Hi,

Thanks for getting in touch.

This can be a common issue for many of us, so you're not alone. It just take s a little bit of mindfulness to help you change the habit. Initially you will need to consciously alter the way and the speed at which you eat, but over time this will become habit and you will likely no longer think about it.

I've listed below some tricks to try to help you slow down your eating:

1. Put your knife and fork down between mouthfuls - this will help you to slow down how quickly you chew each mouthful, and will stop you putting another mouthful in too quickly.

2. Chew each mouthful several times - it's good to set yourself a rule of a minimum number of chews per mouthful, for example 10. This will make you more aware of the speed at which you're eating and will help to slow you down.

3. Eat away from distractions - eating in front of the tele or laptop can mean you're distracted and eating mindlessly. When you're eating, focus on just that - savour your food and take your time to enjoy it.

4. Swap your knife and fork around - swapping the hands you use for each piece of cutlery can make it awkward to cut and get mouthfuls, which will slow you down!

5. Trying eating with chopsticks - not for everyone, but this certainly causes you to slow down and limits the amount of food you can put in your mouth in one go.

6. Eat high protein/high fibre foods - these foods take us longer to chew and take longer to digest, so can slow down our eating. Think wholemeal carbs such as wholemeal bread, pasta and rice and lean protein such as skinless chicken breast, turkey, white fish, beans and pulses.

7. Don't let yourself get too hungry - if you're ravenous every time you sit down to eat, you're more likely to eat quickly. So ensure you eat little and often to ensure you don't get overly hungry.

It can take time to form a new habit, but if you stick with these tricks for a few weeks, you should find they start to become habitual.

I hope this helps - but please don't hesitate to come back to me if you need anything further at all.

Best wishes

Emma

Nutracheck Nutritionist