Saturday 3 June 2017

Be kind to your body

Hello and good morning. As I was sitting here eating my breakfast while browsing the internet, I suddenly remembered, it is not recommended to eat at the office desk. I'm not sure why that is, possibly because it encourages you to rush food and get back to work, or, that you should concentrate on every mouthful and let your taste buds savour the moment without interruption. 
I must say, I don't go along with this, for me eating and looking at a screen go hand in hand. I eat more slowly while reading or watching a video. My breakfast has just taken me 25 minutes to eat.
I know a certain person, won't name names but someone I know well, who shoves his food down his throat at breakneck speed. When I am in his company eating a meal he always berates me for eating so slowly. He says I should eat it while it is hot because it will be cold before I am finished. I could never understand why this should be a problem, hot food cold food what does it matter. I think the fact that he is overweight says a lot about his eating habits. 
 Food digestion starts in the mouth, by chewing food and mixing it with saliva not only adds to the enjoyment of eating by titillating your taste buds, it also starts the breaking down process in preparation for it moving on  through the gullet and into the stomach. If you are going to force feed yourself your body will not be able to extract all the nutrients it needs, and you will probably end up with one awful belly ache as it struggles to break everything down.

I like the saying, 'your eyes are bigger than your belly', yes, it happens to me sometimes, but not very often. I nearly always eat everything on my plate. Occasionally I stop eating before it's all gone, and put it in the fridge for the next day, but not very often.

When I am at home all day my breakfast takes me 25 minutes to consume, my lunch 40 minutes, and my dinner 45 minutes. Admittedly when I was working full time I wasn't able to give so much time to eating, but now I am retired I am more mindful about how I should treat my body.

I prefer to eat alone, because I can concentrate on every mouthful, even in front of a screen. When I am in company I find it difficult to have a conversation and eat at the same time. My mum told me never to speak with my mouth full, and yes it is rude if your friends can see what's going on in your mouth.

I never stick to set times for my meals, I have approximate times, depending on whether my previous meal has gone through me quickly or slowly. I wait until my stomach tells me it is ready for more. Breakfast is about 8am, lunch between 11.30 and 1.30pm, dinner between 5 and 7pm.

Eating tons of food at a fast pace is basically self abuse. I sometimes read about eating challenges where people sit round a table scoffing vast quantities of one type of food, eggs comes to mind. Some of these people must be totally oblivious to the damage they are causing themselves. Indeed some of them do die. I would like to see this type of challenge totally banned. Aside from the health point of view, there is a moral issue that to publicly fill yourself to bursting point is an insult to those who don't have enough to eat.

To wind up, are you a slow eater or a fast eater? Do you watch a screen while you are eating, like me, or not? Do you eat alone or with others? Do you put too much on your plate, or is the quantity just right? Do you have a cooked meal at lunchtime or something lighter? Do you have a cooked meal in the evening or is that high tea time? Questions questions questions, come on, tell us your scoffing habits, or tell me to mind my own business, ha ha.

Thanks for popping in, have a nice weekend, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

32 comments:

  1. I'm one of those people with a tendency to eat too fast, so when I eat, I try to eat at table with proper dishes rather than in the kitchen. I don't have telly and the computer is in the bedroom, so sometimes when I'm alone, I listen to music or read and try to be aware and slow down. I also watch my portions and very often have left over dinner at breakfast if I don't have yogurt or cereal and fruit. I think you've got the best idea about taking your time.

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  2. since i gave up smoking 4 years ago i have started eating more veg.i had never tasted a sprout til a year ago now i eat a plate of veg everyday for tea.i dont do breakfast and dinner is usually a sandwich of dairylea or cheese.i can eat the same things everyday,it doesnt bother me.i usually do this as if ive opened/ bought something,ill keep eating til its all gone.i do munch in the evening which i really should stop lol but i dont drink or smoke so i have to have a treat lol.im a bit obsessed with peanut butter and put it in everything!

