Don't take this the wrong way...

Brenda_1965 · March 2009

I feel much more fulfilled when I take BIG bites, but I just have to remember not to SWALLOW too soon!
I'm not sure that sounds right!!!:glasses:

I've been working on taking small bites like I did as a kid, but the taste sensation much more enjoyable with a BIG one. (The recommendation is to take small bites and chew 100 times or something like that!) The key is that sometimes I get distracted and swallow before I really need to. The tongue has different areas that sense different tastes, so a bigger bite allows me to move the food around to all those areas and fully enjoy it. After chewing long enough, it becomes diluted and taste is gone. I do believe, this is the best time to swallow.

I'm not asking for advice, but I am just curious about your thoughts on the subject!

Brenda

Brenda_1965 · March 2009

I feel much more fulfilled when I take BIG bites, but I just have to remember not to SWALLOW too soon!
I'm not sure that sounds right!!!:glasses:

I've been working on taking small bites like I did as a kid, but the taste sensation much more enjoyable with a BIG one. (The recommendation is to take small bites and chew 100 times or something like that!) The key is that sometimes I get distracted and swallow before I really need to. The tongue has different areas that sense different tastes, so a bigger bite allows me to move the food around to all those areas and fully enjoy it. After chewing long enough, it becomes diluted and taste is gone. I do believe, this is the best time to swallow.

I'm not asking for advice, but I am just curious about your thoughts on the subject!

Brenda

Marla64 · March 2009

I feel much more fulfilled when I take BIG bites, but I just have to remember not to SWALLOW too soon!
I'm not sure that sounds right!!!:glasses:

I've been working on taking small bites like I did as a kid, but the taste sensation much more enjoyable with a BIG one. (The recommendation is to take small bites and chew 100 times or something like that!) The key is that sometimes I get distracted and swallow before I really need to. The tongue has different areas that sense different tastes, so a bigger bite allows me to move the food around to all those areas and fully enjoy it. After chewing long enough, it becomes diluted and taste is gone. I do believe, this is the best time to swallow.

I'm not asking for advice, but I am just curious about your thoughts on the subject!

Brenda

Brenda-- yes-- I completely understand. I think perhaps it's tied into the emotional eating I started doing as a kid to deal with the crapola childhood-- the sooner I could get my mouth full and the sensation of the food into the back of my throat, the sooner I'd feel better.

Also, I had a brother who would see me eating my sandwich and just to be a jerk, try to wrestle it away for himself-- I mastered the art of stuffing an entire peanut butter and jelly into my mouth at age 10-- lovely eh?

Now, it's not that-- but the habit of the bigger bites, and the faster eating has been hard to break. I am able to control the amount of food I eat, but the bite size has been harder to master.

alf1163 · March 2009

I did not know what to think about this post...:noway: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: just kidding!!
I always take big bites, I eat fast, too fast. My husband gets mad at me because I am always done eating when he is only half way done...:laugh: I still feel that I savor my food but lately I am trying to train myself to eat slower and put the fork down. Interesting post. :flowerforyou:

ivykivy · March 2009

I usually take big bites for about half. Then switch to small bites for the other half when I get the "taste" of the food. I never count. I figure if I can swallow it that's good enough.

iftcheiaf · March 2009

Brenda,

I have to say I always love your posts. You come up with some of the neatest things that make me really stop and think.

I sat one day and wondered how many actual bites of food I took a day. Nibbling and such. When I am emotionally eating, I shove it in as fast as it will go as much as I can. I'm like a dog that is afraid someone is going to take it's food away. When I'm with my family, I tend to eat slower, relaxed, enjoying. I've started to try not to eat alone so much or in front of the television, and it's helping me reduce the amount and the speed that I'm eating. Not really losing weight by it, but I don't feel gross afterwards.

My 2 cents worth.

purrrr · March 2009

I eat my meals so quickly and don't chew my food enough times, i have tried deliberately to chew the 100 times but i get bored of it before i'm even halfway :ohwell: i have been like this since a child and it can really be embarrassing if you eat with company... :embarassed: one thing i have found to be of help is using a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon - not only are the bites smaller but somehow because they are so small i tend to keep it longer in my mouth than i normally do just to be able to enjoy the taste all over my mouth receptors

Brenda_1965 · March 2009

Thank you for the compliment! :smooched: I just came from a marriage counseling session where it was discussed that I am a complex person!! I DO THINK A LOT!!! :embarassed:

They used to say that you should chew every bite 100 times, I believe, in part because it gives your stomach time to register that it is full (My goal is to realize 'just satisfied'!) :ohwell:

Let's be friends! I've enjoyed your aswers and suggestions as well!

