Eat to Taste

"Lose weight!" I do believe that doctors must take a course on harangue for that simple exhortation. For who, it seems, does not get ordered by their family physician to take off a few pounds? A handful of us, yes, may be encouraged to gain mass. But they appear to be the outliers. We should envy them.

Still, most of us could stand to drop a few pounds. One way, perhaps, would be to not eat as though the meal in front of you is the first thing you've had in a week. Take your time and enjoy the taste of the food.

I'm trying to employ that manner of eating, though with little real success just yet. But I have my moments.

Just yesterday morning, in fact, a bowl of cereal in front of me, I forced myself to eat more gently. Rather than jam a heaping tablespoon of it into my mouth (I probably should have used a teaspoon, I know) I let the bulk of the cereal slide back into the milk. Further, I actually chewed that lessened helping instead of immediately forcing another huge spoonful into my gaping maw. This chewing the food led me to an interesting discovery.

A surprisingly pleasant, sweet taste appeared on my tongue. In eating slowly and deliberately, mind you, it hit me. I was tasting the raisins in the raisin bran. I was eating slow enough to taste the food. And it tasted good. No; it tasted great. I suppose because I was in fact tasting rather than inhaling my breakfast.

I'll have to try that with other meals. And maybe it could help me lose weight, although I'm sure my doctor will simply dredge up another personal habit of mine to criticize.