I am an unreformed speed eater. It’s true. I am the last person to sit down to dinner with the family and the first one done. I’ve always been a fast eater. I could eat an entire pan of brownies in 20 minutes. I could polish off a huge club sandwich, large order of fries, two pieces of broccoli and a death by chocolate dessert in 15 minutes.
Once I had kids, eating fast was a partly an acknowledgement of that fact that if I didn’t finish before the kids, I might not get to eat at all.
Over the years since I lost all my weight I’m still a fast eater. It is something I think about occasionally, but nothing that I’ve been very successful at conquering. I do know the benefits of slower eating.
♥ Eating slowly gives your body a chance to digest food and send a signal to your brain telling you that you are full. When I was inhaling a restaurant meal big enough for three people in a few minutes I didn’t give myself enough time to even begin to register “FULL! FULL! FULL!”
♥ Eating slowly also gives you a chance to really savor and taste your food. If you’ve never let a piece of quality dark chocolate just melt in your mouth, I’d encourage you to try it. If not chocolate, choose another food you love and take the time to taste the explosion of flavors. You may be surprised to find that you don’t need to eat very much of that special food to make you feel satisfied.
♥ Eating slowly also gives you a chance to focus on the surroundings of your meal and the people you may be dining with. If you aren’t plowing your way through your meal, you will have the opportunity to engage more in your dinner conversation.
I still work on this speed eating tendency. Now I no longer eat pans of brownies or huge meals, but I do find myself sitting at the table being done with my portions while the rest of the family continues eating. It’s not all bad though – at least I can help the little boys cut their food, get them more water and play referee (which sometimes is needed.)
I’m committed to slowing down this week and enjoying the benefits of slow eating.
How about you? Fast eater or slow? Diane
My hubby is the fast eater in our family…I dont do too badly myself..and I watch tv and eat…all the NO NO NO’s….
I eat too fast too. I’m working on it but like you am the last one to sit down and the first one finished. Exception: going out for dinner, at those occasions I eat slower because I talk too much
By the way: what time do you get up? I see my reply is at 5.05 am so you must have posted this before that time?
For you: it’s 12.05 pm here = about lunchtime.
I struggle with this also. And am known (at our house) for being able to devour it quickly even if it is too hot to actually eat. Yes, kids/time are a big factor. We learn to eat very quickly and also to eat standing or on the run. And yes, then we just keep eating because (I think) the food didn’t ‘register’ in our minds. Sitting down and only eating at our place at the table and only eating what we have served ourselves as our ‘meal’ is a huge learning curve.
vickie´s last fabulous musings ..Lake Cottage part 1 – getting there
I came from a family of speed-eaters (except my mother who may have been the world’s slowest eater). I must say that when we all got together at the table, it was rather disgusting. My sister cured herself first, maybe by marrying at 20 and moving away. My father and brothers never slowed down. Then I married a guy who ate faster than I did. It took me years, but I did finally learn to eat slowly. Ignoring the advice of the pros helped me. They say, “don’t do anything else while eating…look at your food…concentrate on texture…blah blah blah.” Boring! While I agree that eating while watching TV (for me) becomes unconscious eating, other activities while eating actually slow me down. Eating in front of the computer for a long time actually helped me. I would eat a forkful of food…do a search or read an article, etc. and I found that it would take me an hour or longer to finish my meal. Often, it took me so long that I would forget that my food was there…then find that I was full half way through the meal, and put the rest away for my lunch the next day. Now I eat mostly standing up in the kitchen. While eating, I empty the dishwasher, wipe down my appliances, start preparing something for the next day, sort recipes, read, etc. All of that slows me down, and makes eating MORE enjoyable for me. I know it goes against the grain, but it works for me.
Marsial2010´s last fabulous musings ..Nearly Lost It Today
At my house my husband is the speed eater but I eat too fast too however I stick to only eating my pre-measured portions.
I do both. When I am eating healthy, I can really nibble my way through snacks, for example. One blueberry at a time, three or four bites to one Triscuit. My husband grew up one of 8 siblings and learned to eat very fast before the food was gone. He is always done way before anyone else and eats popcorn by the handful, which drives me crazy.
Karen@WaistingTime´s last fabulous musings ..Public Service Announcement
My kids tease me about how fast I eat. I am not sure if my hubby is horrified or impressed by my speed eating talent.
