We all heard the proverb “Slow and Steady wins the race,” originally coined in Aesop’s famous fable,  The Hare and the Tortoise. Although there are many different and insightful interpretations of this story, the most common understanding is that consistent and effective effort leads to success.

In a world where speed is heralded, efficiency is applauded and communication is at  lightening speed, it is refreshing to hear that some things still should be done slooooowwwly.

I am referring to our most common and necessary action – Eating. Eating and chewing your food slowly is one of the easiest ways to improve your life and also knock off a few pounds. In fact according to some studies, slowing down and eating slowly can result in major weight loss.

The reason being is that it takes about 20 minutes for our brains to signal that we are full. If we are frantically stuffing our faces with food, we end up consuming way than we would if we were eating slooooooooowwwwwwly.

The digestion process starts as soon as a morsel of food enters our mouths. If we take smaller bites and chew each bite slower and longer, the amount of food we end up consuming in that 20 minute period will be considerably less than if we don’t.

Try a simple exercise tonight. Buy an egg timer and set it for 20 minutes. Fill your plate with half the amount of food you would normally eat. Now start eating but eat slooooooowwwwly. Chew your food throughly. Have a conversation with your loved ones at the table, drink a few glasses of water, get up and walk around the room a few times, do anything that will make you sloooooow down. When the timer is up, notice how you feel. Do you feel full? Do you feel satiated? Do you need to eat more? If you still do, go right ahead but I can guarantee you that you will not want to eat the entire other half.

Now how is that for an easy way to lose weight?

Chow for now!