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You're listening to LifeKit from NPR. Hey everybody, it's Mario. You ever eat so fast that you get hiccups from just like inhaling the meal? Or you bite your cheek or your tongue because you miss took it for food? Yeah, I've done it. And that's horrible because once you bit your tongue or a part of your side of your mouth,
you get a canka soul and it's going to just really disrupt your eating throughout the next days. Right, so that's no fun. That's Lily and Chang.
She's a lecturer on nutrition and the director of Mindfulness Research and Practice at Harvard University.
Other signs you're eating too fast, you may get habit and just discomfort, you know. Or later on, you might feel still hungry. And want to eat more the spite of the fact that you thought you ate already. There are a lot of reasons we scarf down our food. Tight deadlines, short lunch breaks, also the great American virtue of productivity that's
infiltrated every part of our lives. Like, let me hurry up and eat so I can run more errands. Or if you grew up without enough food, you might have a feeling of scarcity while you're eating. And for some of us, it's just a habit. You know, we eat while we're reading emails or scrolling on our phones. People are not eating really sitting down to eat a meal. Very often we found ourselves eating something and doing something else.
Lily and practices and researchers something called mindful eating. Mindful eating practice encourages us to make choices that are satisfying and nourishing to the body. And as we become more aware of our eating habits, we can take steps towards behavior that will benefit not only ourselves, but also an environment. Mindful eating asks us to slow down and notice our food.
So about what to eat, how to eat, how much to eat, and the awareness of why we eat, what we eat. And of course, how fast we eat. So today on LifeKit, how we can become more mindful of our eating habits.
“And in particular, what are some techniques we can use to eat at a healthy pace?”
Well, also talk about what to do when you don't have a lot of time for a particular meal. [MUSIC]
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and why they matter for our democracy. Join me, Jen White Mondays on the One A podcast from WAMU and NPR. [MUSIC] Hi, it's Terry Gross, the host of Fresh Air. Catch my interview about the birth of the culture wars. Even breakfast cereals have become part of the culture wars.
Author Isaac Butler takes us back to when the Christian right mobilized against provocative art. Listen to fresh air on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. [MUSIC] Well, how fast are we supposed to eat a meal? Like, is there a standard we should be following?
“Well, most of you find most nutrition is urging us to take 20 minutes for meal, okay?”
Because it takes about that time for your body to get the signal to the brain that you are full. If you eat fast, your brain is not getting the signal that you are full until about 20 minutes. And it's also nervous system as well as how long no system. Yeah, so then you eat too much and you feel terrible after.
That's right.
really sitting down to eat a meal. Very often we found ourselves eating something and doing something else. Okay, so let's get into some of the really practical tips here.
“If you want to start to slow down when you eat or to eat at a healthy pace,”
what are some principles you can follow?
So first is allocate time to eat and only eat.
And make sure yourself home is not with you or is face down. You are not going to be responding to any messages that comes through. And then to make sure we engage our senses, be with the food and ask yourself, what's on my plate, how hungry am I today in this meal?
“And notice the taste really. The recipe that I just cook is it too salty? Does it need something else?”
That I can improve it next time and engage your smile on your senses, the texture.
And whatever thought you that arose as you eat because there might be some emotional aspects related to the food and be aware of it. Okay, let's say you make a meal that is something that your grandmother used to make for you and you're eating it and you're tasting, oh my god, this tastes just like my grandma's stuffed cabbage. That's an emotional reaction that you can have to a meal too. That's positive.
But if you pause rather than just shoveling it in, if you're pausing and saying like,
what do I feel when I bite into this stuffed cabbage? You know, who does it remind me of? Does that help? Yeah, it does help because it brings back loving wonderful memories. And the dish that you use at the example is a great healthy dish. So nowadays, we have to consider sort of the physiological and emotional psychological aspects of food, but I really worry for America because the amount of ultra-processed, highly refined foods in the market is so huge
and it's easy to get addicted to it. So we have to be very mindful when we use them for those. And if you're really longing for potato chips, eat it, but make sure you just take a handful and put it in a nice dish and eat it mindfully to be able to taste the saltiness, this crispiness and thank the universe for the right climate to be able to have that potato and the manpower that has been engaged in making it available not only at the factory,
but also transportation to get the chips to the supermarket, etc. But mindful eating really allows us to become much more aware of what we have, how we get it and what it takes to be able to have that. The point you make about taking the potato chips and putting them in a bowl, it gets at another
“tip for how to eat at a healthy pace, which is takes smaller portions to the table, right?”
Exactly. If you have a whole back of chips with you and start eating is really challenging and difficult to stop after six or eight chips. Because we love the taste, we love the crispiness and we just keep getting it from the back. And especially when you may be looking at your cell phone or watching a TV program, you're distracted and you feel good about the crispiness
The taste and you just want more and more without consciously thinking about ...
