This is one “race” I am happy to finish last
Have you ever noticed how quickly a meal is finished? This most often happens because of how quickly most people eat. I remember being at a family lunch and one of the people at the table was putting down his knife and fork at about the same time that I was having (about) my third bite. Admittedly I am a bit of a slow eater but only when I am comparing to others; I think my eating “speed” is normal.
When I am eating I enjoy the taste of food, I enjoy identifying all the different tastes. I enjoy the texture in my mouth.
New research finds “The rate at which people eat has been suggested to be positively associated with obesity…”
If you go to this link you will find it is written in complex scientific language.
Let me put it simply.
As we eat, our stomach releases “getting full now” or “stop eating soon” hormones into the blood stream; they are referred to as the “satiety” hormones because they signal when we are satisfied with how much food we have eaten. It takes time (about 15 mins) for the gut to start releasing the hormones and if we are eating quickly, we may have eaten beyond our “satiety” point.
What the research has done is look at the correlation between speed of eating and obesity levels and found a positive correlation:
People who eat quickly are more likely to be obese, or overweight.
What can you do?
Self monitor for the next few meals. How long does it take to eat each meal? If you eat a meal in less than 15 minutes and still feel hungry, wait till at least 15 minutes has passed before eating anything else.
How can you slow down?
1. Put down your fork between mouthfuls. Set the fork on the plate and chew your food, only pick up the fork when you have finished swallowing. I have a client that did this and this is almost the only thing she did. Stella still ate chips and sweet items at the beginning and managed to lose weight in the first 2 weeks Just By Putting Down Her Fork2. Don’t talk with food in your mouth. Now I sound like your mother or grandmother! I am astounded at how many people are so eager to talk/ make their point that they are chewing and talking and swallowing and loading up their fork for the next mouthful which they manage to shovel in mid sentence!! I some times wonder what they would think if they could see themselves? So much of our social interactions happen over meals and there is always lots of conversation; balance the conversation with the eating.
4. Eat foods you enjoy. When we eat foods we really enjoy we are more likely take a bit longer because we want the pleasure to last.
5. Think about what you are eating. Feel the textures, identify the individual flavours. I am a real “zealot” about this. Some meals take many hours to prepare and so we do justice by taking time to enjoy the food. Fruits and vegetables take months to grow so we honour the plants when we take our time to enjoy the taste.
With the festive season upon us we are likely to be enjoying social eating and some people will put in a lot of “love filled effort” to preparing special offerings.
Let’s honour them accordingly and at the same time maintain our good health in this time of so much focus on food.
another helpful post, thanks!
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