3 simple new rules for eating

Those actually sound like great "rules". I caught part of Dr. Oz's show yesterday, and he was talking about a few of these things too - one of the reasons for the bloated feeling we get after a holiday meal (or any other big meal) is partly related to eating too fast, and undigested food getting into the intestines, rather than being completely digested in the stomach. Anyway, he recommended putting the utensil down between bites too, so that definitely sounds like a winner :-). Another suggestion is to drink water in between bites. That slows your eating down, helps get that water in, and the water will contribute to feeling fuller faster, but in a healthy way. I like the idea of leaving some food behind - I've been trying to do this more when I eat out (or just ask for a to go box early and put some away right off the bat) - definitely helps to cut the calories and you don't walk out feeling overstuffed.

Drink a big glass of water before you eat.

do you just throw the 3rd of food you dont eat away?

surely just cook less :noway:

As a fast eater, I agree with the first two. But why the third? Just put less food on your plate.

I use a smaller plate!

Mike
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Just portion out the amount of calories you have to eat. Eat what you portion. Done. If your meal is supposed to be 500 calories, and you put 500 calories worth of food on your plate, it doesn't matter how fast or slow you eat them.

I think all three are great ideas. As a fast eater I get what you are saying. And putting that fork down - good idea. I"m going to try these ideas.
As for leaving your food - I get that too. I eat off a salad plate but it's still easy to pile it up. But really, I think it is because I come from the "clean plate club" and if the plate isn't clean, then something is wrong. I try to leave 2 - 4 bites everything -and it's hard because I grew up having to clean my plate. It is like trying to retrain my brain to say it's ok to not eat every last scrap that is in front of me. And I toss what I leave on my plate because it's ok to do so!

Thanks for the great thread! Good Luck!

I've tried the chewing each bite a certain number of times and waiting before bites things before. Too often I'd get destracted by a conversation or something else and forget to count or put my fork down.

I don't understand the leaving 1/3 of the food on your plate rule. Why not just start with a smaller portion? I'd constantly hear my grandmother telling me to clean my plate because children were starving overseas if I tried that. :ohwell:

But if this works for you then I say go for it.

"#3 leave a third of my meal on my plate. "

I think the point of leaving food on the plate, is to show your mind that we really don't need to eat as much as we think we do to feel full.

In the end, if it works, don't fix it.

Hi all! I wanted to get your take on what you may think of these three simple rules I have just created for myself. Firstly you must know that I've identified (and my family too) that I unusually eat too fast. So after reading a few articles I've come up with what I think is a simple, adaptable solution to help my body better gauge being content vs. full.... #1 chew at least 20 times per bite. #2 wait 30 seconds before taking another bite (implement must not be in hand, but on the table) #3 leave a third of my meal on my plate...<Truncated for brevity>

Makes sense what you're trying to do, but that's a lot of conscious, mental counting just to eat a few bites (even for this accountant!), let alone a single meal! BUT...if you experiment with it and it seems to work for you, who am I to judge?

In terms of gauging satisfied vs. full, I think the content of what you eat is a bigger factor than the physical eating mechanics. For example, 400 calories of M&Ms will provide a different satiating effect than an equal calorie serving of broccoli. In terms of satiation vs. fullness, that is one aspect where not every calorie has the same effect on the body.

From a nutritional science perspective, there's a lot of research being done on a somewhat newly discovered hormone called leptin, and how leptin interacts with insulin and the foods we eat in terms of regulating physiological hunger signals within the body.

From another perspective, it makes sense that food sellers will want to design foods that help override normal satiation signals. In order to profit, food sellers (even diet food sellers) must be able to sell more calories than consumers actually need (opposite goal of most dieters)--so food has to be tasty but not so satisfying that they won't want to buy another food product for awhile.

I also think emotions play a role in overriding satiation signals. A lot of us (me included) have grown up with years of associating non-diet-friendly foods with positive emotions, during both stressful and good times, so we "crave" certain foods even though we're not physiologically hungry.

All I'm getting at is that if you're interested in this subject of satiation vs. hungry (and it seems you are), there are other avenues to look at it through in addition to your food rules experiment.