Have you ever noticed how in a hurry we are to eat sometimes? Watch people (or even yourself) at a restaurant sometime. See how many people load up their fork for the next bite while they're still chewing on the last one. Watch them hold their fork, piled ever-so-high with the next bite of their dinner, letting it hover mere inches from their mouth while they wait for the swallow so they can shovel it in and hurriedly prepare the next bite.
It's actually very entertaining....
I caught myself doing this last night. I was eating a bowl of fruit and watching a DVR'd episode of "Superstars" when I looked down and saw myself holding my loaded spoon right about chin-level. Even though I wasn't in any kind of a hurry, I was doing this subconsciously...probably because my body/mind are so used to be in "hurry" mode that they don't know how to S-L-O-W down!
The problem with this is that we practically inhale our food before our bodies/brains even have a chance to register what it's taking it. Imagine a checker at Wal-Mart scanning your purchase so fast that the computer(register) can't even keep up. No waiting for the "Beep!" that confirms that it read the bar code--the guy is just going as fast as his hands can move taking one item after another from the conveyor belt, across the scanner and into the bags like he's in a competition. When we eat like this, our stomachs often get full WAY before our brain catches up to the idea. By the time the "I'm full" thought makes it from our belly to our brain, we're STUFFED.
Sound familiar?
So...maybe you won't be able to remember this every day for the rest of your life...but for today...try putting your fork down between each bite. You could even go so far as to put it down, take your hand off of it, get a drink of water/wipe your mouth, etc. before picking it up again. You'll find yourself eating much more slowly and intentionally and it will give your esophagus a chance to see what it's swallowing before it's already down the hatch.
It's actually very entertaining....I caught myself doing this last night. I was eating a bowl of fruit and watching a DVR'd episode of "Superstars" when I looked down and saw myself holding my loaded spoon right about chin-level. Even though I wasn't in any kind of a hurry, I was doing this subconsciously...probably because my body/mind are so used to be in "hurry" mode that they don't know how to S-L-O-W down!
The problem with this is that we practically inhale our food before our bodies/brains even have a chance to register what it's taking it. Imagine a checker at Wal-Mart scanning your purchase so fast that the computer(register) can't even keep up. No waiting for the "Beep!" that confirms that it read the bar code--the guy is just going as fast as his hands can move taking one item after another from the conveyor belt, across the scanner and into the bags like he's in a competition. When we eat like this, our stomachs often get full WAY before our brain catches up to the idea. By the time the "I'm full" thought makes it from our belly to our brain, we're STUFFED.
Sound familiar?
So...maybe you won't be able to remember this every day for the rest of your life...but for today...try putting your fork down between each bite. You could even go so far as to put it down, take your hand off of it, get a drink of water/wipe your mouth, etc. before picking it up again. You'll find yourself eating much more slowly and intentionally and it will give your esophagus a chance to see what it's swallowing before it's already down the hatch.
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4 comments:
Good post! Slow down and enjoy the food - acutally taste it and savor it! What a novel idea ;)
That we way CAN eat anything we like in moderation! We just need to give our brains the time to read our bellies.
Great, something else I need to work on! :P Keep'em coming!!!
GRRRRREAT POST JEN!!!!
I like this---yes if I could just remember to do little tricks like this ALL the time that would be good.
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