Yeah, I wonder is there a space for saying affirmations even in your head, you know, like
I'm not in a rush, you know, or I enjoy my food or something really simple to keep yourself a track?
“Oh yes, I think the key with a hurry life when you start to eat is literally stop”
and take a few breaths in and out, look at what you're eating and tell yourself, I'm going to enjoy this and the food will nourish me, both my body and my mind. We'll have more life kit, after the break.
Hi, it's Terry Gross, host of Fresh Air.
Hey, take a break from the 24-hour news cycle with us and listen to long-form interviews with your favorite authors, actors, filmmakers, comedians and musicians, the people making the art that nourishes us and speaks to our times. So listen to the Fresh Air podcast from NPR and WHOY. Is there a particular way we should try to eat, like any technique that
“you could tell us that'll help us eat slower? I think chewing is important. We don't chew enough”
and we just swallow the food. It's harder on our digestion that way. So chewing, our teeth is supposed to help us to break up the food so that it's easier for absorption. So look at your food, know what you're eating, take a bite and chew chew chew. And then pause a little bit and it's you know drink some water or maybe for other cuisines, they may be having soups, okay? So take the time. And so it sounds like we should be pausing
in between bites and not just it shouldn't be just one series of bites after another.
“Yeah, yeah, I think so, you know, it helps to think of, okay, did I like this food? Should I get it again?”
Oh, should I be focusing more on something else on the plate next time? Right, right. We've been talking about this with the idea that that we have choice in our lives, right? But sometimes we're in situations where we really don't have much time to eat a meal, especially if we work at a job where we get like a 15-minute lunch break. I remember when I worked in retail at a clothing store and I had to clock out, run up to the food court, get on the escalator, wait and
line, get my food, eat it and be back on the floor 15 minutes later. I mean how, how do you eat at a healthy pace when all you have is 15 minutes? Yeah, that's right. In that case, I would split up the food, the meal. Eat at a good pace that you find comfortable, save it for later,
full of snack. Yeah, that makes sense. I felt, I always felt like maybe, again, life gets in the
way if you don't have time to prep your meals or, you know, if I could have brought food from home, then that would have saved me some time, but it's tough, it's tough, and sometimes people work at a job where they, they really have to eat at their desk that day. Yeah, and that's okay, just when you're eating at a desk, maybe just make sure that you're not going to be looking at your email. Yeah, I think there might be an element to have setting boundaries with your co-workers,
you know, if you have to put it in a way message on Slack that says eating lunch or if somebody comes up to you, you can just be like, just eating, I'll get back to you. That's right, and you're just so, though, I have to nourish my mind and my body with this food. I love that. Lily and shared an incantation that she learned from the late Buddhist monk, Tiknahon,
Called the five contemplations, and she says these have helped her practice m...
This food is the gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard work,
“and loving work. May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive this food.”
May we recognize and transform and hold some mental formations, especially our greed and learn to eat with moderation. May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of living beings, starts contributing to climate change and heals and preserve
our precious climate. We accept this food so that we may nurture our brotherhood and sisterhood,
our family, and realize our ideal of serving all human beings.
“Okay, time for a recap, and some extras drawn from Lily and's book with Tiknahon. It's called”
"Sever Mindful Eating Mindful Life." Engage your senses as you eat. Notice the sounds, smells, colors, tastes, textures, and the emotions that you're feeling.
Honor the food, acknowledge the work that went into putting that meal on your plate.
Eat smaller portions, instead of grabbing the whole bag of potato chips, pour some chips into a bowl and take your time eating them.
“"Sever and chew your food thoroughly." This will help with digestion and will also engage your senses.”
See if you can make your snack or meal last about 20 minutes. And try not to skip meals, even if you just have a small bite, give yourself a few minutes to eat. And "Sever." For more life kit, check out our other episodes. There's one about mindfulness-based stress reduction and another on honoring traditions through food. You can find those at npr.org/lifekit.
And if you love life kit, and you just cannot get enough, subscribe to our newsletter at npr.org/lifekit newsletter. This episode of Life Kit was produced by Thomas Liu. It was edited by Sylvie Douglas. Our digital editor is Monica Gereeb and our visuals editor is CJ Rikalan. Megan Kane is our senior supervising editor, and Lauren Gonzalez is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagel, Margaret Serino, and Claire Marie Schneider,
engineering support comes from Cinella Freido. I'm Marie Al Sagarra. Thanks for listening. Hey, take a break from the 24-hour news cycle with us and listen to long-form interviews with your favorite authors, actors, filmmakers, comedians, and musicians. The people making the art that nourishes us and speaks to our times. So listen to the fresh air podcast from npr and wht-y-y. On considered this npr's afternoon news podcast, we cover everything from politics to the
economy to the world, but every story starts with a question. Npr, we stand for your right to be curious to make sense of the biggest story of the day and what it means for you. Follow consider this wherever you get your podcasts.
