Importance of slow eating (not only after bariatric surgery)

Eat fast and faster

I was always a fast eater. Slow eating was nothing I even considered. It came from my family. When I was a kid, I used to have competitions with my father who would eat lunch faster, and trust me, I became a champion in this discipline. Unfortunately, I never forgot it.

When I was living on my own, I was never thinking about how fast I was eating. The truth is, that the food was disappearing from my fridge at the speed of light. That was a fact. So no wonder that I usually shoveled down much more food than was necessary and I often caught myself heavily overeated. I was eating way too fast and my body didn’t have time to tell me it was already full. I think you understand me.

No change on the horizon

And before I knew it, the weight started to pile up. I was trying many different diets to get rid of it. But even when I was restricting my food, sometimes it was crazy attempts, but I was still eating very fast. No matter how little/much I had on the plate, I was not eating with cutlery but with a snow shovel. How embarrassing from today’s perspective. But it was like that, let’s freely admit that. No shame there. What you learn as a kid, you hardly re-learn later.

And it was exactly my case. When I got to the point of deciding on bariatric surgery, one of the first things I was told by the dietician was the importance of eating slowly. It made no sense to me at that time – yet. I thought that what counts is how much I eat, and it doesn’t matter if fast or slow.

Things are not as straightforward

First of all, talking here all the time about my bariatric surgery, it is crystal clear that after the surgery you are not able to eat fast no matter how much you would love to. It is physically impossible. Every spoonful is a battle at the beginning. And many many months later as well.

Second, I realized much later (learned from experience) that if you eat slowly, your body has time to “think” about how much food it needs, and when you are full, you stop. Simple as that. One little comment here: if you are forcing your kids to eat everything you put them on the plate, slap yourself. They know much better than you when they are full—no need to teach them how to overfeed themselves from the very beginning.

Third, the food tastes better when you give yourself time to savor it and enjoy it. It is not a competition, you should enjoy your meals, not rush through them like Usain Bolt. And you won’t have stomach ulcers. That is another plus. It was always getting on my nerves how much time Spanish people spend on the food. Lunch that takes them three hours at the weekend??? Come oooon!!! Well, there is a reason why these people live to 90 and they are thriving.

Spanish life lesson

If there is something I learned in this country, it is to eat slowly, enjoy my food, prepare it with love, serve it nicely on the plate, and then give myself time to go through that. It is a very different experience than throwing something in the microwave and eating it on the run from a plastic. Yuck!

If you say you don’t have time to do this, please make sure you have enough time to deal with the consequences fast eating and crappy food will do to your stomach and health in the long term. And if you think it takes forever to cook yourself a healthy meal, you are completely wrong.

There is nothing faster than throwing a chicken breast on the grill, yes, the one you can use in the kitchen, and while the machine is working for you, just cut some leafy greens, add any crunchy veggies you find in the fridge, and add a little olive oil over it. I swear this takes 15 minutes and it is healthy and yummy. How much longer this is than microwave pizza??? See? This!

Bad habits die hard

Obviously, I am not perfect, sometimes I forget, especially when I am stressed or rushing to finish something at work, it is easy to eat fast. But I get punished in the middle of the meal. My stomach cramps, I feel incredibly full all of a sudden and then the rest of the day is ruined. See, this is how quickly things from our past get us. Insane. When you least need it, they emerge out of nowhere.

Lesson learned

Be mindful of your food. If you eat slowly, it has only benefits for you. You are very likely to eat less, you will know when you are full, you will enjoy your food, you will know how the food tastes like. There is nothing bad about it. Ok, eating for three hours, is an exception for the weekend and it is a larger cultural thing, but I think that half an hour is very doable. At least you will give rest to your head and feel refreshed after. Not sluggish and tired. That is the crucial difference.