{"id":749,"date":"2011-09-19T08:24:32","date_gmt":"2011-09-19T12:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/?p=749"},"modified":"2011-09-19T08:48:38","modified_gmt":"2011-09-19T12:48:38","slug":"slow-down-and-enjoy-your-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/slow-down-and-enjoy-your-food.html","title":{"rendered":"Slow Down and Enjoy Your Food!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThey forgot to give me my burger,\u201d I said, peering into the bag from the fast food chain.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just ate it,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did?\u201d\u00a0 Maybe I did.\u00a0 Here was an empty wrapper and Paul is not one to lie.\u00a0 But I didn\u2019t remember eating it.\u00a0 My mind was on the tasks ahead of us and I must have just eaten it without noticing. What a waste.\u00a0 Not only did I inhale hundreds of empty calories, but I didn\u2019t even enjoy them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Perhaps I\u2019m an extreme case, but we all tend to eat mindlessly.\u00a0 If it is in front of us, we put it in our mouths and swallow without really thinking about what we are eating, especially if we are reading or watching television.\u00a0 A better plan would be to actually focus on what you are eating and enjoy it.\u00a0 And stop when you get full — not when your food is gone.<\/p>\n

Some ways to do that?\u00a0 Try turning off the television, putting down your book or newspaper, and think about what you are eating <\/em>— and the people with whom you are sharing the meal.\u00a0 That\u2019s good for family dynamics, as well as for your waistline.<\/p>\n

Eat at the table<\/em>.\u00a0 If you carry your food around with you as you do other tasks, you will scarf it down without enjoying it. You will also scarf down much MORE of it, because it won\u2019t seem like a real meal. \u00a0Having your meals at the table will help counteract that.<\/p>\n

Use a fork.\u00a0<\/em> Using utensils for everything you eat — including sandwiches, cookies, etc. that you normally would eat with your fingers — slows you down. It makes you concentrate more on what you are doing.<\/p>\n

Take small bites<\/em>.\u00a0 We are so used to hurrying to get as much done as possible in a short amount of time.\u00a0 When it\u2019s dinner time we keep up that frantic pace and gulp our food.\u00a0 Try making your bites smaller and chew them longer.<\/p>\n

Put down your fork between bites.<\/em> It will slow you down some more and will remind you to savor and actually enjoy your meal.<\/p>\n

Doing these things will make a smaller amount of food seem like a bigger meal.\u00a0 It will also allow you to eat less and enjoy it more — which will make it easier for you to stick with your plan for the rest of your life.<\/p>\n

Eating to live and living for Christ,<\/p>\n

Susan Jordan Brown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThey forgot to give me my burger,\u201d I said, peering into the bag from the fast food chain. \u201cYou just ate it,\u201d Paul said. \u201cI did?\u201d\u00a0 Maybe I did.\u00a0 Here was an empty wrapper and Paul is not one to lie.\u00a0 But I didn\u2019t remember eating it.\u00a0 My mind was on the tasks ahead of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[201,202],"class_list":["post-749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement","tag-meals","tag-mindful-eating"],"yoast_head":"\nSlow Down and Enjoy Your Food! - Beyond Gorgeous<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/slow-down-and-enjoy-your-food.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Slow Down and Enjoy Your Food! 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