Life Kit - Scarfing down your food? How to be intentional about meals

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

Eating more deliberately can help you make better choices about nourishing your body, says Lilian Cheung, a mindful eating lecturer at Harvard. She shares how to enjoy meals while paying attention. This episode originally published Sept. 11, 2023.Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekitSign up for our newsletter here.Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at [e-mail] the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekitSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Life Kit from NPR. Hey everybody, it's Mariel. You ever eat so fast that you get hiccups from just like inhaling the meal? Or you bite your cheek or your tongue because you mistook it for food? Yeah, I've done it. And that's horrible because once you bit your tongue or part of your side of your mouth, you get a canker soul and it's going to just really disrupt. You're eating throughout the next days, right?

So that's no fun. That's Lillian Chung. She's a lecturer on nutrition and the director of mindfulness research and practice at Harvard University. Other signs you're eating too fast? You may get heartburn and just discomfort, you know. Or later on, you might feel still hungry. and want to eat more despite of the fact that you thought you ate already. There are a lot of reasons we scarf down our food.

Tight deadlines, short lunch breaks, also the great American virtue of productivity that's infiltrated every part of our lives. Like, let me hurry up and eat so I can run more errands. Or if you grew up without enough food, you might have a feeling of scarcity while you're eating. And for some of us, it's just to have. habit. You know, we eat while we're reading emails or scrolling on our phones. People are not eating, really sitting down to eat a meal. Very often we found ourselves eating something and doing something else. Lillian practices and researches something called mindful eating.

Mindful eating practice encourages us to make choices that are satisfying and nourishing to the body. And as we become more aware of our eating habits, we can take steps towards behavior that will benefit not only ourselves, but also an environment. Mindful eating asks us to slow down and notice our food. It's about what to eat, how to eat, how much to eat, an awareness of why we eat what we eat what we eat. And of course, how fast we eat. So today on Life Kit, how we can become more mindful of our eating habits. And in particular, what are some techniques we can use to eat at a healthy pace? We'll also talk about what to do when you don't have a lot of time for a particular meal.

Lillian, how fast are we supposed to eat a meal? Like, is there a standard we should be following? Well, most, you'll find most nutrition is urging us to take a meal. We're going to take a meal. We're going to take 20 minutes for a meal. Okay. Because it takes about that time for your body to get the signal to the brain that you are full. If you eat fast, your brain is not getting the signal that you are full until about 20 minutes. And it involves a nervous system as well as hormonal system. Yeah.

So then you eat too much and you feel terrible after? That's right. And we tend to do that in the 25th century because most people are not eating, really sitting down to eat a meal. Very often we found ourselves eating something and doing something else. Okay, so let's get into some of the really practical tips here. If you want to start to slow down when you eat or to, to eat at a healthy pace. What are some principles you can follow? So first is allocate time to eat and only eat. And make sure your cell phone is not with you or is face down. You're not going to be responding to any messages that come through.

and then to make sure we engage all our senses, be with the food and ask yourself, what's on my plate? How hungry am I today in this meal? And notice the taste, really. The recipe that I just cook, is it too salty? Does it need something else that I can improve it next time? And engage your smell, all your senses, the texture. And whatever thought that arose as you eat, because there might be some emotional aspects related to the food

and be aware of it. Okay, let's say you make a meal that is something that you're, your grandmother used to make for you and you're eating it and you're tasting, oh my God, this tastes just like my grandma's stuffed cabbage, you know, like that's an emotional reaction that you can have to a meal too. That's positive. But if you pause, rather than just shoveling it in, if you're pausing and saying, like, what do I feel when I bite into this stuffed cabbage? You know, who does it remind me of? Does that help? Yeah, it does help because it bring back a lot of. loving, wonderful memories. And the dish that you use an example is a great, healthy dish.

So nowadays, we have to consider sort of the physiological and emotional, psychological aspects of food. But I really worry for America because the amount of ultra-processed highly, refined foods in the market is so huge and it's easy to get addicted to it. So we have to be very mindful when we yearn for those. And if you're really longing for potato chips, eat it. But make sure you just take a handful and put it in a nice dish and eat it mindfully to be able to taste the saltiness, this crispiness, and thank the universe for the right climate

to be able to have that potato and the manpower that has been engaged in making it available, not only at the factory, but also transportation to get the chips to the sauce. supermarket, et cetera. But mindful eating really allows us to become much more aware of what we have, how we get it, and what it takes to be able to have that. The point you make about taking the potato chips and putting them in a bowl, it gets at another tip for how to eat at a healthy pace, which is,

Take smaller portions to the table, right? Mm-hmm. Exactly. If you have a whole bag of chips with you and start eating, it's really challenging and difficult to stop after six or eight chips. Because, you know, we love the taste. We love the crispiness. And we just keep getting it from the back.

