If you eat slower why is it better??

I eat slowly and enjoy my food (now lol i used to gulp it down :()

Ive heard it is better for your digestion and satiety

Is this true??

personally i find its better to eat slowly - you enjoy your food more rather than just gulping it down.

i find if i eat too quick it gives me terrible heartburn and indigestion - which i suffer a lot of being the size that i currently am - just over 240 - have lost 22.8 since may 26th this year.

But, of course it's true! When you eat slowly, you give your brain/stomach a chance to register when you are full. They say it takes about 20 minutes for this to happen. If you eat with abandon you won't realize until it's too late, and you'll already have taken in too much. Sometimes I'll finish what I'm eating and want more, but I'll get distracted and start doing something else. In a short period of time I'll realize I've had enough and I'm so glad I DIDN'T go for more food.

Also, it's just nice to really SAVOR your food -- take in the smells, chew slowly, enjoy it and the moment. Eating doesn't normally take very long but we all like to do it, otherwise we wouldn't be here. So we may as well make it last! :)

yes, chewing thoroughly aids digestion.  Makes sense doesn't it.  Your stomach is not dealing with big chunks of food.  And I've read for yrs what was posted above.  It takes 20 min. to register we've had enough food.

I've noticed in restaurants when eating till full, 1/2 hr later when doing something else, I feel even MORE full, like I'm going to explode.

Okay Kim, youve started eating and the clock is ticking!!  Its ticking, Kim, its ticking!

• Eat quickly and you can force much more food down.  Your stomach will curse you later. 
• Eat regularly and you'll ingest the appropriate amount your stomach is built and prepared for. 
• Eat slowly and you can undereat. Your stomach will say, "Full? Really? If you say so" as arms push plate away.

The brain, not stomach, tells you your full.  If it were your stomach, people wouldnt suffer from "Oh god, I ate too much" and these weird competitve speed eaters would be far less successful.

i never thought about eating slowly until i read Paul McKenna 's book 'I can make you slim'  it makes sense and i do leave food on the plate now as i actually realise when i am full and yes it is good for your digestion

saying that i still forget too and end up eating a whole meal without really tasting it or enjoying it !

I have found this all to be true, also.  Plus, I also definitely find that I end up being miserable if I eat too quickly or eat until I am totally "full."  A few minutes later, I feel totally "stuffed" and am miserable for hours.  I used to be a slow eater, used to be the last person finished eating no matter what.  Since I had a baby 2-1/2 years ago, I find that I am always in "shovel mode," meaning I literally inhale most meals because I generally don't have time to do anything else and still get to eat.  This even is true on the rare occasions I may be out to eat with someone without my son, knowing that I CAN have a leisurely meal without hurrying, and I still generally stop myself mid meal and ask "Why are you shoveling like the food is about to leave?"  Point being, I definitely have MUCH BETTER results when I force myself to eat slowly, enjoy the food, and STOP before I get to the point of feeling totally full.  I am better all around.  I am more comfortable, and I eat less and am still satisfied. 

I also have found out to be true something else I've heard for years.  Granted, I understand people are busy, and a lot of people may say "Who has time for that?" but it DOES help if you can sit down and have your meals when you focus on the FOOD, not your computer, the TV, or whatever else is distracting you from realizing you are eating.  This is particularly true for those of us who eat mindlessly even when not hungry or eat just to be eating.  If you are not paying attention to your food, inhaling with one hand while the other hand and brain do something totally different, you are more likely to want to eat again because you don't remember that you just ate something, and it probably also has something to do with the fact that you ate it TOO FAST while you weren't paying attention.  :-)

yes, I read that eating in front of the TV or computer is one of the worst things you can do.  You physically are more likely to overeat, plus you are concentrating on other things besides your food, and you don't get the emotional satisfaction of enjoying your meal.  Therefore, you are more likely to snack later, even if you aren't actually hungry.

It really is better to eat more slowly. I've been measuring my portions at home and trying to eat only 1/2 of what I'm served at restaurants. Sometimes I'll feel like I'm still hungry when I'm done, but if I wait about 10 minutes I feel nice and full.

Meh...perhaps theres a correlation between feeling full and eating slowly but I doubt it's much different than simply waiting the same amount of time after your meal.

The only thing I can think of having to do with actual digestion is when you are ingesting complex carbohydrates (starches) - your saliva contains amylase which starts breaking them down into maltose.

This IMHO would speed the absorption of the food...but I don't really know if there are any other physiological benefits. 

