Confession of a Fast Eater

Confession: I’m pretty sure part of the problem I had with binge eating was how fast I ate my food.

Confession: I’m still a fast eater and I NEED TO STOP DOING THAT.

There are a lot of reasons to eat more slowly, a few are spelled out here: 5 Powerful Reasons to Eat Slower. One of the biggest reasons (if you need some motivation) is to lose weight. Are you like me? Grabbing bites to eat here and there, rushing rushing? In the morning I am usually so rushed (my own fault–I’m not a morning person and try to stay in bed as long as possible) that I stand at the kitchen counter and eat my breakfast as quickly as possible–sometimes in 5 minutes or less.

 “The New York Times’ reports, for many, eating fast means eating more. Eating more slowly, and thereby consuming less, shows your body you don’t need to eat as much. When you eat quickly, you can eat a lot more and not register the signals of fullness. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, eating more slowly can prevent weight gain. It takes 20 minutes for the brain to register fullness, which means that if you slow down, you will get an accurate read of how full you really are. (source)”

How do you eat more slowly and enjoy your food?

Chew slower. Not only does this force you to eat slower but it will help with indigestion. I read somewhere that gulping down air while eating is what can cause gas and indigestion.

Put your silverware down after each bite. It really does work. THIS is what works for me to slow down my eating. Putting down the silverware means I really chew my food and I eat less. Why? Because I’m not shoveling the food into mouth and giving my stomach a chance to catch up to my brain. When I eat fast, I don’t give my stomach a CHANCE to be full. I just fill it with food, often times more food than I really need.

Eating slower makes you pay attention to serving sizes. Not eating fast means you will most likely eat what your body needs, not what your brain THINKS you need.

One of the tricks I’ve used over the years for portion control is to use smaller plates. The desire to fill a large plate with food and eat all of it goes away when the plate is much smaller. Another trick is getting smaller portions and then going back for seconds IF you really need more food. I use this trick at potlucks and events I go to. I get one spoonful of a little bit of everything I want, eat it, and then decide what I really want more of. It stops the mindless eating in its tracks.

Besides using smaller plates and bowls, I also measure out portions. Just grabbing a big bag of chips and eating mindlessly is the ticket to eating two or three portions and not even noticing it! So grab that small bowl, count out a portion and eating those chips more slowly!

I love sushi. It’s my favorite food. But I suck at using chopsticks! It makes me eat SO MUCH SLOWER than normal because it takes coordination and concentration to get my chopsticks to function. 😉 Perhaps I should adopt using chopsticks at home with all of my food to slow my roll…..?

What about you? Are you a fast eater? How do you slow yourself down?