"The more you eat, the less flavor; the less you eat, the more flavor."
Chinese Proverb

"A man may be a pessimistic determinist before lunch and an optimistic believer in the will’s freedom after it."
Aldous Huxley

I like to eat slowly. A meal takes thirty minutes or sometimes an hour. But pretty often I forget about this. So I thought I’d write an article about it to keep as a reminder. Something to take a look at whenever I get caught up in stressful eating. Here are three good reasons to eat slowly.

1. You get to really feel the different tastes and textures.

Eating can become a lot more pleasurable if you slow down. If you just wolf it down you never notice nuances in taste and texture. It’s like trying to appreciate the nature, the light, the colors, the beautiful surroundings while driving really fast.

Also, I like how the textures and tastes shift as food becomes less hot.

2. You reduce the risk of overeating.

It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to register that you are full. That’s because the food has to reach the intestines before your body starts sending signals telling your brain that you feel full. By slowing down your eating your brain can stop you before you eat too much.

3. You reduce the risk of getting an upset stomach.

Eating too fast can lead to digestion problems. It can also lead to you feeling more stressed throughout your day. Something that can also cause stomach problems, headaches and other health problems. See your meals as a time and place where you can take it easy and de-stress your mind and body.

How to do it.

Three simple tips that I have found useful are:

Eat before you get ridiculously hungry.

If you’re really hungry it will be hard to eat slowly. The best way to avoid this is to not wait for too long but to eat when you feel just a little hungry. Or to have your meals at specified times during the day that you know from experience will be appropriate to avoid getting too hungry.

Put down your fork between the bites.

The classic advice is to put down your fork and then chew. Then to pick up your fork again after you’ve swallowed, take another bite and repeat the process. I like this tip because it forces you to slow down. Instead of taking that stressed energy from your day and just letting it power through the meal too as you quickly wolf down everything on your plate.

Focus on the food and yourself. Not on what other people are doing.

It’s easy to get drawn into someone else’s pace while eating (just like when driving or running). Be conscious of keeping your own pace instead of just unconsciously eating as fast as everyone around the table might do.

Being aware of this challenge can help you. Being present throughout your meal can also be useful to keep a good pace and fully enjoy the food.

You can find a few simple ways to reconnect with the present moment in this article.

“吃的越多，越不香；吃的越少越好吃”，中國諺語。

“人在餓肚子時總是悲觀的，吃飽后才變得樂觀”，阿道斯赫胥黎。

我喜歡吃飯很忙，一頓飯能用30分鐘，有時候甚至1時。但是我常常忘記這些，所以覺得應該寫一篇文章，作為我吃飯緊張時的提醒。這里列出了慢慢吃飯的3個好理由。

1.你可以真正享受到不同的風味和口感

如果你降低速度，吃飯可能會變得更愉快。如果你狼吞虎咽的吃，你永遠不會注意風味和口感的美妙，就像快速駕駛時，無暇欣賞大自然、陽光、色彩和美麗的環境。

同時，我希望品嘗食物不燙時到風味和口感。

2.你減少了吃的過多的風險

你的大腦大約需要20min的時間提醒你已經吃飽了。這是因為在你的身體開始向大腦發射已經吃飽了的信號之前，食物已經達到腸子。降低吃飯速度，你的大腦可以在吃的過多之前制止你。

3.你降低了肚子痛的風險

吃的太快會引起消化問題，也會讓你一整天都覺得很有壓力，還可能導致胃痛。在你放松的時間和地點吃飯，并放松大腦和身體。

怎樣才能做到呢？

我發現了3個簡單有用的方法：

在你感到十分饑餓之前吃飯。

如果你真的很餓，會很難吃的慢。避免這樣的最好辦法就是，當你感到一點餓時，不要等太長時間再吃飯。或者根據經驗在每天固定的時間吃飯，可以避免不會太餓。

在啃咬的間隙放下餐叉。

最傳統的方法是放下你的餐叉后再咀嚼，在咽下以后再拿起餐叉，再咬一口，重復此過程。我喜歡這種方法因為它可以強迫你慢下來，不再狼吞虎咽的吃下盤子里所有的食物，不再從飲食中攝入過多的能量。

注意食物和你自己，不再想著其他人在做什么。

吃飯時很容易與其他人速度相同（和開車或跑步一樣）。注意保持你自己的速度，而不是與餐桌上其他人吃的一樣快。

意識到這個問題可以幫助你，每頓飯自始至終都坐在餐桌前對保持好的速度并享受食物也有幫助。你也可能在本文中發現其他的簡單的方法。