Ready, set, slow down

Let's play that good old game of word association. Write down whatever comes into your head after you've read the word or phrase below.

Ready, set, go:

• Bathing suit
• Buffet
• The French Paradox

That was fun, okay; I really need to get out more. Here are my answers:

• Bathing suit — nightmare in a dressing room
• Buffet — pig out = fear of bathing suit season
• The French Paradox — red wine

I ran this by many of my friends and they had a variety of unique and slightly scary responses to bathing suit and buffet, but the majority said red wine when they heard French Paradox, which is what most people came away with after watching the Television Program 60 Minutes back in 1991 when the now still popular phrase French Paradox first hit the airwaves.

Because it's human nature to only hear what we want to hear, what most of us didn't hear was: HEY, the FRENCH EAT WAY LESS than we do and, more importantly, they DON"T HORK DOWN their food. Subtle is so underrated.

The French are famous for eating slowly, making a meal, any meal, an occasion. The Pixar-animated feature film Ratatouille was right bang on when the skinny rat with chef aspirations yelled at his fat rat brother after he literally inhaled a cheese platter — "Don't hork it down, savour." Okay, I know I messed up the quote but the jist was: slow down and enjoy what you're eating.

By and large Canadians are a society of rapid eaters, we power eat and then dash off, bypassing the time-consuming part of the meal, enjoying the flavours. Dinner Hour is melting down to Dinner in Five Minutes as our behinds get bigger and bigger, a great example of reverse diminishing returns.

The French are definitely on to something. Look at the science: it takes time for your stomach to send the message to your brain that you're full and can stop shovelling it in. By the time most of us get that message, we've single handedly eaten Serves Four. It's no wonder the elastic waist band on our pants is cutting off the circulation to our lower extremities.

This is not rocket science, nor is it new. Way back in 1976, James Ferguson M.D. published an amazing book called Habits Not Diets (Bull) with a revision in 2002. A trendsetter, Dr. Ferguson's detailed behaviour modification program looks at our eating habits as one of the main contributing factors to our ever-expanding waistlines. One of his golden rules is - Slow Down and let your body tell you when you're full before you overeat. Which brings us to this month's new behaviour: Ready, set, slow down.

How?

Time yourself.

See how long it takes you to eat a meal, any meal. In the World of Body Messaging it takes about 20 minutes for the brain to get the "We're full." signal.

What do you clock in at?

If you eat a meal in five minutes, go for fifteen, and aim for twenty. Put your fork down between bites; eat at the dinner table away from the TV and do not read while you're eating. At dinner time try talking at the table; preferably without a mouth full, and discuss your day with your family. Win/win — you'll eat less and get to know everyone better. If you're a singleton, be diligent and pace yourself.

The trick is to get your stomach and brain on the same schedule. So. ready, set, slow down.

Check out the best bargain on the Internet: Habits Not Diets.