Latest / Silver FM 100.6 / Scarfing down your food? How to be intentional about meals

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Scarfing down your food? How to be intentional about meals · Silver FM 100.6

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  Speaker 2: You're listening to Life Kit from NPR. Hey, everybody, it's Maryel.
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  Speaker 2: You ever eat so fast that you get hiccups from
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  Speaker 2: just like inhaling the meal, or you bite your cheek
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  Speaker 2: or your tongue because you mistook it for food. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I've done.
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  Speaker 3: It, and that's horrible because why you bit your tongue
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  Speaker 3: or a pod of your side of your mouth, you
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  Speaker 3: get a canka soul and it's going to really disrupt
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  Speaker 3: your eating throughout the next days, right, So that's no fun.
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  Speaker 2: That's Lilian Chung. She's a lecturer on nutrition and the
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  Speaker 2: director of Mindfulness Research and Practice at Harvard University. Other
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  Speaker 2: signs you're eating too fast.
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  Speaker 3: You may get hot bun and just discomfort you know,
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  Speaker 3: or later on you might feel still hungry and want
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  Speaker 3: to eat more despite of the fact that you thought
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  Speaker 3: you ate already.
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  Speaker 2: There are a lot of reasons we scarf down our food,
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  Speaker 2: tight deadlines, short lunch breaks, also the great American virtue
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  Speaker 2: of productivity that's infiltrated every part of our lives, like
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  Speaker 2: let me hurry up and eat so I can run
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  Speaker 2: more errands, or if you grew up without enough food,
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  Speaker 2: you might have a feeling of scarcity while you're eating.
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  Speaker 2: And for some of us it's just a habit. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we eat while we're reading emails or scrolling on our phones.
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  Speaker 3: People are not eating, really sitting down to eat a meal.
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  Speaker 3: Very often we found ourselves eating something and doing something else.
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  Speaker 2: Lilian practices and researches something called mindful eating.
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  Speaker 3: Mindful eating practice encourages us to make choices that are
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  Speaker 3: satisfying and nourishing to the body, and as we become
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  Speaker 3: more aware of our eating habits, we can take steps
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  Speaker 3: towards behavior that will benefit not only ourselves but also
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  Speaker 3: an environment.
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  Speaker 2: Mindful eating asks us to slow down and notice our food.
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  Speaker 3: It's about what to eat, how to eat, how much
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  Speaker 3: to eat, an awareness of why we eat, what we eat.
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  Speaker 2: And of course how fast we eat. So today on
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  Speaker 2: life kit, how we can become more mindful of our
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  Speaker 2: eating habits and in particular, what are some techniques we
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  Speaker 2: can use to eat at a healthy pace. We'll also
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  Speaker 2: talk about what to do when you don't have a
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  Speaker 2: lot of time for a particular meal.
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  Speaker 2: Feed willian how fast are we supposed to eat a meal? Like,
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  Speaker 2: is there a standard we should be following?
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  Speaker 3: Well, most you'll find most nutrition is urging us to
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  Speaker 3: take twenty minutes for a meal, okay, because it takes
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  Speaker 3: about that time for your body to get the signal
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  Speaker 3: to the brain that you are full. If you eat fast,
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  Speaker 3: your brain is not getting that signal that you are
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  Speaker 3: full until about twenty minutes, and it involves a nervous
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  Speaker 3: system as well as hormonalous system.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so then you eat too much and you feel
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  Speaker 2: terrible after.
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  Speaker 3: That's right, And we tend to do that in the
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  Speaker 3: twenty fifth century because most people are not eating really
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  Speaker 3: sitting down to eat a meal. Very often, we found
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  Speaker 3: ourselves eating something and doing something else.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, So let's get into some of the really practical
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  Speaker 2: tips here. If you want to start to slow down
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  Speaker 2: when you eat or to eat at a healthy pace,
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  Speaker 2: what are some principles you can follow?
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  Speaker 3: So first is allocate time to eat and only eat,
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  Speaker 3: and make sure your cell phone is not with you
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  Speaker 3: or it's face down and you're not going to be
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  Speaker 3: responding to any messages that come through. And then to
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  Speaker 3: make sure we engage our senses, be with the food
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  Speaker 3: and ask yourself, what's on my plate? How hungry am
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  Speaker 3: I today in this meal? And notice the taste really
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  Speaker 3: the recipe that I just cook? Is it too salty?
