Color Me Fit: weight loss, fitness, exercise

Not a very original title for this one, I’ll admit.

There’s no defined inspiration for today’s set of thoughts, as this is a piece of advice i’ve seen in many places now. And true, “putting my fork down” has been a tremendous help for me so far, even though it still feels much unnatural depending on the days and moments. What is this “miracle method”? Not a miracle in any way… simply a nifty tip that can nicely and elegantly prevent us from gobbling down our food.

It’s easy to practice, and not much noticeable from other people sitting around at the same table, given how everyone focuses either on the food or on the conversation, but not really on anyone else’s hands. It can be done in every food place, provided of course that forks (or sticks, or spoons…) are being put to use. Well… disregard that, in fact - it also works with food taken directly in hands, the trick being then just turned into putting said food back on the plate or the tray. It’s, all that simply, about putting the fork down between two bites, instead of placing food on it and lifting it again before the first bite is even finished.

Let’s be observant a little - many people don’t do that. I don’t remember very well myself, but I’m pretty sure that I’ve never done it, or if I did, it was when I was a child. Since trying to practice what I’m preaching here, I’ve indeed noticed that I do tend to keep my fork up, with food already on it and ready to be eaten… which it turn easily leads me to gobbling down my food, not enjoy the meal as it should be enjoyed, and, of course, not letting my body the time to register that it has eaten enough already. All these things aren’t good at all when trying to control one’s weight.

Add to this new behavior the one consisting in chewing carefully and slowly savoring bites, and it becomes efficient enough in my book.

There is however one thing that I haven’t been able to solve yet with this kind of methods: what do I do to prevent my food from getting cold? It’s a bit silly to go back to the oven once or twice during dinner in order to heat the plate again (or, worse, to do that in a restaurant). I don’t intend on eating cold for the rest of my life, and at the same time, using the “getting cold” argument as an excuse to eat too fast is also silly. If anyone has a trick for this too, I’ll take it. Some cooked foods really taste icky when you let them get cold.

Regardless of this “problem”, though, I’m still going on with putting my fork down, at least every few bites. At least I’ll be sure that I don’t eat the wrong way!