I know people that are natural slow eaters but for me, it has been a learned thing & still have to pay attention. My biggest prob is I like hot food HOT, not warm or luke warm so I tend to want to eat hot foods fast… not that 20 minutes our stomach needs to register fullness.
I try my best!
Jody – Fit at 52´s last fabulous musings ..Homemade Frozen Popsicle Treats!
I’m a painfully slow eater. My husband gets incredibly bored between the time he finishes eating and I’m finally done. I can’t help it; I’ve always been a slow eater, even as a kid.
Tracey @ I’m Not Superhuman´s last fabulous musings ..Acupuncture Or- A Good Reason To Cover Your Body In Tiny Needles
I learned to be a speed eater in school. I always wanted to get to the library to read my book. Some days I skipped the cafeteria all together. I practiced my skills in college when I had 25 minutes between classes to race to the cafe and grab lunch to go and eat as I walked to the next class and perfected it as a teacher with my 30 minute lunch breaks that included preparing lunch and socializing.
I’ve learned to slow down a bit but often my life doesn’t let it. But since I pay for it when I’m too full I try my best to slow down.
I eat very slowly unless I’m starving (not literally starving of course!) If I forget to eat lunch, by 3 or 4 pm I’m hungry enough to pick up the pace. But normally I eat slowly.
I am a fast eater. I have tried many, many times to slow down but it hasn’t changed much. I am trying to focus on more mindful eating..Trying to learn to enjoy the taste rather than the “feeling” Just another goal in the long list.
Jules – Big Girl Bombshell´s last fabulous musings ..And the Day Came
I think I’m about average on regular meals, but if it’s something I really love, like say, put a huge bowl of mac and cheese in front of me, you can watch it disappear in 3 minutes flat. I CONSTANTLY am catching myself inhaling mac and cheese, whenever its made. Then I just get sick later.
Funny story, one time when I was little, because I loved (and still do) mac and cheese so much, I ate so much that I threw it all up and the babysitter had to clean it up. HA. Maybe thats TMI, but that just goes to show how much I love it.
Certain habits are hard to break. There is no doubt that eating more slowly is better for many reasons. That said, and speaking on behalf of every woman and man who has served in our armed forces for more than a few years, eating fast is a very hard habit to break…
Emergefit´s last fabulous musings ..Three Minutes Of The Condor…
I’m a fast eater. It’s something I’ve been working on more lately – as I get smaller, I’m eating less. Therefore I’m trying really hard to savour the small portions I eat to feel satisfied.
A neat thing to try? Take the same amount of time to eat your food as you did to prepare it (exclude any time a dish spends in the oven). Most of the time, I have my meal on the table in 20 minutes, so that’s how long I try to eat for.
It’s a work in progress.
I am a very slow eater. As a child, I was picky as all get out and was made to spend hours at the table because I refused to eat many things.
I think I developed a strategy of eating slow so I could figure out how to get rid of the undesirable food…
‘Drea´s last fabulous musings ..Beauty and the Behemoth
Used to be a slow eater but starting eating faster with hubs. Now i’m back to slow eating. I enjoy it more and feel more full, although I do hate when my food gets cold! haha
fittingbackin´s last fabulous musings ..My Bachelorette Party- Recovery Day- Drop Dead Diva
What? We’re supposed to chew and taste our food? Don’t know if I’ll ever be successful at this either!
When I eat with other people — I always try to be the last one to finish. I usually am. This has taken years of practice. Otherwise, if I am the first finished — I will start eating off other people’s plates
Jenn Barley | The KickStart Coach´s last fabulous musings ..Online Book Study Group – Women- Food and God Announced!
I am a slow eater and hubby is an inhaler – he jokes – eat now, taste it later. I am working on him, though!
Pam´s last fabulous musings ..News That Makes You Think
My dad is the fastest eater I’ve ever seen! He is not overweight. My friend is the slowest eater I’ve ever seen. She is not overweight. I eat pretty fast, and I am not overweight. I think it’s better to eat slowly, but I’m not sure it relates to being overweight. I think perhaps it’s not the speed, but the knowing when to stop that is the real issue. I may be wrong however.
