Eating Mindfully: How to Pay Attention to What You Eat and Stop Just Before You're Full | Hacker News Reader

Eating Mindfully: How to Pay Attention to What You Eat and Stop Just Before You're Full

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One of the most useful diet-related facts I've learned is that it takes about 15 minutes for the "I'm full" signal to propagate from your stomach to your brain. Of course, I'm not so consistent at putting this knowledge into practice....

That's one of the reasons it's great to eat with others. You'll have great conversations, and if you're as talkative as me, the latency is more than kept at bay. :-)

Eating is kind of funny. A big reason to eat something is because you like the taste of it. So you would think you would want to eat slowly and keep it in your mouth for as long as possible since that's where you taste it.

Instead, the instinct (presumably evolution based) is to eat a lot of it quickly. So besides the nice taste, we are also wired to derive satisfaction from swallowing the food. If this link between tasting and swallowing as the atomic satisfaction producer could be broken, it seems like it could be helpful for people who eat too much.

I have two kids, one who is definitely a fast eater, and the other who eats at a glacial pace. It's not hard to figure out who has the potential for weight problems. At least he's into outdoor activities ... and I've limited TV, and put off getting a Wii.

But I have to say, for Ms. Glacial, I do have to push her sometimes to eat faster, especially in the morning. I feel terrible about it, but the bus and school can't wait for her 45-minute breakfasts ... unless I start making everyone get up 30 minutes earlier.

I literally 'inhale' Zebra Cakes much to my wife's dismay.

I'm skinny as a rail though (I worry more about sugar intake than weight) so feel free to hate me.

My brother used to live on Zebra Cakes and Mountain Dew, and he was always super thin. Alas, as he approaches thirty, the Zebra Cakes are starting to show. :)

It's be interesting to see the differences between eating processed and unprocessed foods while eating slowly. I just cannot envision a person taking a bite of a Zebra Cake, putting it down and "savoring"

Perhaps the greatest effect this may have is on the choice of actual food to be savored over the crap, high calorie, processed foods of today.

You must have a very large trachea.

When I was recovering from elective gum surgery, I could only safely chew with the teeth on one side of my mouth. And for the first time, I had to chew and eat slow. It's harder now that I no longer need to do that but chewing using one side of your mouth can dramatically slow your intake rate.

I've always just been a slow eater. In effect, it's the same thing. I feel full "sooner" since the food has time to reach my stomach and most of the time, I don't even finish out the entire meal.

I need to learn this; so when I have kids it can be taught from early on although in public school its constantly under attack with 30 min lunches (25 of those being in line).

This is great advice, but I've never been able to do anything like this while working.

I know, I know, you're supposed to get away from your terminal and eat in the other room. But I never do.

I either a. eat a meal while surfing or b. munch on something while coding. It's the munching while coding that I've never been able to do "mindfully".

The best coding munchies are almost always the worst things to eat, like microwave popcorn, chips, cookies, and soda. When you're 4 levels deep into a nested routine, who notices that the munchies are gone? I suppose I could eat fresh fruit or something like that, but honestly, has anyone ever gotten into the "coding zone" eating grapes?

Grapes, bags of spinach, you name it. The trick is to not stock munchies that you don't want yourself to code on. If you don't have it, you can't eat it. The other trick is to not cut out all snacking but stock up on snacks that fill the void without expanding the void, so to speak.

And drink a tall glass of water three minutes before you feel like snacking. It'll keep you hydrated, which is good, and you'll snack less on average. A lot of the munchies is actually dehydration (like late night snacking).

Also, if you have peanuts or something and you're just watching TV rather than coding try eating them with chopsticks to slow you down so you notice when you're full. Once you get good at that, try peanuts with a fork or do the toss and catch or something ;-)

There are completely different snacks that are decent treats while/between coding. The trick is to make things that a little bit of a chore to cook -- things like eggs, or salads, or falafel. I like pita with tahini, or olives, or fruit leather. I also like soup -- in particular, hot and sour soup, when I'm feeling a chill :-)

PS: If grapes aren't quite 'coding munchie' enough for you, try roasting with garlic, olive oil, pepper and salt. This really works. Mmm.

I find if I gorge on carbs or rich foods during work time, I'll start to feel sluggish and want a nap. If I eat a small to medium portion of veggies and fruits, I'll be able to maintain (elevate even) my focus without the "food-ludes".

I don't know if it's age (in my late 20s) or an increased interest in being attuned to my body, but food management has become critical to my daily productivity.

So yeah, I get into the coding zone with grapes.

I always leave the office for lunch, just to get away. And I bring a book.

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