take 20 minutes out of our day to eat each of our three main meals.

Why is it Important to Eat Slowly?

Taking 20 minutes or more to eat a meal, has many benefits including:

• Better appetite awareness. I’m sure we can all remember a time when we ate so much we actually felt stomach pains, or had to undo our belt buckle after eating a big meal. Oh, the pain! Not only does your stomach hurt, you also don’t feel too good about yourself after consuming that much food. When you eat slowly, you become aware of when you’re actually still hungry versus starting to feel full. You’re able to stop yourself before that uncomfortable, ‘stuffed’ feeling hits.
• Calorie reduction. When you are aware of feeling full throughout your meal, you will eat less. You will actually start to put less food on your plate over time. It’s also a proven fact that healthy foods taste better when eaten slowly, and junk food actually tastes worse! The next time someone opens a bag of chips in front of you, try slowly sucking on a chip for a couple of minutes. Believe me when I say, it definitely doesn’t taste as good!
• Proper body functioning. Slow eating allows your digestive process including the GI tract, senses and hormones, to work properly. You also chew more, which is good because digestion starts in mouth. When your body is working properly, you gain more control over your eating.

Here are 5 ideas to get you to SLOW DOWN your eating:

1. Use a timer to make sure you are taking 20 minutes to eat each meal. If you’re currently a very quick eater, try stretching out your meals 1 minute at a time.
2. Try chewing every mouthful 30 times. This will also help with your digestion as well, since the enzymes in your mouth start the digestion process.
3. Play around with your utensils. Put them down after each bite or eat with your less dominant hand.
4. Drink lots of water during meals. Sometimes when we think we’re hungry, we’re actually thirsty. Drinking water while eating can also help with food digestion and absorption.
5. If you must watch TV while eating, select a 20–30 minute show and make your meal last that whole time.

To Sum it Up…

Eating slowly is very beneficial to our health. It increases appetite awareness, reduces caloric intake and enables better digestion. Try the 5 tips above, to slow down your eating today.

I’d love to hear any additional tips you may have, that help you slow down at the table.