Thanks for posting!

Brenda

P.S. Oh yeah, I think so dang much, and people say that I'm pretty intelligent and DRIVEN. SO I guess that's why it's so hard for me to take when the weight won't come off!!!:grumble: :mad: :explode:

(My dear sister lost 90 lbs in two years...and she looks great! I look at her and wonder, "What does she know that I don't?? I have been more successful in my profession and education... it floored me at first that she could do this and I couldn't.) :huh:

clairegl · March 2009

I do that with my sweets I think. It's funny that you wrote this because last night I managed (for the first time in over a week) to budget in some calories for a treat and I savored that puppy! I took teeny, tiny bites and chewed them and thought, I wonder if this is how most people eat dessert?
At any rate, it made me think maybe I've been missing out on this.
Great thread.
Claire

Brenda_1965 · March 2009

GREAT point prrrr. I think when the bite is too big, we just want to gulp it down to move on to a more reasonable bite. Sometimes when I have too much in my mouth, which isn't very common anymore, I try to swallow part of it so that I can at least enjoy half of it before I send it on down!

Lately when I eat my sandwich for lunch, I've been trying to think of NOTHING but the food sensations and how they mix together. EX. the texture of the almond butter, the texture of the preserves, the way the bread feels when it hits my stomach, and I try to figure out what taste I'm experiencing...

"almond butter... preserves... a nice mix of the two... then it moves to a different spot on my tongue and I notice a different aspect of it. Salty on one side, swished over to the right and now I can taste the sweetness of the berries, move the food with my tongue a bit, and then I can feel the different textures or even find another piece that can be chewed on some more)

I'm trying to be more conscious of this process, as I should also be doing as a driver (lol). But hey! Unsafe driving isn't the reason I'm overweight now!)

iftcheiaf- I forgot to tell you that the dog image made me laugh! (If I sat beside you at lunch, I might be tempted to lean in close, protect my plate, and growl a bit- just to tease you!) And yeah, the picture is vivid in my mind because I've done it TOO! That's what makes it so funny!

purrrr · March 2009

it's ok with desserts but i have started using the teaspoons for regular meals as well... i'm like a baby only just learning how to eat on her own :laugh:

oh another idea that struck my mind - bamboo sticks! i would always ask for these at the chinese restaurant just to be able to eat slow for once... too slow even as i was pretty lame with using them... now that i thought of it, i'll see to buy me some of these for use at home...

it's a good thing nobody sees me when i eat here or they would think i've totally lost it :laugh: (and i'm just trying to eat in a healthier manner)

Brenda_1965 · March 2009

Isn't it amazing how much psychology and art there is involved in the simple act of eating!

purrrr · March 2009

I feel much more fulfilled when I take BIG bites, but I just have to remember not to SWALLOW too soon!

"almond butter... preserves... a nice mix of the two... then it moves to a different spot on my tongue and I notice a different aspect of it. Salty on one side, swished over to the right and now I can taste the sweetness of the berries, move the food with my tongue a bit, and then I can feel the different textures or even find another piece that can be chewed on some more)

it was actually pointless naming the thread "don't take this the wrong way..." you should have just gone straight to the point and called it "food erotics" :laugh:

Brenda_1965 · March 2009

OMG!!! CAn I change the title! I want more input!

stillkristi · March 2009

hmmm food erotics. :blushing: I hope my mom doesn't read this! But seriously, I've never thought of food as a substitute for erotic pleasures, but I have had people in therapy who do. And, I guess food is more than fuel to me, because I enjoy the smell, the colors, the textures and flavors of food. In my blog one day, I talked about the difference between eating to live and living to eat. Or rather, the balance between the two. It seems like one key is mindful eating - as has been mentioned before, slowing down, and savoring the meal. Brenda, you seem to get a lot of savor out of your food. What I don't quite understand is the big bites. I know people who wolf down their food because they are in a hurry to get to the next thing, or, as Marla mentioned because they won't get to finish otherwise - so they take big bites and eat fast. But, I don't know many people who take big bites AND savor the food. What if you tried a big bite, but then put your knife and fork (or sandwich) down and savored the tasting, chewing, swallowing process?

