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LIVE WELL WITH LAURA

The metabolic power of slow

by Laura Burkett-Holstine, HHC

Are you a slow eater, moderate eater, or fast eater?

If you are wolfing down your food at record speed, consider the benefits of practicing presence at the dinner table.

7 Reasons for Relaxed, Slow Eating

1.) The cephalic digestive response is triggered.

This is the response that signals digestion through stimulation of the senses and begins in the head. An example of this is smelling freshly made cookies. Digestive enzymes are activated and saliva production increases (which also helps breakdown food). It's said that up to 40% of total digestive response happens during the cephalic stage. Who wants to be digesting at 60% capacity? If we deprive ourselves of this experience the brain literally sends more signals to search for more food AFTER you've already eaten.

2.) Slow eating helps you slow down in life.

How we do anything is how we do everything.

3.) It may help relieve digestive issues.

I've seen several accounts of people clear up digestive issues by simply agreeing to actually eat when they eat. Full presence = full digestive strength. Ever notice how food doesn't quite sit right when you're distracted, worried, stressed, or angry?

4.) Thermic efficiency and oxygen uptake, and intake increases.

Quick eating is typically paired with short, shallow breathing. Just like a fire grows in size and heat when fanned with oxygen, our metabolic fire increases and calorie-burning capacity increases by simply slowing down and fanning the internal flames with breath during meals. In short, full breathing helps your body burn through your food.

5.) Allows for energy.

Eating without chewing properly or eating too quickly can demand quite a bit from our body. Much of the energy we could be using is now being devoted to trying to digest and break down all the food it’s been slammed with. Symptoms can include tiredness after meals and indigestion.

6.) Slowing down allows for eating to the point of energy.

Most people eat until they’re filled with food. Without practicing full presence, it may take more extreme stimulants to register satisfaction. Many will overly salt or season their food, need large amounts of food, gravitate toward loud entertainment, or crave extra cocktails or fast food to satisfy the senses. In this subtle practice, we train ourselves to eat to the point that we’re filled with energy. This discernment can only take place if we give the body the space and time to experience it.

7.) Leads to weight loss

Eating during the stress response hinders the body's ability to recognize satisfaction. Metabolic efficiency decreases. In this way, it doesn't matter if you are eating broccoli or ice cream. If you're stressed, the body is more likely to hold onto calories. This may also thwart even the best of intentions behind a health foodie's' meal selection, if each meal is backed with feelings or stress or anxiety over simply choosing the "right" foods.

All this may also explain why many can continue to eat the same foods yet still experience weight gain as stress or perceived stress increases. The physiologic stress-response naturally shifts the body to shallow upper-chest breathing, reducing metabolic capacity.

Slowing down simply allows you to become fully embodied and experience all sensations of eating. “Enough” becomes more clear. Who hasn't experienced the feeling of eating while rushed or distracted, followed by searching through cupboards for something more to eat?

I can usually tell a lot about the way a person lives his or her life based on the speed at which they eat. Our journey in yoga allows us to simply be more aware. I encourage you to notice the speed at which you eat and how that may reflect other areas of your life. As many gifted teachers remind us, the practice of yoga is both on and off the mat.

Visit Laura at www.RealFoodWellness.com