I have been a gulper and fast eater as long as I can remember. I love eating, have a hearty appetite and good digestion, but I have fallen into the habit of having my meals reading on my ipad, sitting opposite my husband doing the same. 

Recently I had a dream where I was reminded to savour my food, to enjoy and appreciate it, to slow down, and I came out of that dream realising that while what I eat is generally pretty high quality, the way I have been eating for a while now, is hardly best practice! 

What I realised is that I tend not to be present while I eat, to what I am eating. I do tend to eat home-made food sitting down at the table, rather than grabbing take away and eating in the car, but that is probably largely because I work from home. I know some people don’t have that luxury. 

Psychologists were interested in whether watching TV or doing mental work interferes with the body’s ability to notice the taste of food, such as sweet, sour or salty. And whether this may lead to eating more to get the satisfaction we normally derive from these tastes. And they got some volunteers to test this out and found that those who were engaged in a difficult task, who were preoccupied while eating, would rate the taste as less intense and eat more of it as a result. 

It is now normal for many people to eat in a stressed-out and rushed way, with the focus on getting to the end of the meal as fast as possible. This is not good for our digestion, and is much more likely to lead to overeating. 

In another study, iron-deficient women in both south east Asia and Sweden were given a meal with a specific amount of iron in it, that was delicious to the south east Asian women but not the Swedes. The Asian women absorbed 50% more of the iron from the meal than the Swedish women. So the scientists then made the same meal and mushed it into a paste, and had the Asian women eat it- in this form, they did not enjoy it and absorbed 70% less of the iron.

We know there are immense benefits for a regular daily family meal at the table. This has been backed up in studies which have been shown that eating together 3 or more days a week helps adolescents eat more healthy foods, be less likely to be overweight and less likely to engage in disordered eating. So while eating in front of the TV can be a wonderful occasional family event, doing it every night is not good for anyone. 

On the other hand, if the family meal is full of tension and arguments, this is not a good thing either. 

Back to savouring. Another term used commonly nowadays, and gaining more scientific credibility, is mindfulness. Even if we commit just the beginning of the meal to mindfulness, to savouring, it can set the tone for the rest of the meal. Often we don’t taste more than the first mouthful, so we can intentionally slow down, take a couple of deep breaths, and first have a look at the meal before us. This visual sets our various complex digestive juices going, and can affect how well the meal is digested. 

Then we can consciously lift the fork and enjoy the first mouthful, chewing mindfully, savouring and really enjoying. We really need to be eating food that we enjoy, that is delicious to us, as this is a positive part of the whole eating and digestive process. Keep going for those first few mouthfuls, at least 10 minutes if possible. 

For those with disordered eating patterns, or any food/eating issues, slowing down to focus on those first mouthfuls can be overwhelming. That’s why I suggest starting with just the beginning of a meal. 

I am reminded of author Geneen Roth’s Eating guidelines from her book, Women, Food and God. 

I really recommend reading the book, but some ideas from it include that we tend to be out of touch with our bodies, we often confuse thirst with hunger, and we have forgotten what it is like to feel healthy hunger. Likewise, we have forgotten what it is like to feel satisfied, to notice those signals, for the most part. 

When we are not paying attention to our eating, when we eat too fast, in distracted environments or while doing something else, when our fight/flight reflex is switched on, when we have left eating to when we are famished and our blood sugar has dropped….our digestion is not going to work very well. And we are more likely to overeat or make poor food decisions. 

Being more mindful and savouring our food can also help us get more in touch with what the body’s intelligence wants us to eat. Our bodies need to be well fueled, but we often have all sorts of ideas and beliefs and rigid patterns around eating, which may be different from what our body is actually calling for. 

And please don’t think I am meaning that we need to eat in meditative silence for every meal. While that might suit some of us some of the time, we are social creatures and sharing food and eating with gusto are important parts of the enjoyment of eating. 

So will you join me in devoting some moments of mindful eating to your meals? Let’s nurture ourselves by savouring and enjoying, minimising distractions, and eating with gusto what tastes delicious and is satisfying. Our bodies and digestion will only benefit.