How
do you eat a 20-Minute Meal? Not an easy task in a world full of fast food,
faster food, fastest food – followed by quick, instant, easy preparation,
package-to-plate-in-3-minutes, stir-over-medium-heat-for-5-minutes, add-hot-water-and-mix,
microwavable offerings. How do you slow down in a world full of hurry hurry, rush rush,
you’ll miss your train, you’ll miss your bus? Or, you’ll miss your kids.
To find out where you are and where you want to be regarding the
20-Minute Meal, use a kitchen timer or your watch to time your meals for about a week.
When I did this, I found my breakfasts were about two minutes or
non-existent; lunches were two to 10 minutes; and dinner lasted anywhere from two minutes
to two hours. 20-minutes became my goal.
Since this type of eating (slow and easy) was not part of my
experience, it took ingenuity and creativity to accomplish it. Often, by the time it was
mealtime, I’d be so hungry I wanted to inhale or vacuum everything on my plate.
"Slow eating," as I came to think of it, seemed foreign or odd.
First, I set the timer and began eating. I watched the hands on the
timer ratchet toward the 20-minute bell, even though I was done in nine minutes flat. I
then made myself wait patiently in my chair until the 20-minutes were up.
I forced myself to put utensils down between little bites, count
10-seconds before allowing myself to pick up the utensil (fork, spoon, chopsticks) and
take a deep breath before continuing to eat. During a 10 second rest break I would take a
sip of water before picking up the fork again. Sometimes I needed two or three sips of
water to kill enough time between bites. I began to taste food. It wasn’t just
running through my mouth for a few seconds. It hung around long enough for me to
distinguish subtle differences.
Instead of spearing several pieces of food at a time, I tried to eat a
little bite of a single item so I could taste the food and feel the texture. Then I’d
take a bite from the next category until I’d gone around the plate as the clock
continued to tick.
It is unrealistic – not to mention demoralizing – to expect
yourself to go from a 4-minute meal to a 20-minute one with a snap of the napkin. Like
everything else, it is a process.
My 2-minute or nonexistent breakfasts became eagerly awaited, enjoyable
meals. The variety of my food choices enhanced each meal. I was not only slowing down, I
was looking forward to eating a meal I’d never before considered important.
Brenda G challenged me: I can’t make a hard boiled egg last more
than 10-minutes, she said – how do you do it?
I think it is a good and necessary challenge because anyone can make a
large meal last for 20-minutes. It is a skill worth cultivating to make a one-item meal
last for 20-minutes. These suggestions might help. Let’s say you are eating alone.
Here’s how to do it:
read a newspaper article, magazine, or book.
Don’t pick up your utensils for 20-seconds between bites.
Cut smaller bites.
Finish reading a paragraph, an article, a chapter, before taking the
next bite.
Take several sips of water before picking up the utensils again.
Read another chapter or paragraph or complete one page.
Count to 30-seconds before picking up utensils again.
If you’re with other people, ask questions of your companions.
Wait for the answer before resuming your meal.
And, take little bites; little bites; little bites.