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    1. Good on you for giving up smoking. Sprouts and broccoli, my favourite veggies.

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  3. We always sit at the table whether it be for a sandwich or a meal. It does make you register you've had food.

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  4. It depends where I am and how much time I have as to the speed of eating; if alone I like to read or watch youtube etc as I find this relaxing and I don't tend to rush. I have to agree with your comments about eating challenges - I can't see the point of it, but find it rather puzzling why they do it and as you say it could be deemed offensive when so many in the world go hungry (just my personal view). I have to eat breakfast, favourite time and meal of the day being an 'early bird', because if I don't I feel unwell later so it is a very important meal for me. Lunch can be 'brunch' or lunch time again depending on where I am and what I am doing so between 10.30am and 2pm. Dinner is flexible as well, between 4pm and 7pm, if I eat later than this I can't sleep properly as I feel too full. There is a saying, 'breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper'. This suits me, but we're all different. Amanda

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  5. I know I eat quickly, too fast? I don't know. For me it goes back to high school days when we had to eat quickly to clear the dining hall and to have more time outside nattering with friends!

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  6. Hello all! Happy Saturday! Ilona, your food looks so fresh, healthy and appetising: my mouth is watering just reading your blog.

    I think that, if a person is prone to over-eating, sitting down with no distractions is a great idea. "Mindful eating" is what they call it, I believe. For those with no issues around food, then eating while reading or working or whatever is probably fine: they aren't likely to be distracted into munching too much nosh.

    Like Brynsmum, I am apt to eat too quickly so I make a point of setting a proper place at the table and making a bit of an event of my meals.

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  7. I'm a grazer as a sheep or cow.I used to eat at normal meal times but now I prefer to eat when I'm hungry.Usually I thinl< quite healthy.When I was young I was anorexic and so now I can only eat when relaxed and when worried I can't eat.My problem is salty snacks ? nuts and crisps so I rarely buy them.I try to remind myself that my body is an engine and can only worl< well with good fuel especially as I have got older x

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    1. Flis,I hear you: cheese, crisps or salty snacks are my diet Nemesis! I suspect you have more willpower than I have, though!

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    2. I could easily pile the weight on but I wear jeans a lot or jodhpurs with a waistband and zip so I can tell when the fat is gathering x

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    3. Crisps are my downfall too. I've set myself a personal challenge of not eating crisps for the month of June, hoping to break myself of the habit. Is this really only the 3rd? Going to be a long month. Karen

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    4. Flis,im with you on that one..concerning jeans and waistbands.Debi,Leic,x

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  8. I am a slow eater, not purposefully, but it's just the way I am and prefer to sit at the table to eat while my husband likes to sit on the settee and watch TV. It goes back to when he was working a stressful job and liked to 'wind down' watching something trivial, usually something from the afternoon that I'd recorded.
    For breakfast I usually have a banana but sometimes toast, lunchtimes is usually a sandwich and then dinner which can be anything. We don't eat much meat and I will only eat chicken and prefer it(chicken) cold to hot.
    As someone said in a comment above I don't mind eating the same thing two or three days on the trot either, but my husband likes different things every day. We are so different in many things that sometimes I wonder how we ever stayed together.

    Joan (Wales)

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  9. It's been my experience that people who wolf down food may have come from households where extra food may not have been in abundance when growing up. In a situation where you have 3 or 4 active teenage boys and not enough second servings to go around. And quite agree about those eating contests where the goal is to eat 80 hotdogs in 2 minutes,etc. Revolting!

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  10. I prefer to watch or read while eating as I get bored otherwise, its a treat to sit down to watch something with my lunch. we used to sit with the family at mealtimes around a table but I got indigestion from trying to encourage teenagers to have a decent conversation. now we have a 1 hr grays anatomy to watch with my teenage son while having our tea which we all enjoy.