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  Speaker 3: Does it need something else that I can improve it
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  Speaker 3: next time? And engage your smell, all your senses, the texture,
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  Speaker 3: and whatever thought that arose as you eat. Because there
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  Speaker 3: might be some emotional aspect related to the food, and
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  Speaker 3: be aware of it.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, let's say you make a meal that is something
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  Speaker 2: that your grandmother used to make for you, and you're
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  Speaker 2: eating it and you're tasting, oh my god, this tastes
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  Speaker 2: just like my grandma's stuffed cabbage. You know, like that's
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  Speaker 2: an emotional reaction that you can have to a meal too.
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  Speaker 2: That's positive. But if you pause rather than just shoveling
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  Speaker 2: it in. If you're pausing and saying, like, what do
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  Speaker 2: I feel when I bite into this stuffed cabbage? You
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  Speaker 2: know who does it remind me of?
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  Speaker 8: Does that help?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: It does help because if bring back loving, wonderful memories
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  Speaker 3: and the dish that you you said the example, it's
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  Speaker 3: a great, healthy dish. So nowadays we have to consider
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  Speaker 3: sort of the physiological and emotional psychological aspects of food.
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  Speaker 3: But I'm really worry for America because the amount of
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  Speaker 3: ultra process highly refined foods in the market is so
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  Speaker 3: huge and it's easy to get addicted to it. So
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  Speaker 3: we have to be very mindful when we un for
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  Speaker 3: those And if you're really longing for potato chips, eat it,
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  Speaker 3: but make sure you just take a handful and put
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  Speaker 3: it in a nice dish and eat it mindfully to
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  Speaker 3: be able to taste the saltiness, this crispiness, and thank
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  Speaker 3: the universe for the right climate to be able to
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  Speaker 3: have that potato and a man power that has been
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  Speaker 3: engaged in making it available not only at the factory, okay,
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  Speaker 3: but also transportation to get the chips to the supermarket, etc.
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  Speaker 3: But mindful eating really allows us to become much more
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  Speaker 3: aware of what we have, how we get it, and
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  Speaker 3: what it takes to be able to have that.
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  Speaker 2: The point you make about taking the potato chips and
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  Speaker 2: putting them in a bowl, it gets at another tip
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  Speaker 2: for how to eat at a healthy pace, which is
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  Speaker 2: take smaller portions to the table, right m h.
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  Speaker 3: Exactly. If you have a whole back of chips with
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  Speaker 3: you and start eating, is really challenging and difficult to
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  Speaker 3: stop after six or eight chips, because you know, we
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  Speaker 3: love the taste, we love the crispiness, and we just
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  Speaker 3: keep getting it from the back. And especially when you
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  Speaker 3: may be looking at your cell phone or watching a
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  Speaker 3: TV program, you're distracted, and you feel good about the
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  Speaker 3: crispiness and the tastes, and you just want more and
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  Speaker 3: more without consciously thinking about stopping.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I wonder is there a space for saying affirmations
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  Speaker 2: even in your head, you know, like I'm not in
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  Speaker 2: a rush, you know, or I enjoy my food, or
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  Speaker 2: something really simple to keep yourself on track.
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  Speaker 3: Oh yes, I think the key with a hurried life
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  Speaker 3: when you start to eat is literally stop and take
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  Speaker 3: a few breaths in and out, look at what you
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  Speaker 3: are eating. And tell yourself, I'm going to enjoy this
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  Speaker 3: and the food will nourish me both my body and
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  Speaker 3: my mind.
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  Speaker 2: We'll have more life kit after the break.
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  Speaker 2: Is there a particular way we should try to eat,
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  Speaker 2: like any technique that you could tell us that will
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  Speaker 2: help us eat slower.
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  Speaker 3: I think chewing is important. We don't chew enough and
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  Speaker 3: we just swallow the food. It's harder on our digestion
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  Speaker 3: that way. So chewing our teeva is supposed to help
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  Speaker 3: us to break up the food so that it's easier
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  Speaker 3: for absorption. So look at your food, know what you're eating,
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  Speaker 3: take a bite and chew to chew and then pause
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  Speaker 3: a little bit and it's you know, drink some water
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  Speaker 3: or maybe for other cuisines they may be having soups. Okay,
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  Speaker 3: so take the time, m h.
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  Speaker 2: And So it sounds like we should be passed in
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  Speaker 2: between bites and not just It shouldn't be just one
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  Speaker 2: series of bites after another.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I think so. You know, it helps to
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  Speaker 3: think of Okay, did I like this food? Should I
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  Speaker 3: get it again? Or should I be focusing more on
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  Speaker 3: something else on the plate next time?