Brenda_1965 · March 2009

good thoughts kristi... The bigger bite feels nicer because the food doesn't have to be moved from place to place in order to experience the various tastes... The are upon me all at once!

It's kindof like choosing between a Glade stick-up, or a mist to fill the room with. It's either slight or booming.

I guess I enjoy both ways of eating. Small or Large bites... the key seems to be keeping it in there long enought to enjoy it. I like the term 'Mindful Eating". hmmmm that sounds right.... "Mindful Driving". I can relate to that!

Glad you posted Kristi!

iTim__ · March 2009

:huh:

hoamai · March 2009

I don't know if this is relevant - but try eating with chopsticks - you won't put very large pieces of food in your mouth - it also slows down your eating pace

dothompson · March 2009

I'm not worrying about the size of the bite, but I'm trying to slow down and actually taste and savor the food. I am trying to swallow and make my mouth vacant before eating the next bite. I am finding it much harder than I would have thought. It makes me feel like a pig when I realize that I've been just shoveling it in, but I guess that's how I eat so quickly. As I am writing this maybe I'll try to say something between every bite so I have a reason to get my mouth empty. Hmm, dinner conversation, before my plate is empty, what a radical concept.

Brenda_1965 · March 2009

:embarassed: Yeah... That might be the best way... make sure the taste is gone before taking another bite. You might have it there. I'm helping my daughter make a chocolate cake. I took a small taste off the spoon with my finger and that wasn't enough to really enjoy with my whole tongue, so the next time I got just enough to taste the sweetness all through my mouth. Now... 2-3 minutes later, it is about gone. That sweetness did really hang in there quite awhile, consider the small amount of calories that was in there. I guess I do big AND small bites. It just might be the wait time between bites that needs to be extended.

To those of you who think I'm crazy for thinking so deeply about something so seemingly trivial, I'm just trying to relearn whatever it was I did as a kid, teenager, and college student. The way I treated food during my 'skinny years' (I'll add some of these twiggy pictures to my profile to show there is NO GOOD reason I can't make the 'healthy weight" cut before I die!) was much different than the way I interact with it today. I watch my daughter (my physical clone), and I am just trying to put my finger on it!

I DO BELIEVE it is the savoring of the bite.... (too bad I can't see in her mouth! ) I takes her F-o-r-e-v-e-r to put the next bite in). I bet she is mindful of what her tongue is experiencing. I DO think we have the answer... I think I'll 'chew' on this a few days! (with long rests between) LOL

The funny thing is, I remember wondering how people could taste their food when woofing it down. (did that term woofing come from the dog image ictheiaf created above):bigsmile: And then I adopted the habit!

Now, as I sit here, the sweet taste in my mouth has turned sourish... wonder what THAT'S about. I don't think I will go back out there to get another lick!

Brenda

Brenda_1965 · March 2009

OMG Dothompson. I just reread your post about dinner conversation. Is the vacant kitchen table and disappearance of dinner conversation the answer to America's obesity problem? (and not just the social issues... Remember the commercial where they show the red formica table.. and tell parents to eat at the table so they can connect with what goes on in their kids' lives?)

I feel terrible when my kids eat on the way to school, and in front of the TV and in the car on the way to gymnastics... It's just so hard. The stay home mom created a beautiful balance in the home. My mom did it; what a sacrifice she made for my family.

Alright. I need to stop thinking. I think I'll go read a book or check some papers!

Brenda

And Dave198lbs, in case you read this: The cake is safe in my house now! I have started my course of fluconazole now, I'm experiencing 'die off' today, and I do believe the candida yeast overgrowth has been knocked on it's butt! I'm sorry to let you down, but she just kept asking and asking for weeks in a row... IDK.

stillkristi · March 2009

While there is definitely something to be said for the family eating around the table together, I bet eating on the run, while not the best option, isn't the main culprit. Its got to be what we eat. At times, I can't make time at work for a well balanced, sit down meal, stuff happens. In the past, when that heppened, I would fill up on soda and microwave popcorn, or wait until after work and fill up on fast food on the way home. Now, I have some cans of Campbells Soup in Hand (or whatever those things are called) and I pop one of those in the microwave instead. Not a great meal option, but much better. I also keep a few other healthier snacks in my desk. The main thing is to have healthy alternatives and to keep from getting so hungry that we take the fast food/order pizza option.

Don't take this the wrong way...

Replies

Categories