Eating More Slowly

annwyatt69

I have noticed that recently I am eating my meals too quickly and not watching the sizes of my bites and chewing as well as I used to. I am only 3 months out and really need to get this together. Do any of you have anything that you do to help you to remember to slow down, chew, and appreciate the food you are eating?

pixied12

I'm having the surgery on Jan. 14 so I haven't had it yet, but my parents have and I noticed how slowly my Mom eats. I've always eaten slowly, so maybe that won't be such a problem with me.

annwyatt69

I just have to remember that I can't eat as fast as my sons do. You know how fast guys in their 20's can shovel it in... LOL

kaydol1488

I had surgery 11/02/12 and find that I def need to eat with my small spoon most of the time! I can get away without it some times, but I tend to eat to big of bites and much faster. I need more practice slowing down. I try to cut my food really small before even sitting to eat and try to count my chews before swallowing. If I'm busy talking over dinner I found the counting thing gets kicked to the curb lol. Just try to focus and enjoy the food before it goes down and that might help slow you down. Good luck. Deb

CHC94

A friend called this "mindful eating".

I worked out a system. Turn on your favorite TV show. Now, lick the spoon ONLY during the opening sequence. Watch the show. First commercial, 2 licks of the spoon.

This has worked for my full liquid phase so far. Or I time myself to one spoon lick every 20 minutes or so.

rubisliprz

I too am having trouble with the slowing down part. Just moving from pureed to soft and am having discomfort any time I move away from very liquidy textures. Currently painful and waiting for the pouch to empty a bit. Got to learn!

JoelleAnn78

I had to make eating its own sport. Stop whatever else I was doing -- focus. Baby spoon (for real) - take a bite. Spoon down. Chew x40. Swallow. Spoon up - bite - spoon down - chew x40.

After I tried string cheese -- pulled off a string and swallowed without chewing -- and had 2 hours of terrible pain that ended in vomitting on my first day of solids... I knew I was in trouble. My old mentality of eat fast and eat a lot was back with my first bite of solids! From then on I knew I needed to focus! Eating was a full time job.

Good luck everyone!

rubisliprz

Thanks Joelle for a very honest and real reply. I have found that really hot tea with lemon in it (well after eating) helps calm down and clear things if I have had a "too fast or too much" painful episode.