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  Speaker 8: Right?
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  Speaker 2: Right? We've been talking about this with the idea that
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  Speaker 2: we have choice in our lives, right, But sometimes we're
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  Speaker 2: in situations where we really don't have much time to
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  Speaker 2: eat a meal, especially if we work at a job
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  Speaker 2: where we get like a fifteen minute lunch break. I
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  Speaker 2: remember when I worked in retail at a at a
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  Speaker 2: clothing store and I had to clock out, run up
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  Speaker 2: to the food court, get on the escalator, wait in line,
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  Speaker 2: get my food, eat it, and be back on the
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  Speaker 2: floor fifteen minutes later. I mean, how how do you
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  Speaker 2: eat at a healthy pace when all you have is
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  Speaker 2: fifteen minutes?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. In that case, I would split up
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  Speaker 3: the food the meal, eat at a good pace that
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  Speaker 3: you find comfortable, save it for later for a snack.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that makes sense, I felt. I always felt like,
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  Speaker 2: maybe again, life gets in the way if you don't
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  Speaker 2: have time to prep your meals, or you know, if
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  Speaker 2: I could have brought food from home, then that would
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  Speaker 2: have saved me some time. But it's tough. It's tough,
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  Speaker 2: and sometimes people work at a job where they they
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  Speaker 2: really have to eat at their desk that day.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's okay. Just when you're eating at a disk,
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  Speaker 3: maybe just make sure that you're not going to be
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  Speaker 3: looking at your email.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I think there might be an element to of
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  Speaker 2: setting boundaries with your coworkers. You know, if you have
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  Speaker 2: to put an away message on Slack that says eating lunch, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: or if somebody comes up to you, you can just
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  Speaker 2: be like, just eating, I'll get back to you.
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  Speaker 3: That's right, and you just tell them I have to
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  Speaker 3: nourish my mind and my body with this food.
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  Speaker 2: I love that. Lillian shared an incantation that she learned
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  Speaker 2: from the late Buddhist monk Tech Nahan called the Five Contemplations,
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  Speaker 2: and she says these have helped her practice mindful eating.
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  Speaker 3: This food is the gift of the earth, the sky,
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  Speaker 3: numerous living beings, and much hot work and loving work.
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  Speaker 3: May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to
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  Speaker 3: be worthy to receive this food. May we recognize and
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  Speaker 3: transform unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed, and learn to
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  Speaker 3: eat with moderation. May we keep our compassion alive by
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  Speaker 3: eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of
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  Speaker 3: living beings, stops contributing to climate change, and heals and
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  Speaker 3: preserve our precious climate. We accept this food so that
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  Speaker 3: we may nurture our brotherhood and sisterhood, our family, and
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  Speaker 3: realize our ideal of serving all human beings.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, time for a recap and some extras drawn from
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  Speaker 2: Lilian's book with tik Nahan, It's called Savor, Mindful eating,
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  Speaker 2: mindful life. Engage your senses as you eat. Notice the sounds, smells, colors, tastes, textures,
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  Speaker 2: and the emotions that you're feeling. Honor the food. Acknowledge
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  Speaker 2: the work that went into putting that meal on your plate.
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  Speaker 2: Eat smaller portions instead of grabbing the whole bag of
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  Speaker 2: potato chips. Pour some chips into a bowl and take
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  Speaker 2: your time eating them. Savor and chew your food thoroughly.
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  Speaker 2: This will help with digestion and will also engage your senses.
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  Speaker 2: See if you can make your snack or meal last
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  Speaker 2: about twenty minutes, and try not to skip meals even
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  Speaker 2: if you just have a small bite, give yourself a
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  Speaker 2: few minutes to eat and savor. For more Life Kit,
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  Speaker 2: check out our other episodes. There's one about mindfulness based
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  Speaker 2: stress reduction and another unhonoring traditions through food. You can
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: find those at NPR dot org slash Life Kit. And
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  Speaker 2: This episode of Life Kit was produced by Thomas lu
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  Speaker 2: It was edited by Sylvie Douglas. Our digital editor is
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  Speaker 2: Malica Gharib, and our visuals editor is c. J. Rikolon.
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  Speaker 2: Megan Kane is our senior supervising editor, and Lauren Gonzalez
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  Speaker 2: is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagle,
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  Speaker 2: Margaret Serino, and Claire Marie Schneider. Engineering support comes from
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: Sina Lefredo. I'm Mariel Sagara. Thanks for listening.
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