We all get the hunger pangs as lunchtime approaches but as so few of us have the time to go out and luxuriate over a proper meal these days, there’s a tendency to wolf down a sandwich at the desk before tackling the next round of emails. This style of eating leaves us feeling less than satisfied and more prone to snacking in the afternoon, which is hardly good for the waistline. However, we might eat more healthily by simply slowing things down a bit or as our mothers might say, “slow down, chew your food!”
Back in the 50s and 60s, when people made predictions about the future, it was thought the denizens of the 21st Century would all be living a life of leisure, with most of jobs done by computers and household chores being taken care of by machines. No such luck! People have never led busier lives and our beloved computers just take up more of our time than ever. Little wonder lunch is often a quickly gobbled sandwich at our desks and dinner tends to be whatever can be thrown together and cooked quickly when we get home from work.
Is trying to get an extra half hour’s work done to show off your dedication to the boss something worth putting your health at risk for? You, and probably your job too, will benefit from you slowing down when it comes to eating. A recent study published in the journal Appetite, claims that simply slowing down your eating at lunch can help you avoid getting the ‘munchies’ or a ‘snack attack’ in the afternoon.
Suzanne Higgs, Ph.D., of the University of Birmingham, in the U.K. has researched the effects of eating slowly. She found that whatever your lunchtime eating habits, when you chew each bite of your lunchtime meal for 30 seconds or more, you are much less likely to eat snacks later in the afternoon, than if you are throwing food down your neck like a starving Coyote. The reasoning behind this is that, slower eating helps your memory to register the food and bring it to mind later. With the food encoded in your memory you ‘know’ that you have already eaten and are not hankering for food later in the day. There are many other advantages to slow eating too:
Want to get more from your food and from your diet? Get in touch with us and we can make a plan to help you get back in touch with healthy eating.