Ayurvedic tradition in India advises eating until you are 75 percent full; the Chinese specify 70 percent, and the prophet Muhammad described a full belly as one that contained ⅓ food and ⅓ liquid—and ⅓ air, i.e., nothing. (Note the relatively narrow range specified in all this advice: somewhere between 67 and 80 percent of capacity. Take your pick.) There’s also a German expression that says: “You need to tie off the sack before it gets completely full.” And how many of us have grand-parents who talk of “leaving the table a little bit hungry”? Here again the French may have something to teach us. To say “I’m hungry” in French you say “J’ai faim”—“I have hunger”—and when you are finished, you do not say that you are full, but “Je n’ai plus faim”—“I have no more hunger.” That is a completely different way of thinking about satiety. So: Ask yourself not, Am I full? but, Is my hunger gone? That moment will arrive several bites sooner.
47
Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored.
For many of us, eating has surprisingly little to do with hunger. We eat out of boredom, for entertainment, to comfort or reward ourselves. Try to be aware of why you’re eating, and ask yourself if you’re really hungry—before you eat and then again along the way. (One old wives’ test: If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you’re not hungry.) Food is a costly antidepressant.
48
Consult your gut.
Most of us allow external, and usually visual, cues to determine how much we eat. The larger the portion, for example, the more we eat; the bigger the container, the more we pour. As in so many areas of modern life, the culture of food has become a culture of the eye. But when it comes to food, it pays to cultivate the other senses, which often provide more useful and accurate information. It can take twenty minutes before your brain gets the word that your belly is full; that means that if you take less than twenty minutes to finish a meal, the sensation of satiety will arrive too late to be of any use. So slow down and pay attention to what your body—and not just your sense of sight—is telling you. This is what your grand-parents were getting at with the adage “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.”
49
Eat slowly.
Not just so you’ll be more likely to know when to stop. Eat slowly enough to savor your food; you’ll need less of it to feel satisfied. If it is a food experience rather than mere calories you’re after, the slower you eat, the more of an experience you will have. There is an Indian proverb that gets at this idea: “Drink your food, chew your drink.” In other words, eat slowly enough, and chew thoroughly enough, to liquefy your food, and move your drink around in your mouth to thoroughly taste it before swallowing. The recommendation sounds a bit clinical perhaps, but try following it at least to the point of fully appreciating what’s in your mouth. Another strategy, encoded in a table manner that’s been all but forgotten: “Put down your fork between bites.”
50
“The banquet is in the first bite.”
Taking this adage to heart will help you enjoy your food and eat more slowly. No other bite will taste as good as the first, and every subsequent bite will progressively diminish in satisfaction. Economists call this the law of diminishing marginal utility, and it argues for savoring the first few bites and stopping sooner than you otherwise might. For as you go on, you’ll be getting more calories, but not necessarily more pleasure.
51
Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it.
This is a pretty good metric that honors the cook for the care you or he or she has put into the meal at the same time that it helps you to slow down and savor it.
52
Buy smaller plates and glasses.
The bigger the portion, the more we will eat—upward of 30 percent more. Food marketers know this, so they supersize our portions as a way to
47
Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored.
For many of us, eating has surprisingly little to do with hunger. We eat out of boredom, for entertainment, to comfort or reward ourselves. Try to be aware of why you’re eating, and ask yourself if you’re really hungry—before you eat and then again along the way. (One old wives’ test: If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you’re not hungry.) Food is a costly antidepressant.
48
Consult your gut.
Most of us allow external, and usually visual, cues to determine how much we eat. The larger the portion, for example, the more we eat; the bigger the container, the more we pour. As in so many areas of modern life, the culture of food has become a culture of the eye. But when it comes to food, it pays to cultivate the other senses, which often provide more useful and accurate information. It can take twenty minutes before your brain gets the word that your belly is full; that means that if you take less than twenty minutes to finish a meal, the sensation of satiety will arrive too late to be of any use. So slow down and pay attention to what your body—and not just your sense of sight—is telling you. This is what your grand-parents were getting at with the adage “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.”
49
Eat slowly.
Not just so you’ll be more likely to know when to stop. Eat slowly enough to savor your food; you’ll need less of it to feel satisfied. If it is a food experience rather than mere calories you’re after, the slower you eat, the more of an experience you will have. There is an Indian proverb that gets at this idea: “Drink your food, chew your drink.” In other words, eat slowly enough, and chew thoroughly enough, to liquefy your food, and move your drink around in your mouth to thoroughly taste it before swallowing. The recommendation sounds a bit clinical perhaps, but try following it at least to the point of fully appreciating what’s in your mouth. Another strategy, encoded in a table manner that’s been all but forgotten: “Put down your fork between bites.”
50
“The banquet is in the first bite.”
Taking this adage to heart will help you enjoy your food and eat more slowly. No other bite will taste as good as the first, and every subsequent bite will progressively diminish in satisfaction. Economists call this the law of diminishing marginal utility, and it argues for savoring the first few bites and stopping sooner than you otherwise might. For as you go on, you’ll be getting more calories, but not necessarily more pleasure.
51
Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it.
This is a pretty good metric that honors the cook for the care you or he or she has put into the meal at the same time that it helps you to slow down and savor it.
52
Buy smaller plates and glasses.
The bigger the portion, the more we will eat—upward of 30 percent more. Food marketers know this, so they supersize our portions as a way to
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