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  11. I tend to eat fast. I agree with the comment that if food was scarce then you tend to gobble it up (i was at college in Liverpool in the '80's and the nuns kept a tight hold on how much was used in the canteen). My fav meal is breakfast, not much for lunch and, I will try and skip tea but force myself to have something at about 5pm. I often get the munchies at about 10pm so dive into the fruit bowl. I sit at the kitchen table. I love silence so probably won't have the radio on. Natalie

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  12. Now that I'm home more I have breakfast at around 7:30/8:00am - usually fruit & yogurt, sometimes cheese & toast with an apple and if I'm having a cooked breakfast then meat, egg & veg - no carbs. I tend to eat lunch a little later now - around 2pm - and that tends to be my main meal - protein with lots of veg or more often now, a big salad (4 or 5 veggies, a grain, a protein and additions like nuts or seeds, beets or grapes - and if I have any leftover cooked veg in the fridge I'll often add those as well). Then supper will be something light, maybe some raw veg with hummus or a fruit salad - or yogurt & fruit if I didn't have it for breakfast.
    I think I eat too quickly but when I'm out with others I seem to be one of the slowest.
    I'm on my own so usually eat in front of a screen - it's company.
    I do like to eat with others and have a good conversation - it helps to slow me down. I do eat out but also like to entertain and will often give friends a call to drop by for something casual.
    My downfall is carbs, especially breads & sweets - I have a terrible sweet tooth! I really do make an effort to limit things these days and will make treats something that I have out or if at home will make one serving last two meals.

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  13. Well we(my mam,sister and grandaughter!] have all been to the River side Festival today.Its a brilliant day and the weather was lovely.We all said that we would take our own lunch with us,cause with my grandaughter and me both being veggy,it was easier.for me to do both our pack ups.We had mixed fresh fruit for brekky,then had 3 snadwiches each to take,with garlic n herb creme cheese n grated carrot on them.Also we took falafels,with mayo n garlic dip,a small vegetable tart each and some lentill curl crisp type things!.We took lemon flavoured water and i treated my grandaughter to fresh coconut with the top chopped of with a straw in it.You would have been well impressed with the ..Junk Food..stall.They had mountains of food,that the supermarkets were throwing out and the food bank didnt need.All fresh veg..n some meat..made into meals and wraps and they ask you to just put a donation in the box.Lots of people were eating and the food looked really nice,But we had already got our lunches and didnt want to waste them!.I was talking to one of the guys who worked there and said i thought that they were doing a great job by not letting the food go to landfill and he said that the amount supermarkets through out is shocking.....Oh my grandaughter also got me on making a piece of wall art for her bedroom!..Which involved me sitting on a bike,peddling,to power a round tin....in which was placed old LPs..and as it spun round...with me pedding madly,the girl running it swirled paint on the LP,..pinks,blues,purples...n it cant out brilliant!!.And best of all,it was free!.Although,my mam and sister did find it hysterical to watch me!,lol.Great day though!!,Debi,Leic,x

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  14. Lol,I meant the wall art came out brilliant,lol,Debi,Leic,x

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  15. Your art making reminds me of a stand on skeggy pier when I was little.You sploshed paint onto paper inside a record player and it spun round powered by electric I think,and like magic an abstract work of art appeared-not such fun as you had though x

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    1. Hi,Flis,I remember those stands.We used to go to one in Mablethorpe,in Funland on the High Street.The lady who ran it used to ...limit us ...with a telling off..if we used too much paint in the tubes,lol.That is proberbly getting on for 40 years ago when i used to take my daughter.They done it on a piece of card and you was so proud of the end result!....unless,she was in a bad mood and only let you use very little paint!,lol..Cant blame her though ,now looking back,lol,Debi,Leic,x

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  16. While I was working, I skipped breakfast, rushed down a quick lunch, and ate supper, if there was time...all the time snacking through the day. I retired nearly one year ago and began to eat with purpose...losing forty pounds without effort. I now try to do everything with purpose. I am more creative, more active, more loving and more caring for myself and others.

