Wellness Tuesday–Eating Too Fast is Not Conducive to Weight Loss

Anytime I eat with Mama, I usually hear that I’m eating too fast.

Makes You Feel like a Glutton Eating Too Fast

For years, I ate while on the go as I rushed from college to work to church duties.  However, as I’ve grown older I’ve discovered that my body refuses to allow me to wolf down my food.  Often when I eat too fast I begin to cough and at times even gag.

Due to these health issues and Mama’s promptings, I have slowed down considerably.  However, I still need to slow down even more.

Recently, we had a family member visit and I was astounded at how fast he ate.  I wasn’t even half

Try a baby fork and spoon

finished with my meal and he had already finished his.  I worry that in the future he will face physical problems from eating too fast, also.

A few ways that I’ve found to help me slow down are:

Counting—chewing my bits at least thirty times.  I’ve seen that you should chew each bite anywhere from 20-35 times.  I’ve discovered that it often depends on the food.  A bite of steak may take forty chews, compared to twenty chews for a bite of bread.

Eating with a Baby Fork—Mama has a baby fork she eats with and at first I thought she was crazy.  However, you can’t put as much on your fork.   So you are forced to take smaller bites.

Waiting between bites—sometimes just waiting half a minute between bites.  I’m not great at this one; however the rule

Chopsticks are a great way to slow down

is that it takes about twenty minutes to become full.  By waiting between bites, you are helping to stretch out that twenty minutes.

Chopsticks—I just brought home chopsticks last night, so I have yet to try it.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  However, as with the baby fork, you can’t pick up as much.  Also using chopsticks is going to require a learning curve.

How do you slow down how fast you eat?