[ripock]

Originally Posted by wrn1979

After reading the replies so far, I'm going to begin tonight with mindful eating. What is a good goal amount of time for a meal to take?

In preparation for this a couple of weeks ago I timed myself on a few meals and was averaging 4 1/2 to 8 minutes per meal which I know is WAYYYYYYYYY too fast. I have listened to JB's presentation that mentions eating 10 raisins in 10 minutes. What other techniques can I use to train myself to eat slower? Last night I had a relatively PN friendly meal at a local steakhouse with some friends and I made it a point to drink some of my water between every bite. The meal was smaller than what I would normally eat but I felt satisfied afterward. I thought it might be odd to take my phone out and set the timer in front of my friends so I do not know how long it took me to eat.

sorry about hijacking your thread with all that 80% stuff. Anyway, how about counting bites? No one would see that and think you're freaky. I once read this article years ago and its thesis was that many health problems occur because our food is undermasticated. I believe the article advocated 27 chews before swallowing.

[Fredrik]

Originally Posted by wrn1979

What other techniques can I use to train myself to eat slower?

Put down the fork between every bite and don't pick it up until you've swallowed the last (after chewing properly of course). As soon I do that I eat a LOT slower. Also, I found that skipping the newspaper, book, computer or tv while eating helps a lot with staying aware of what I'm doing. It's easier to focus on learning a new behaviour without other distractions.

[Roland Fisher 1]

Originally Posted by Fredrik

Put down the fork between every bite and don't pick it up until you've swallowed the last (after chewing properly of course). As soon I do that I eat a LOT slower. Also, I found that skipping the newspaper, book, computer or tv while eating helps a lot with staying aware of what I'm doing. It's easier to focus on learning a new behaviour without other distractions.

I second this.

Also, the point of 27 chews per bite is to achieve a result in the mouthful. You want to chew until every bite is soft and moist, mushy. Steak takes more than peas. So it isn't the number of chews it is the soft, moist, mushy food that is the point.

Also, you may try simply focusing on talking while talking, and most important, tasting while tasting. That can be a huge help. The taste of food will change over the course of a meal and you'll find that you won't want as much food simply by noticing the taste of each bite. Savour every bite.

- fork down until swallowed.
- chew mindfully, savouring the flavour.
- chew until each bite is moist mush.
- enjoy the conversations while conversing.

Don't worry about details that take away from your enjoyment.

[Rouxinol]

Originally Posted by ripock

let me ask another question about the 80% and see if I could put it in a context for myself that would make sense. Eating for hunger doesn't work for me because I am never hungry. How about this for a physical cue: pressure against the beltline. You eat until your stomach starts to press into your belt. Would that be 80% or would that be too late?

Really? Never hungry? I am always fascinated by people who have this problem, feels like upside-down world to me. Someone else gave some interesting feedback in regards to why that might be. In case you haven't looked into this, you may be eating too much or too often to feel hunger, have you experimented with smaller and/or fewer portions? If you have then just disregard my comment and hop on to the next.

Feeling your stomach press into your belt would for me be a critical sign of being STUFFED. Perhaps your satiety signals are different from mine, but do you not have any feelings of hunger? If not an empty or growling/gnawing stomach maybe your thoughts wander to food? Do you get tired, cranky or dizzy? Do you feel a lack of energy? Anything to clue you in? If you just went about your business without eating, what would eventually happen you think?

What other techniques can I use to train myself to eat slower?

You've already gotten some good advice, but I have a few more.

If you're eating alone, set a timer for 20 min every meal and aim to stretch your eating to last as long as you can until you reach 20 min. That is about the time it takes for your brain to get satiety signals from your belly. Of course, if you're feeling full before that you should stop eating.

Use a smaller plate, like a dessert plate, and eat several smaller portions instead of one or two big ones. This leaves a natural opening for reflection when you go for another portion and you can ask yourself if you are still hungry. Besides, the brain is fairly easily tricked and you'll still have the mental satisfaction of a well-filled plate.

Sit on your hands between bites. No seriously, I actually did this for a bit because at first I found slowing down my eating stressful (which you may experience if you also eat for emotional reasons, but everyone is different) and it also helped to break the habit of mowing through the meal as quickly as possible.

[ripock]

Originally Posted by Rouxinol

Feeling your stomach press into your belt would for me be a critical sign of being STUFFED. Perhaps your satiety signals are different from mine, but do you not have any feelings of hunger? If not an empty or growling/gnawing stomach maybe your thoughts wander to food? Do you get tired, cranky or dizzy? Do you feel a lack of energy? Anything to clue you in? If you just went about your business without eating, what would eventually happen you think?

Thanks for your input. I do get growling first thing in the morning, but if I don't eat immediately it goes away and never returns. I obviously have screwed up my system by prolonged dieting. I can even go 48 hours without food with never a hunger pang. I have been fixing it by instituting regularly timed feedings in order to get my metabolism going again. We all have our issues, don't we?

[Rouxinol]

Originally Posted by ripock

Thanks for your input. I do get growling first thing in the morning, but if I don't eat immediately it goes away and never returns. I obviously have screwed up my system by prolonged dieting. I can even go 48 hours without food with never a hunger pang. I have been fixing it by instituting regularly timed feedings in order to get my metabolism going again. We all have our issues, don't we?

Yeah, that does sound like a tricky problem to work with, I'm glad you've found a system that works for you. Can't really add much else but it sounds like the hormone angle posted earlier might be worth looking into more if you can.

[wrn1979]

So as sad is this is probably going to sound the mindful eating habit wasn't going so hot. I live on the road, finding time to sit down and be mindful about eating is going to be something that takes a lot of discipline on my part and I don't think I'm there quite yet.

So I went back to my original plan which was to fix the things that I felt I could fix easily. One thing that I know I should do that I don't do enough of is eat breakfast. This problem is two-fold, A) The only traditional "healthy" breakfast food is eggs, I hate eggs and B) I have a bad habit of waiting til the last possible second to peel myself out of bed in the morning.

I decided to add a protein shake to my morning ritual of multivitamin/fish oil. So for 6 out of the last 7 days I've blended up a chocolate peanut butter shake from the gourmet nutrition cookbook for breakfast.

So as an update, I'm 5 weeks into a steady 4 days/week lifting program

I'm 100% for about 3 weeks on multivitamin, having added fish oil seven days ago...which was just a matter of popping a couple more capsules.

I'm now 1 week in to Chocolate PB shake for breakfast having missed only one day when I had a minor life emergency going on.

I would like my next habit to focus on not eating garbage food late at night. I have some friends who own their own business which closes at about 9pm and I have a tendency to gorge myself with them after hours. I also work 11a-11p or 3p-3a at my real job and have a tendency to gorge myself after 12 hours without a break.

Any suggestions for a nightly snack that I can add about an hour or so prior to leaving my friends' business or my own workplace that will add to my feeling of satiety and hopefully put a stop to the gorging?