Eating slowly is not my specialty — and I don’t think I’m alone.

It’s hard to tell where the habit to rapidly shovel food toward my mouth came from, but I think it may have something to do with 12 years of 20-minute school lunches. Twenty minutes to find a place to sit, buy food, talk with friends and eat a turkey sandwich was hardly enough time, and you couldn’t even take food to your next class (unless you were sneaky…something I’m pleading the fifth on). Those quickfire childhood lunches combined with five years of a career where I routinely eat at my desk have created a monster: sometimes I’m not even tasting my food as I eat it.

Mindful Eating is quite the buzz phrase here on PsychCentral, with many of our wonderful bloggers advocating for a new way to see and experience food. The benefits of mindful eating include: actually tasting what’s in your mouth, easier digestion, lowered consumption and a better relationship with food in general. When we take time to chew slowly and experience our meal without the interruption of television, work or even, at times, conversation, we are able to connect with our bodies on a much more intimate level.