According to the CDC, in 2007, only one state (Colorado) had an obesity rate lower then 20%. Thirty states had a prevalence equal to or greater than 25%; three of these states (Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee) had a prevalence of obesity equal to or greater than 30%. What does this mean? It means that, overall, Americans are a bunch of fatties.
Have you ever been someplace where you can watch people eat? Most people cram down their food as fast as they can shovel it in. They're overfed fatties; people who revel in the ecstatic joy of stuffing their bulging bodies as quickly as they can. And despite this willful over-indulgence, they moan to whomever will listen about how unhappy they are with their weight.
In Being Here, I talked about being mindful, about paying more attention to what you're doing at the moment, and thus bringing more satisfaction and enjoyment into your life. When we eat as described above, we aren't really paying attention to the whole process of eating. As such, we don't get all the pleasure we can from our meal
So I'm offering a tip which, properly employed, can do two things:
- Help you lose weight
- Enable you to enjoy your meals more
The tip? Eat with chopsticks.
Chopsticks will force you to slow down, as you won't be able to lever the half-pound fork-fulls of food into your mouth. It will take longer to eat, and you'll be forced to pay attention to your food and to the whole process of eating. Willfully slow down and notice how the food feels and tastes in your mouth. Close your eyes and focus the entirely of your attention on that single bite. You'll be surprised at how good it can taste.
Eating like this can have another benefit - you'll end up eating less. It takes about 15-20 minutes for your body to acknowledge the food you're eating and to begin to feel sated. Eating with chopsticks and taking your time means you won't have eaten as much food in that 15-20 minutes.
But you need to listen to your body; there's a difference between eating until you're not longer hungry and eating until you're full. Most people keep going, feeling some sort of compulsion to eat everything in front of them. Instead, stop eating when you're no longer hungry instead of going until you're full.
Eat less, enjoy more. Why not try?