Inhaling Your Food Isn't Helping You

You can have your cake and eat it, too—just do it slowly. Experts tend to focus on the kinds of foods you can eat to improve your health, but the speed at which you devour your dinner matters just as much. There are risks with eating too fast—think stuck food and the potential to overeat before your brain tells you to stop. Here are some tips from scientists on how to slow down and take a more mindful approach to consuming your diet, per the AP:

• How fast is too fast? If you're the kind of person who can polish off breakfast, lunch, or dinner in less than 20 or 30 minutes, you're eating too fast. "It takes about 20 minutes for the stomach to communicate to the brain via a whole host of hormonal signals that it's full," says Leslie Heinberg of the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Behavioral Health. "So when people eat rapidly, they can miss these signals, and it's very easy to eat beyond the point of fullness."
• Why is that a problem? People who eat quickly are likely to swallow more air, Heinberg said, which can lead to bloating or indigestion. Not chewing your food properly can also compromise digestion, meaning you won't get all of the nutrients from your food. Studies suggest people who eat quickly have the highest risk of obesity.

• How can you slow down? For starters, turn off the TV and put down your phone. "If you're eating while you watch TV, people tend to eat until there's a commercial or the show is over," Heinberg said. "And that often causes us to eat more." When people focus exclusively on eating, they tend to enjoy the meal more and eat less.
• Chew: One of the simplest things to do is to increase the number of bites you take, says Helen McCarthy, a psychologist with the British Psychological Society. "If you chew each mouthful a little bit longer, that will slow down your eating," she said. The food you eat may also make a difference, as it's much easier to eat ultraprocessed or fast foods more quickly.

More here. (More eating stories.)