And especially when you may be looking. at your cell phone or watching a TV program, you're distracted and you feel good about the crispiness and the taste and you just want more and more without consciously thinking about stopping. Yeah. I wonder, is there a space for saying affirmations, even in your head, you know, like, I'm not in a rush, you know, or I enjoy my food or something really simple to keep yourself on track. Oh, yes. I think the key with a hurried life when you start to eat is literally stop and take a few breaths in and out. Look at what you are eating and tell yourself, I'm going to enjoy this.

and the food will nourish me both my body and my mind. We'll have more life kit after the break. Is there a particular way we should try to eat, like any technique that you could tell us that will help us eat slower? I think chewing is important. We don't chew enough and we just swallow the food. It's harder on our digestion. that way. So chewing our teeth is supposed to help us to break up the food so that it's easier

for absorption. So look at your food, know what you're eating, take a bite and chew, chew, and then pause a little bit. And it's, you know, drink some water or maybe for other cuisines. they may be having soups, okay? So take the time. And so it sounds like we should be pausing in between bites and not just, it shouldn't be just one series of bites after another. Yeah, yeah, I think so. You know, it helps to think of,

okay, did I like this food? Should I get it again or should I be focusing more on something else on the plate next time? Right. Right. We've been talking about this with the idea that we have choice in our lives, right? But sometimes we're in situations where we really don't have much time to eat a meal, especially if we work at a job where we get like a 15-minute lunch break. I remember when I worked in retail at a clothing store and I had to clock out. run up to the food court, get on the escalator, wait in line, get my food, eat it, and be back on the floor 15 minutes later. I mean, how? How do you eat at a healthy pace when all you have is 15 minutes? Yeah, that's right. In that case, I would split up the food, the meal. eat at a good pace that you find comfortable save it for later for a snack yeah that makes sense I felt I always felt like maybe again life gets in the way if you don't have time to prep your meals

or you know if I could have brought food from home then that would have saved me some time but it's tough it's tough and sometimes people work at a job where they they really have to eat at their desk that day. Yeah, and that's okay. Just when you're eating at the desk, maybe just make sure that you're not going to be looking at your email. Yeah. I think there might be an element to of setting boundaries with your coworkers. You know, if you have to put in a way message on Slack that says eating lunch. Yeah. Or if somebody comes up to you, you can just be like, just eating. I'll get back to you.

That's right. And you just told her, I have to nourish my mind and my body with this food. I love that. Lillian shared an incantation that she learned from the late Buddhist monk Tiknahan called the Five Contemplations. And she says these have helped her practice mindful eating. This food is the gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings and much hard work and loving work. May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive this food.

May we recognize and transform unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed and learn to eat with moderation. May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of living beings, stops, contributing to climate change and heals and preserve our precious climate. We accept this food so that we may nurture our brotherhood and sisterhood, our family, and realize our ideal of serving all human beings. Okay, time for a recap. And some extras drawn from Lillian's book with Ticknahan.

It's called Savor, Mindful Eating, Mindful Life. Engage your senses as you eat. Notice the sounds, smells, colors, tastes, textures, and the emotions that you're feeling. Honor the food. Acknowledge the work that went into putting that meal on your plate. Eat smaller portions. Instead of grabbing the whole bag of potato chips,

pour some chips into a bowl and take your time eating them. Savor and chew your food thoroughly. This will help with digestion and will also engage your senses. See if you can make your snack or meal last about 20 minutes. And try not to skip meals. Even if you just have a small bite, give yourself a few minutes to eat and savor. For more Life Kit, check out our other episodes. There's one about mindfulness-based stress reduction and another on honoring traditions through food.

You can find those at npr.org slash life kit. And if you love LifeKit and you just cannot get enough, subscribe to our newsletter at npr.org slash LifeKit newsletter. This episode of Life Kit was produced by Thomas Liu. It was edited by Sylvie Douglas. Our digital editor is Malika Garib and our visuals editor is C.J. Rikelon. Megan Kane is our senior supervising editor. and Lauren Gonzalez is our executive producer.

Our production team also includes Andy Tagle, Margaret Serino, and Claire Marie Schneider. Engineering support comes from Sina LaFredo. I'm Mariel Segarra. Thanks for listening.