Description: The Squad explores a practice to cut back on mindless eating. Your health matters!
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Transcription: Hi, and welcome to episode five of season four of Self-Care for Educators. I'm your host, Tina Boogren. This week's invitation is to eat slowly. This one is a tricky one for a lot of us. So, here's what we know from the research. The research tells us that it takes anywhere between 15 and 20 minutes to receive the signal that we are satisfied, and for most of us, boy, we don't take 15 to 20 minutes to eat. Which sounds crazy when you say it out loud, but time yourself. So, I've been doing this. I was timing ... I just sat down to eat and was timing how long it takes me to eat. And, you guys, I'm like eating in eight minutes, and so that's not going to help me listen to my body to figure out when I am satisfied and when I should stop eating. And so, I've been working on this, and I'm going offer this up to you as well, is to slow down now. In order to slow down, one of the things that I know for me is that I really need to eat without distractions, right? So, that I'm really, really paying attention and I'm not watching TV or trying to scroll through social media or do anything else.
So, step number one for me for eating slowly is removing distractions and then, whew, what I've been trying to do is take like a little intermission about halfway through my meal. So, when I sit down to eat, I kind of eyeball where I think half the halfway point is. And, when I reach that point, I literally stop, and I try to do a two minute, sometimes it's one minute, but a ideally a two minute like intermission. So, this is, this is obviously helping to slow me down, right? So, if, if I've eaten for four minutes and then I do a little two minute intermission there and then ease back into it, that's really helpful for me to try to reach that, what feels so crazy long, that 15 to 20 minute point so I can start to pay attention to whether I'm full or not. So, I've removed distraction. Slow down. Take that little intermission. And then, the other thing that I've been doing to help myself slow down is to put my food or my fork down when my food is in my mouth. So, food in mouth, fork on plate, or food in mouth, food on plate. It just, again ... So, it's not that that mindless kind of shoving in the food, it's really forcing me to slow down, and I'm not perfect at this by any stretch, but when I'm conscious of this and do this, wow, it makes such a difference.
I realize that I don't need to just finish my plate. I also feel so much better at the end of a meal, like I'm not totally stuffed and have this desire to just lay down and be done. Instead, I still feel energized and feel really good and not dragged down and that icky feeling we get when we've kind of eaten too much or eaten too quickly, and my digestion is so much better. So, that's what I'm going to play with this week, and I want you to play with me, is let's really think about how we can slow down our eating and see if that makes a difference in the amount of food we eat and how we feel. Maybe prior to eating during the meal and then after the meal, and if we're catching ourselves and recognizing maybe a little sooner or, or a little later, depending on how you look at that, of when we've had enough and we can be done. I think there's nothing more frustrating, and we've all been there so many times where we scarf down food and then I realized we didn't even get to enjoy it. We hardly even tasted it. We don't even remember eating it.
So, you know, not only is this good for us as a food routine, it's also again, one of those that has a double dip over into I think our mental wellness. When we allow ourselves to, we could think of this as just a little bit of a break, a little bit of a rest that helps us kind of reset our minds and really get back to basics of enjoying our food. We deserve to eat, and if this feels hard to do it every single meal, maybe you just start with one. Maybe you just start with lunch or you start with breakfast, or start with dinner and try it out. See, see how it makes you feel. As always, you know, I'm a huge fan of action research, you know, giving things a shot, seeing if it has an impact, and then maybe that's the boost to say, okay, I've done it at one meal, now I'm gonna do this at two meals. Or, see if you, by the end of the week, can get yourself all the way up to three meals where you are really, really eating slowly. Paying attention to when you are starting to feel satisfied so that you can stop so that you can not feel so lethargic after a meal. Still feel energized and ready to go, and see if it makes a difference.
As always, just try it out and I'd love to hear how it goes. Jump on over to the Facebook group if you feel like it, and let us know, or any other maybe tricks that you have, kind of like re moving distractions or taking that intermission or thinking about food in mouth, fork on plate. See if that works for you, as well. I do a lot of work with Girls Gone Strong. I am certified through that organization and also work with a coach through Girls Gone Strong. And, that's one of the core ... This is one of those core essential habits that we work on over and over and over again. And, I'll be, I'll be good at it for a little while, and then I'll kind of forget and come back to it. And, it's just such an important one and it makes such a difference for me that I wanted to offer it up to you, as well.
As always, thank you, Brooke. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for making this happen. Thank you to Solution Tree and Marzano Resources. I feel so grateful to do this work. And, to you, biggest thanks of all to the bad-ass Self-Care Squad. Thanks for listening. Thanks for trying the invitations. Thanks for reaching out. Thank you for cheering for one another. Feel my hand on your back as you move into this week, and I hope you have an an amazing, amazing week. You are awesome.
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