Practical Techniques for Slower Eating

You're listening to Life Kit from NPR Hey everybody, it's Maryelllle You ever eat so fast that you get hiccups from just like inhaling the meal Or you bite your cheek or your tongue because you mistook it for food Yeah, I've done it And that's horrible because once she Y tongue or part of your side of your mouth, you get a canker sole And it's going that this really disrupt you're eating throughout the next days, right So that's no fun. That's Lian Chung. She's a lecturer on nutrition and the director of Mindfulness Research and Practice at Harvard University Other signs you're eating too fast You may get heartburn H. And just discomfort. you know, u or later on You might feel still hungry Uh. and want to eat more despite of the fact that you thought you ate already There are a lot of reasons we scarf down our food. Tight deadlines, short lunch breaks Also the great American virtue of productivity that's infiltrated every part of our lives Like let me hurry up and eat so I can run more errands Or if you grew up without enough food, you might have a feeling of scarcity while you're eating And for some of us, it's just a habit. You know, we eat while we're reading emails or scrolling on our phones. People are not. Eating really sitting down to eat a meal Very often we found ourselves eating something and doing something else Lillian practices and researches something called mindful eating Mindful eating practice encourages us to make choices that are satisfying. and nourishing to the body And as we become more aware of our eating habits, We can take steps to us behavior that will benefit not only ourselves. but also an environment Mindful eating asks us to slow down and notice our food It's about what to eat, how to eat, how much to eat and awareness Why we eat what we eat And of course, how fast we So today on lifeife Kit How we can become more mindful of our eating habits. And in particular, what are some techniques we can use to eat at a healthy pace We'll also talk about what to do when you don't have a lot of time for a particular meal Lilian, how fast are we supposed to eat a meal? Like is there a standard we should be following Well most you' find most nutrition is urging us It takeakes twenty minutes for a meal because it takes about that time for y Bondie to get the signal to the brain that you are full. If you eat fast, your brain is not getting that signal that you are full until about twenty minutes and it involves a nervous system as well as hormonal system Yeah So then you eat too much and you feel terrible after That's right. And We tend to do that in the twenty first century because most people are not Eating really sitting down to eat a meal Very often we found ourselves eating something and doing something else Okay, so let's get into some of the really practical tips here. If you want to start to slow down when you eat or to eat at a healthy pace U are some principles you can follow So First is allocate time to eat and only eat and Make sure your cell phone is not with you or is faced down You're not going to be responding to any messages that come through. And Then. to make sure we engage our senses. Be with the food. and ask yourself What's on my plate? How hungry am I today in this meal And notice the taste really. the recipe that I just cook Is it too salty? Does it need something else that I can improve it next time and engage your smell, all your senses, the texture And whatever thought that arose as you eat, because there might be some emotional aspects related to the food and be aware of it. Okay, let's say you make a meal that is something that you're your grandmother used to make for you and you're eating it and you're tasting Oh my Godd, this tastes just like my grandma's stuffed cabbage. you know, like that's an emotional reaction that you can have to a meal too that's positive. But if you pause, rather than just shoveling it in, if you're pausing and saying like What do I feel when I bite into this stuffed cabbage, you know, who does it remind me of? Does that help Yeah, it does help because it bring back loving Wonderful memories And the dish that you use as an example is a great healthy dish So nowadays We have to consider sort of the physiological and emotional psychological aspects of food But I really worry for America because The amount of ultra processed highly refined foods in the f in the market is so huge and it's easy to get addicted to it So we have to be very mindful when we yearn for those And if you're really longing for potato chips eat it But make sure you just take a handful and put it in a nice G. eat it mindfully to be able to taste The saltiness. There crispiness. And sank. The universe for the right climate to be able to have that potato and the manpower that has been Engaged in making it available not only at the factory So but also transportation to get the chips to the supermarket etceter. But mindful eating really allows us to become much more aware of what we have How we get it and what it takes to be able to have that The point you make about taking the potato chips and putting them in a bowl, it gets at another tip for how to eat at a healthy pace, which is take smaller portions to the table, right Mmhm Exactly. If you have a whole bag of chips with you and start eating, it's really challenging and difficult to stop. after six or eight