Like most people in our super-sized society, I've been on my share of diets. I've found that they work initially, and I lose weight but when I stop restricting what I eat, I gain the weight back and more!
I think Marc David, the author of The Slow Down Diet, Eating for Pleasure, Energy and Weight Loss (Healing Arts Press) has the right idea. I interviewed Marc for an article about slowing down for Natural Health and it left a lasting impression. He says that eating slow not only will make you more more relaxed, it’s also one of the keys to permanent weight loss.
Why?
When we eat too fast, it stresses out the body because it’s not designed to take in food too quickly. Doing so causes us to produce cortisol and insulin, which diminishes our calorie burning power and makes us more likely to gain weight, especially in the mid-section.
Eating fast also means we’re more likely to overeat. “The brain demands more food if it doesn’t have enough time to register its basic needs for taste, pleasure, aroma and satisfaction,” says David. “Most people who say they have a will power problem, really just aren’t present when they eat.”
To slow down, he suggests doubling the time you spend on your meals. For example, if you eat breakfast in five minutes, double it to ten. Use the process of cooking to help you slow down too says David. “Instead of microwaving something in 60 seconds, make a soup from scratch. All of the steps involved in making a soup from boiling the water, to chopping the vegetables to tending the soup, slow us down.” For more information about Marc David and Institute for the Psychology of Eating visit: http://psychologyofeating.com/nutritional-healing/
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2 comments:
Sounds like a good plan, Chrystle--although I'm already a fairly slow eater and tend to gain, rather than lose, weight. Will just have to try harder and slow down even more!
It take a real effort to eat slower, but it makes so much sense. Everything tastes better.
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