January 7, 2008 by Kavit Haria
Four reasons to eat your food slower
Eating your food slower than may do so right now is nothing new. The Slow Food Movement which started about 20 years ago in Italy by Carlo Petrini has been sharing the message of opposing fast food and eating slower, and science shows it may have some significant health benefits.
The opposite of “fast food” in preparation as well as consumption, slow food eating is all about taking your time, avoiding the rush and also avoiding health problems.
Here are five reasons to eat your food slower:
- Feel fuller when eating less. Some studies show that eating slower will allow you to chew properly, consume less calories and get fuller more faster therefore eating less and resulting in no extra weight gain. Whether this is just psychological or has an actual effect on our digestive system, I’m still not decided.
- Avoid indigestion. Fast eating can sometimes result in slower processes in the body as your food can clog up and cause indigestion or gas. If you eat slower, you chew more fully. The more work you do in the chewing in your mouth, the less problems in the stomach.
- Take time to enjoy your food. Eating is an art. When you eat slower, you take the time to enjoy the tastes and spices that are used in preparing your food. It’s a whole new way of living and opposes the fast food life and culture that is places like McDonalds and Burger King. Eating is a way of tasting life itself.
- Eating can be stress relieving. Take the time to eat slowly and you’ll find that your body has time to calm down and avoid the stressful life it may otherwise be living in. When you put your mind and heart to enjoying the food you’ve created, you allow yourself to be stress free. Be in the moment.
Go on, give slower eating a try. Let me know how you find it.
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kab625 says:
What a good reminder. I don’t remember the last time this was emphasized. I think if people actually enjoyed culinary skills instead of fast food, it would be more natural to eat more slowly. Who wants to take a lot of time preparing food then be finished in 5 seconds?
Hey, what a good idea. We should start calling it “slow food”. You can only drive slowly in reverse through the drive through to get the food, and if you eat it fast you can’t come back…er something. (long day).
Thanks for the most excellent post.
Kathleen
January 9, 2008 at 3:50 am
Brandon Harshe says:
chewing slower and eating slower is something that’s a bit of a challenge for me. I’ve always been a fast eater. No matter how hard I work on it, I still seem to eat fast. Hmmm… I have to work on that.
January 11, 2008 at 6:07 am
Kavit Haria says:
@Kathleen, good point about actually ENJOYING the culinary skills, its very very important.
@Brandon – chewing slower is a challenge I have too, I’ve always been a fast eater, maybe we’re made like that as humans, but rather I believe we’ve been conditioned that way. In any case, when slow eating is consciously done, I know I feel better later and enjoy the meal more.
- Kavit
January 11, 2008 at 10:34 am
Patricia - Spiritual Journey Of A Lightworker says:
I eat fast too. I recently decided to eat one meal very, very slowly and chew eat bite 15 times. Boy was that hard to do without swallowing too soon.
January 22, 2008 at 5:27 am