Taking it slow
How taking time to taste might be all the diet you need
By Kelsie Smith, Jayplay Writer
know when it started. I was in elementary school, not even 6 years old. Lunch came right before recess, and if I wanted to secure my spot on the soccer team, I needed to hit the playground early.
My mom was quick to notice my 20-minute lunch habits affecting my meals at home. She looked at me with alarm as I shoveled Dad's homemade meatloaf from plate to mouth, hardly taking time to breathe.
"Kelsie Lee," Mom said to me, her eyes wide as she watched my unsavory and unsettling cafeteria-style eating. Looking back, I'm not sure if she was scolding me or was just plain worried I was going to choke.
Nutritionist Ann Litt, author of College Students Guide to Eating Well on Campus, says my habits were normal, that in today's society speed eating is a way of life.
"Many meals are eaten on the run. People are always in a rush. Families do not sit down and dine. They are running out to meetings, practices, etc." Litt says. "There is little modeling done for slow eating."
Slow down, you're chewing too fast You've heard the story - it takes your stomach 20 minutes to let your brain know it's full. Doesn't seem like a big window, but you'd be surprised how 6 Jayplay 09.29.05
many Kristy Kremes you can consume in such a narrow time frame.
"Twenty minutes later when it reaches your brain you will be stuffed," Litt says. "If you can eat slower, you will eat a more reasonable amount, enjoy the taste of the food you are eating and less prone to digestive disturbances caused by eating too quickly."
The idea is simple. If you eat slower, your brain has plenty of time to get the "Hey, I'm full" message before you are forced to unbutton your jeans on the way home from the restaurant. So that means you eat less, thus consuming fewer calories.
But that isn't the only plus - for those who suffer from acid reflux, taking your time at dinner can ease your pain. In an August 2004 study by doctors at the Medical University of South Carolina, 20 volunteers ate the same meals on two different days, but dined in five minutes one day, while taking 30 the next. The instance of reflux increased from 14 after the five-minute meal to 10 after the longer one.
But I just can't help myself!
If you just can't make yourself slow down at the dinner table, in the car or at the Underground, there is another option. But be warned, this seems slightly extreme, like $500 extreme. It's called the DDS System, and, essentially, it's a retainer. Yep, the bane of your fifth-
The "discreet oral insert" as the company calls it, is designed to be worn only during meals. Formed to fit your mouth, the DDS System actually makes your mouth smaller, forcing you to eat slower, and, ideally, less. Litt hasn't heard of the DDS System but says it sounds "ridiculous."
grade existence, back to haunt you in your adult years.
Damn those skinny French women
Really, there has to be another option. Mireille Guiliano, author of the best-selling book French Women Don't Get Fat, says eating slowly can change your life, and your waistline. It did, after all, work for her.
Born and raised in France, Guiliano was left disheartened after a stint in America as a foreign exchange student
left her with 20 extra pounds. Back in France, she visited her family physician in a desperate attempt to shed her Yankee bulge. The doctor helped appreciate "hereditary French gastronomic wisdom." Which, among other things, means simply, French chicks eat slower.
His advice worked and, years later, Guiliano decided to write about it in an attempt to rescue
lation to food and life."
Curb speed eating
A new attitude
So maybe eating slowly teaches a bigger lesson in life. Next time you sit
- Try not to eat standing up. Sitting down will keep you more relaxed, and, hopefully, slow your normal eat-and-run habits.
Guiliano's instructions come in four phases: "wake-up call," taking inventory of what you are eating so you begin to realize what you are putting in your mouth; "recasting," where you learn French-sized portions and "diversity of nourishment" as Guiliano writes; stabilization, where you reintroduce your favorite foods in (gasp!) moderation; and, finally, the rest of your life, where you've learned what your body needs, what you should eat and how much you should eat of it. Guiliano's point in this fourth phase is that, now, you should know your body enough to make necessary adjustments down the road.
- Never eat anything directly out of the package, especially while sitting in front of the television. This lends to mindlessness. Your hand keeps going for more Doritos and soon you look down and realize you've demolished half the bag in one sitting.
- Chew and swallow each bite before taking the next.
a culture of diet-pill poppers and carbophobics. In an excerpt from the book, the author stresses the French approach – that is "a balanced and time-tested re-
- Put down your silverware between each bite.
down for dinner, try to really enjoy what you're eating. Chew and swallow each bite before putting the next in your mouth. Set your fork and knife down in between bites. Have a conversation with your roommates. Make meals more about the people and less about the food.
"If you can eat slower, you will eat a more reasonable amount, enjoy the taste of the food you are eating and less prone to digestive disturbances caused by eating too quickly," Litt says.
Not to mention you won't disgust the people sitting next to you.