The main reason Americans are fat and getting fatter is because they eat "fast". In europe, a meal usually lasts well over an hour. Most of that time is taken up by talking and conversing with bites of food added in between. American culture has taught us to shovel in our food as quickly as possible and to get on to something else. This means we have more food in our stomach at one time and we are spending less time eating so we get hungrier. I find that eating with friends and just talking while you eat (Between mouthfulls, not during them) will help slow down the process. I find that if I'm running short on time it is better for me to stop and get a healthy sandwich  and eat it slowly during class then to shovel down whatever i can find around my appartment.

The main reason Americans are fat and getting fatter is because they eat "fast". In europe....

Avg BMI's in europe...

• Malta - 26.6
• Greece - 25.9
• Finland - 25.8
• Luxembourg - 25.7
• Hungary - 25.6
• Cyprus - 25.6
• Lithuania - 25.5
• Slovenia - 25.5
• Denmark - 25.5
• UK - 25.4
• Italy - 24.3
• France - 24.5
• Austria - 24.8
• Poland - 24.8
• Netherlands - 24.9
• Slovakia - 25.0
• Belgium - 25.1
• Latvia - 25.1
• Estonia - 25.2
• Czech Rep - 25.2

I count only the five SLIMMEST with a BMI that doesn't classify them as overweight. So on average this 'meal length' isn't stopping them from becoming overweight. Ergo the idea that this is the 'main' reason the US is fat lacks credibility. Not to mention the various logical problems with any statements that start with 'the main reason'

 

Just because they're classified as overweight doesn't mean they're doing badly compared to the US - as of 2002, the average BMI in the US was around 28!

I'm European and a confessed food inhaler!

But I've noticed my brain telling me when It knows looking at the amount I've eaten how much is enough.

But I yet have to actually listen to those messages.

The Boston Pizza Tortellini, could've done with half the order but now I didn't listen to MYSELF and ate the whole thing followed by OMG I'm so full.

I'm a very slow eater.  I don't know if I chew slow or what but I get an hour for lunch and use the majority of it eating my meal.  I've always been a slow eater.  I've always been big.  I hear all the time it's better for you and your digestive system but I don't really agree with it being a big factor in keeping me/you from overeating. 

And that's my 2 cents.

Just because they're classified as overweight doesn't mean they're doing badly compared to the US - as of 2002, the average BMI in the US was around 28!

That may be so however it was NOT the statement made.  They said the MAIN reason that people in the USA are fat is because of how quickly they eat a meal relative to the speed a meal is eaten in the EU.

So if this correlation holds then the average person in the EU must not be fat (otherwise how could this be the MAIN reason?).  Since the average person in the EU is fat - the correlation does not hold in a useful way or 'main' is being used in some nonsense way.

Sure you can make up another theory "The speed people eat is the reason you think there is a discrepancy between the US and the UK" but to be useful you would need some data on the time taken to eat in both geographical areas, and correlate against their weight, you sample would somehow have to manage things like socioeconomic factors (poverty correlates with obesity), etc...

Point being, the original theory is obviously false.  There may be some other theory that could be true, or simply not so obviously false but demonstrating it to a reasonable degree seems difficult.

what does IMHO mean?

IMHO = In My Humble Opinion

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, thanks!

When you eat, and your stomach starts to stretch, your brain secretes neurohormones that give you satiety (the sense of being full).  But this process is complex and relatively slow. 

From an evolutionary level, this is adventageous, since "way back" if you were eating fast, it likely meant that you were in some sort of peril; thus, your body would not drop into a parasympathetically dominated role (making you more efficient at digestion, but also giving you that "food coma" feeling).  You would store most of the material in your stomach but not feel full, and it would be processed in time.  This allowed you to continue hunting, running, whatever.

The flip side, is that if you eat slowly, your body is inclined into this more parasympathetic state (think of your bod in 2 states: sympathetic, which is "fight or flight" and parasympathetic which is "feed or breed") then you are inclined to feeling satiated during a meal.  Eating more slowly allowes these neuropeptides to secrete, reach the regions of your brain as appropriate, and "tell" you that youre full.

Eating more slowly (especially if chewing better) WILL aid in digesting your food, between salivary amylase starting the process, and increasing surface area of your food.  It wont make you 'intake' more calories from your food, but it may avoid things like excessive gas (undigested food making it past the stomach and triggering bacterial feasts), constipation, etc.

The rapid intake of food that people often conduct may not be the ONLY reason americans are more overweight, but it has to be a component.

I'm sorry that so many people misunderstood what I was saying. I went off on a tangent about the whole Europe thing. What I meant and what I neglected to put in there is that the culture of eating "fast" is leading to obesity because  when people eat fast they can't tell how much they are putting in their mouths and when they are full because it takes a little while for their brain to catch up. This is true for most people. I'm not saying that slow eaters can be overweight. It is just one of the MANY factors that is leading to everyone getting fatter.