4 Tips to Slow Your Roll (your sushi roll that is….)

My middle name should have been FAST instead of Lyn. I can hear my parent’s voices in my head from when I was little encouraging me to “Slow down Jen Jen, you’re going to hurt yourself!” Did I listen? I thought I did! But the scrapes and tears would say other wise. I also heard things like “Slow down on your homework!” (I wanted to get it done as fast as I could so I could get back to playing The Sims on my PC) or “Don’t speed you’ll get a ticket!” (May have had one of those despite the warnings…oops).

I am also totally aware that I am a fast talker (good thing I’m loud or it would probably be hard to understand me, and it gets even worse when I’m nervous) and I fold clothes like a toddler because of how fast I try to get it done (sorry to my husband, and thank you for being the primary clothes folder…).

Of all those activities I would say I am pretty aware of my flash like habits. But there was one activity that I would execute so fast that it was unknowingly causing me physical stress on my body…and that was….eating!!

On average this is how my eating motions went. Figure out what the heck to eat: 15 minutes. Make the meal: 30 minutes. Sit down and eat the meal: 6 minutes. Clean up the meal and do dishes: 20 minutes. And I’ve been this way as far back as I can remember! So much preparation and post activity to only enjoy the meal for 6 minutes. But I wasn’t aware!

Not only was I not enjoying and basking in the Gordon Ramsay meal I feel I had just made, but I was eating so fast that my body was not in a relaxation response so, therefore, I was under a stress response.

It is scientifically impossible for the body to heal or release weight under a stress response.

I was suffering from many different symptoms because of how fast I was eating. I would feel heavy and bloated. I would also not feel satisfied so I would end up eating more (either during the meal or shortly after the meal). I just wasn’t giving my body the chance to produce the hormones to tell my brain that I was full, I just ate till it hurt. Like the kind of hurt you feel when you eat 6 full Sushi rolls from the All You Can Eat menu from Island Sushi. That’s when you have to roll yourself out of the restaurant because you can’t walk.

I realized that’s not how I wanted to feel after I ate. I also realzied that I didn’t NEED to feel like that after I ate.

Here are the tips and tricks I’ve used to slow down my eating and put my body into a relaxation response vs. a stress response in order to optimize my digestion.

20 Minute Meal

Yes that’s right! I extended my meals from 6 minutes to 20 minutes. I started slow though! I added 5 minutes a day to each meal until I was at 20 minutes. Why 20 you ask? Because 20 minutes is how long it takes for your body to tell you that you’re full!

The next 3 actions are what I sprinkled in during meal time to help me extend my meal to the 20 minute goal.

Put Your Utensil Down Between Bites (x3 per meal)

I try doing this once near the beginning when I first eat, again towards the middle, and once more at the end of the meal. There is no need to be perfect and do what is best for you, even doing it once will naturally slow down your speed!

Breathe Between Bites (x3 per meal)

Make sure you swallow first or you might be faced with other unintended body stress! Breathing slows your intake and increases nutrition absorption. Also Oxygen SPEEDS up your metabolism. That’s the good kind of fast we want! I like to do this when I put my utensil down if possible.

Chew Your Food

Your parents weren’t just saying this when you were younger for grins and giggles! Chewing your food makes it easier for your intestines to absorb nutrients from food particles as they pass through. I didn’t realize how little I chewed my food until I really was conscious of it. This was a game changer to how my food felt in my stomach after my meal.

After changing those few habits I was pleasantly surprised at how much more enjoyable my meals were. I was also able to enjoy my hard work of cooking by savoring the meal longer. BONUS! After a few days I also found myself not over eating or reaching for that 4th meal snack before bed!

These tips were the needle movers for me, which really helped retrain my body to tell me when I was full. My body was not telling me that prior to these changes….or maybe I just wasn’t listening. There are a handful of other tips and tricks to become even more present and aware of your environment when you eat (which surprisingly plays into digestion as well!). I can’t wait to see the long term benefits I will have just by making these few small changes. HOW you eat is just as important if not more important than WHAT you eat. So go ahead and enjoy your Sushi roll, one small slow bite at a time.

How can you improve some of your eating habits? Every small step counts!