The Terminator Had Better Watch Out!

So, I’m pretty much the female version of Arnold Schwarzenegger now. My bulging muscles cannot be contained! Every time that I ate too quickly last week over spring break and didn’t put my food or utensil down in between bites, I made myself do ten pushups. I performed this experiment for my English 12 class at UNC-Chapel Hill to assess how I could train my brain to keep myself from eating too quickly. Over the years, I have often found myself done with my meal in 5 minutes while the rest of my friends and family leisurely continue their meal. Eating too fast has also occasionally caused me to feel sick. Last week, I vowed to change my rapid eating ways! After doing push-up set after push-up set as a punishment for eating too fast, Arnold seriously should be scared. As a motivating reward, every time that I went through a whole meal without eating too fast, I allowed myself a half hour of mindless television. My experiment was a success overall; I realized that eating slower is more enjoyable because I do not end up having a stomach ache or sitting idly as the rest of my friends finish up. The number of times that I ate too fast decreased over the week and the ultimate goal of my experiment was fulfilled- I trained myself to eat slower and it is now habit.
My hypothesis was correct. It was definitely hard to focus on eating slowly and I had to be very conscious of what I was thinking about as I ate. As I predicted, my friends were very supportive and held me accountable for doing my pushups. Contrary to what I hypothesized, none of them joined in with my experiment. I think my pushups must have just been a little too intimidating.

It was much easier for me to focus on eating slowly during breakfast, perhaps because most of the time during breakfast the house was still quiet and there were few distractions. Also, any mess-ups from the day before were fresh on my mind, not to mention my arms were often sore the morning after from doing my nightly pushups; nothing like some lead arms first thing in the morning to remind me of my sins. I was also more reflective in the morning and I tended to move more slowly in general. I was often still groggy as I ate breakfast and the slow motion of my brain transferred into the slow motion of my eating.

I found it hard to focus on eating slowly in new environments; I would forget about the experiment or get excited about my surroundings and become distracted. It was much more difficult for me to eat slowly when I first arrived at the beach house and during our Charleston trips because the space was new and I found myself paying more attention to my surroundings than to my eating and resorting back to my old eating methods. Practically anything that distracted me from eating caused me to pick up my eating pace.

When the conversation around me was rapid and animated I found it much more difficult to take my time while eating. The increased conversation speed somehow caused my motor skills to speed up as well. I found this particularly true if I talked at a faster pace- before long my arms were following suit, and I barely had time to chew and swallow.

For breakfast on Monday, we made pancakes and it was difficult to eat slowly because the pancakes quickly got cold. Again, I found that conversation around the table distracted my focus from eating slowly. My arms were a little sore and it definitely took some self-discipline to do my pushups. Lunch out on the beach and spaghetti dinner with the girls was a success; my experiment had become the joke of the day and every eye watched me as I ate.

Cereal was on the menu for breakfast on Tuesday. I messed up a few times because I getting ready for Charleston and eating at the same time. Sure was awkward doing pushups in my preppy Charleston skirt! I vowed to eat slowly for both lunch and dinner in Charleston as I did not want to do pushups in the middle of a Charleston restaurant. That night, it was easy to slowly enjoy my honey-glazed salmon as I did not want to finish the delectable dish; I realized another time when it is easy for me eat slowly- when the food I am eating is special in some way and when I am focused on savoring the taste.

Wednesday morning was my first perfect meal. Yea!!! I ended up watching a half hour of “The Price is Right” to reward myself. My friends celebrated with me and several of them sat down to join me in front of the classic TV show. It was great to have their support and motivation! Lunch and dinner were both successes with just a few minor slip-ups. After experiencing my first reward that morning, eating slowly was much more at the forefront of my mind.

Thursday wasn’t so great. Like they always say, “one step forward and two steps back.” We went back into Charleston for a busy shopping day. It was hot, everyone was crabby, and I really just wanted to go back and lay out at the beach. I kept forgetting about the experiment completely and I was just getting tired of trying to focus on it. I found that when I am in an irritable mood I am much more likely to turn to food for solace and to resort to the shoveling method. Eighty pushups that night were not fun and I have to admit that I resorted to girl pushups after a little while.

When I got out the cereal for breakfast on Friday I really didn’t want to do anymore pushups. My arms were straining as I reached into the cabinet. Breakfast ended up to be a perfect meal after my fiasco the day before and I decided to go with “The Price is Right” again. A few of our guy friends came to visit later that day and, needless to say, the whole house got a little crazy. We had over twenty people in the small house, conversations were flying everywhere and loud music blared in the background. All of the hustle and bustle greatly increased my eating speed. I discovered that the faster life moves around me, the faster I pack it in.

Saturday morning was perfect. It always seemed like it was the easiest to refocus during the days after I struggled. I couldn’t really sit down to watch an hour of TV because we were packing up to leave, but I did turn on Good Morning America as I was cleaning out the fridge. Lunch was sandwiches in the car. I only messed up once on eating slowly but I didn’t have to focus much because I was driving and eating simultaneously and I didn’t really have the ability to eat any quicker. I ate a pizza dinner at home with my brothers and I decided to go ahead and tell them about my experiment so that they could hold me accountable. I really found it helpful when the girls encouraged me with my eating at the beach. I messed up once with the pizza because I was laughing at my brother and got distracted. I did my pushups for both lunch and dinner that night in my own room. The pushups were getting a lot easier and I was actually beginning to enjoy them.

On Sunday morning, I ate breakfast with my best friend at Elmo’s Diner before church. We split a pecan waffle (as always) and were so excited to see each other and catch up that we didn’t really focus on our food. We talked so much that we could barely fit food into the picture and eating slowly came easily. Another perfect morning! I waited to have my TV time until I got home after church; I ate a sandwich for lunch in front of a cheesy Hallmark movie and I just slipped up once while I was talking to my Mom. Dinner was back on campus at UNC at Subway with my friend. We caught up on our spring breaks and it was so great to talk to her that I took some quick bites of sandwich before realizing what I had done. On Sunday I learned that I eat more slowly when I am truly interested in the conversation that I am participating in, as opposed to simply listening and not being engaged. I had two deep and in-depth conversations with friends and I found it ten times easier to eat slowly when I was focused on our conversation. I did my pushups for lunch and dinner later on in the dorm room.

The pushups were a great idea as a punishment for eating too fast because I dreaded doing them and it was easy for my friends on the trip to keep me accountable- their watchful eye was always close upon me. They thoroughly enjoyed watching me “Drop down and give them 20.” Rewarding myself with a half hour of TV was slightly less efficient, as I did watch some extra TV on my own during the trip because I was on vacation. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed watching my half-hour of television guilt free when I didn’t eat fast during a meal. It was also difficult sometimes to keep an accurate count of when I was eating too fast because I would get distracted and not realize it sometimes after I did eat too quickly. I just did my best to pay attention.

In conclusion, I am thoroughly pleased with the results of the experiment. I improved my eating habits bit by bit over the course of the week, eating slower as the days went on, and I am happy with my overall improvement. I naturally eat slower now and it is ingrained in my brain to at least attempt to put down my utensil or sandwich in between bites and chew, swallow, and enjoy. I hope that I will continue to eat more slowly and to enjoy the blessing of good food!