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    1. Well done on the weight loss, Kathie. Your previous eating routine doesn't sound very healthy at all.

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  17. I'd get the sack if I took 40 minutes to eat my lunch as I only get a 30 minute break. I have to get to the Staffroom and unpack my lunch, clear up afterwards and return to my office in that time.

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    1. Longer meal times will be something to look forward to when you retire.

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  18. I was lucky enough to be based in an office on an old airfield so took my dog to work with me everyday. I would split my 45 minutes lunch break into 25 mins dog walking and 20 mins lunch whilst listening to the radio in my camper van. Idyllic in the summer not so good in the winter. Only a sandwich but with the walk it kept my weight down. No need to rush to the shops in your dinner break there we were in the middle of the Norfolk countryside! So quite a leisurely lunch with my best friend. Loving your breakfast Ilona. Rae x

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  19. I've never been able to wolf down food quickly, even as a young woman if I did I would get indigestion and now I have a hernia I have to be careful. I generally keep some food in reserve in my steamer whilst I'm eating, because I am so slow it always goes cold. I just refill the plate with the stuff that's been keeping hot. I eat almost all my main meals with the computer on, as I live alone it provides company. I always read a book whilst eating lunchtime sandwiches/snacks etc. I have muesli for breakfast or toast, I never miss breakfast as I feel ill without it. With the hernia and acid reflux I cannot go longer than about 3 hrs without eating as it causes pain. I stopped taking ppi tablets years ago as they made me feel so unwell. I generally stick with small meals and often. I enjoy food but find shopping for it and cooking it very boring, there are lots of other things I'd rather be doing!!

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    1. I have no problems eating but if I'm the slightest bit worried my stomach tenses and I can't face it.I'm best if I have classic FM on and sit quietly.I don't like taking tablets either Kate.Some years ago I was put on beta blockers for an overactive thyroid,my doctor at the time made a mistake on a repeat prescription and prescribed double strength which would have slowed my heart far too much-luckily I spotted it at the chemists x

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  20. yorkshire lass4 June 2017 at 18:59

    I love breakfast the most; homemade meusli, cooked breakfasts, beans or eggs or tomatoes or tin spaghetti on toast, grapefruit or mixed fruit. I can eat 3 courses for breakfast. Midday I eat only a light soup or salad and a cooked meal in the evening. I have a sweet tooth and am trying to resist cakes and biscuits by always having plenty of fruit in. My favourite sweet snack now is an apple cut in wedges with a peanut butter dip. It needs to be good peanut butter though , made with peanut oil no palm oil or saturated fats. I keep my evening meals light on meat about 3 times a week with plenty of veg and since I stopped working full time I am now losing weight.

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  21. This is a good reminder for me, as I tend to eat too fast--a habit left over from the days as a working mom when my life was frantically busy. I always sit at the dining table, as I find it more comfortable than juggling the plate on my lap as so many seem to do nowadays. If my spouse is away, I sometimes look at a magazine, but find it difficult to do that and eat at the same time. I also try to have some treat that my spouse doesn't like (such as spinach pie) when he is away and I don't like to be distracted from that!

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  22. I agree with you! Eating contests are disgusting and gross. They have hot dog eating contests too. Some people don't have enough to eat and then some people are shoving eggs or hot dogs down their throats. Very wrong.

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  23. I had a friend who was heavy-set, former military (old enough he was field commissioned in Vietnam), and ate so fast that when we were all out together he made a point of ordering last and asking to be served last, and he'd still eat everything on his plate so fast he was the first person done with half an hour or more to spare. He said that in the military there wasn't a lot of time to eat so they learned to do it fast - "Eat fast or go hungry." I told him, you've retired from all that, slow down. Alas he died in his 60s of a heart attack. :(
    Sandi in Oklahoma

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