chips. Because you know, we love the taste, we love the crispiness and we just keep getting it from the bank And especially when you may be looking at your cell phone or watching a TV program you're distracted and you feel good about the crispiness and the taste and you just want more and more without consciously thinking about stopp Yeah I wonder is there a space for saying affirmations even in your head, you know, like I'm not in a rush, you know, or I enjoy my food or something really simple to keep yourself on track Oh yes I think the key With a hurriry life, when you start to eat it' literally stoped and take a few breaths in and out Look at what you are eating And tell yourself, I'm gonna enjoy this And the food will nourish me Both. My body and my mind We'll have more life kit after the break Is there a particular way we should try to eat like any technique that you could tell us that willll help us eat slower Chewing is important. We don't chew enough And we just swallow the food is harder on our digestion way. So chewing our teeth is supposed to help us to break up the food so that it's easier for absorption So Look at your food. Know what you're eating. Take a bite and chew, chew chew And then Pause a little bit And it's you know drink some water or maybe for other cuisines, they may be having soups. okay? So take the time. And so it sounds like we should be pausing in between bites and not just it shouldn't be just one series of bites after another I think so you know, it helps to think of, okay, did I like this food? Should I get it again? or should I be focusing more on something else on the plate next time Right Right Um We've been talking about this with the idea that we have choice in our lives, right? But sometimes we're in situations where We really don't have much time. to eat a meal, especially if we work at a job where we get like a fifteen minute lunch break. I remember when I worked in retail at a clothing store And I had to clock out Run up to the food court, get on the escalator, wait in line, get my food Eat it and be back on the floor fifteen minutes later I mean, how? how do you eat at a healthy pace when all you have is fifteen minutes. Yeah, that's right In that case, I would split up the food the mail eat at a good pace you find comfortable Save it for later for a snack. Yeah, that makes sense I felt I always felt like maybe Again, life gets in the way. if you don't have time to prep your meals or you know, if I could have brought food from home, then that would have saved me some time. but It's tough It's tough and sometimes people work at a job where they They really have to eat at their desk that day. Yeah. And that's okay. just When you're eating at the des Maybe just make sure that you're not going to be looking at your email Yeah. I think There might be an element too of setting boundaries with yourour coworers You know, if you have to put an away message on Slack that says eating lunch Yeah. or if somebody comes up to you you can just be like, justust eating. I'll get back to you. That's right. And you're just told her, I have to nourish my mind and my body with this food. I love that. Lillian shared an incantation that she learned from the late Buddhist monk Tiknaahan, called the Five Contemplations And she says, these have helped her practice mindful eating This food is the gift of The sky numerous living beings and much hard work and loving work May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive this food May we recognize and transform Un wholesome Mental formations especially our greed and learn to eat with moderation. May we keep our compassion alive byy eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of living beings. start contributing to climate change and heals and preserve our precious. climate. We accept this food so that we may nurture O brotherhood and sisterhood How family. and realize our ideal of serving all human beings. ime for a recap, and some extras drawn from Lillian's book with Tik Nahan. It's called Savor, Mindful Eating, Mindful Life Engage your senses as you eat Notice the sounds, smells, colors, tastes, textures, and the emotions that you're feeling Honor the food. acknowledge the work that went into putting that meal on your plate Eat smaller portions. Instead of grabbing the whole bag of potato chips, pour some chips into a bowl and take your time eating them. Savor and chew your food thoroughly This will help with digestion and will also engage your senses See if you can make your snack or meal last about twenty minutes And try not to skip meals. Even if you just have a small bite, give yourself a few minutes to eat and Sver. For more Life Kit, check out our other episodes. There's one about mindfulness based stress reduction and another on honoring traditions through food You can find those at npR d. org slash life kit And if you love lifeife Kit and you just cannot get enough, subscribe to our newsletter at npr dot org slash lifeifekit N newsletter This episode of Lifekit was produced by Thomas Lu. It was edited by Sylie Douglas. Our digital editor is Malica Gareib and our visuals editor is CJ. Ricelon Mean Kaine is our senior supervising editor, and Lauren Gonzallez is our executive producer Our production team also includes Andy Tgel, Margaret Sereino, and Claire Marie Sneider. Engineering support comes from Sina Lfredo I'm Maryel Sagara Thanks for listening