I’ve always been a fast eater, too. I do use portion control so I don’t overeat as much anymore. I didn’t grow up in a large family but I did have tall boyfriends in my youth who ate fast and if I wanted my half of the pizza, I needed to match that speed!
I do try to chew my food thoroughly–it helps prevent indigestion (and does slow me down a little.) I’m really not a food savorer though. This may sound odd for someone who used to be overweight and who still has to resist tendencies to stress-eat as opposed to physical hunger, but… I DON’T REALLY LIKE FOOD THAT MUCH. After years of overeating, I realize now I ate for effect. I was bored. I was depressed. I was stressed out. A bunch of carbs would make me sleepy instead of anxious…
Don’t get me wrong. I still eat limited quantities of things like chips or desserts or chocolate. But it’s more for not feeling deprived that I’m not eating these things when everyone else does that I work them into my day. There’s nothing like feeling deprived to make me want to go “screw it” and just dive into food. So moderation in treats helps me keep out of psychological deprivation.
Interestingly, I am very fond of wine. I savor that. I love going to wine tastings. I don’t drink very much, but I totally enjoy the flavors and the consistency and the mouthfeel and I take my time with it. I’m not in my 20s anymore and I don’t actually want to feel the effects, I want to have a glass, or do a flight of tastes, for the taste. But I’m not that way with food–food is functional. I make sure I have healthy fats, proteins, vegetables and fruits in my diet, and mainly unrefined carbs. I put in a few small portions of treat foods to not feel deprived. I include a little wine with dinner. I calculate the calories and the proportions of fat, protein and carbs in my diet and make sure I am eating enough but not too much, and properly. But it’s pretty functional.
When I go to a gourmet charity festival where there’s food and wine, I tend to eat the restaurants’ offerings for function–to not feel hungry, and to make sure I can sample wines throughout the evening and stay sober. It’s not like I hate eating or don’t enjoy the food at all. But there are so many other things that are more pleasurable in life for me than food–petting cats, taking a walk, reading good books, writing. I even like creating meals more than eating them.
The most important thing about food, for me, is how it makes me feel. Did I wait till I was hungry to eat? Am I not overstuffed half an hour later? Did I eat the right balance of things so I’m not having a blood sugar surge and drop and ravenous 2 hours later? Did I eat nutritiously so I have plenty of energy and feel good?
Diane, I really like your blog because it makes me articulate things about myself in order to post comments and I discover so much about myself this way. Thank you.
I think I am a slow eater. I like to eat it slowly and enjoy it.
I do speed eat…
I need to work on that.
Lisa´s last fabulous musings ..It finally happened
I am the turtle of the family. I’m sitting at the table long after everyone else is gone.
Fast. Very, very fast. I am trying to change that though. It is a struggle.
I’ve always been a fast eater, but I’m really trying to slow down. When I eat slowly, I enjoy my food so much more… I’ll join you in trying to eat slower this week!
Andrea@WellnessNotes´s last fabulous musings ..Strange But Yummy Pasta
Oh boy, I am the exact same way! And it started for me when the kids were babies and we had to take turns eating while one of us held the baby! I am just reading the book “Savor” about eating mindfully because I know this is something that I really should work on and which would improve my overall health.
Amy´s last fabulous musings ..Brussels
Im fast fast fast now.
so much so that my child said to my husband the other day
WHY MAMA EAT SO FAST?!
Im also crouched over like Im a prisoner on a restricted timeframe
as soon as I can get the little mouth to realize this is MY FOOD and not join in?
Im back to the SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW.
strike that—I AM at the slow for dinner (shes in bed)
but only for dinner
Miz´s last fabulous musings ..New Two Fit Chicks & A Microphone podcast
Great post! I’m a speed demon in all aspects of life, especially eating. I know I’ve got to slow down, but old habit die hard.
I’m the fastest eater in my family, but not a speed demon. So I’m like a 7 on a scale of 1-10. I like finishing first so I can help the little ones and be done before hubby so I only have to put MY dishes away. He can take care of the rest. (It’s an evil plan thing I have going on.)
When I’m by myself I eat at a reasonable pace but when I’m with my bf I feel like it’s a race to see who can finish first. He eats so fast and I find myself trying to keep pace with him. I have to make a conscience effort to put the fork down and slow down.