However, eating is not something that should be rushed because it leads to stressful, unhealthy living.

Nutrition and fitness expert Marc David, founder and director of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, points out that Americans tend to eat under a state of stress and anxiety. You could be eating the healthiest food available but you won’t necessarily be digesting and assimilating it properly because eating under stress puts your body in the opposite condition of where it should be in order to digest and assimilate food.

Eating under stress causes dramatic changes in your body’s metabolism, including:

• Slower nutrient absorption
• Excretion of nutrients, particularly water soluble vitamins, macrominerals and microminerals
• Spike in blood cholesterol
• Increased food sensitivity
• Decreased gut flora population
• Heartburn
• Increase in cortisol and insulin

The hormones cortisol and insulin track each other. When cortisol increases, insulin decreases. The two hormones signal your body to store fat and stop building muscle, effectively causing weight gain.

The simple act of taking time to eat a meal can have a profound effect on your health. Here are the reasons why you should start eating slower:

1. Weight loss – It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to realize that your stomach is full. David explains that if you eat too fast, your brain will often interpret that missed experience of nuances and pleasure in taste and aroma as hunger, which will lead to you eating more. If you eat a big meal but don’t pay attention to it and just devour it, you’ll notice that your belly feels full but your mouth still feels hungry. Eating slowly will give you time to realize that you’re full and signal you to stop on time.
2. Relaxation – Ever wonder why Europeans, who consume more wine and fat in their diet, manage to stay slimmer than Americans? That’s because they take their time while eating and treat meals as a celebration. They shut down work and take two-hour lunches. Eating with friends and family helps lower stress and allows people to relax and enjoy food as a gastronomic pleasure.
3. Better digestion – Digestion starts in your mouth; the more work you do there, the less work your stomach has to put in to effectively digest your food. Eating slower means chewing your food properly, which helps you break down your food better.
4. Breaking free from the fast food culture and fast-paced lifestyle – Americans are crazy about all things fast – fast cars, fast computers, fast mobile phones, and fast food, which unfortunately, is a fast route towards obesity. Break free from the on-the-go lifestyle that is dehumanizing America, making people unhealthy, stressed out and unhappy. You deserve better.

Eating is not just something to do but something to experience. The simple act of eating slower will lead to a healthier and happier you.

Americans tend to eat under a state of stress and anxiety, says Marc David, director of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating. When you are eating under the physiological stress response, you could be eating the healthiest food but you won’t necessarily be digesting, assimilating and burning the calories from that food.

When under the physiological stress response, your heart rate goes up and your blood pressure rises. Blood is shunted away from your midsection and goes to your arms, legs, and head. Your digestion also completely shuts down.

In relation to digestion, stress causes:

• cortisol and insulin levels to rise
• as much as four times less blood flow to your digestive system, leading to decreased metabolism
• decreased flow of oxygen and decreased enzyme production (up to 20,000-fold) to your gut
• decreased nutrient absorption
• water soluble vitamins, macrominerals, microminerals and calcium to be excreted and wasted
• a spike in your cholesterol and triglyceride levels
• an increased risk of food sensitivity or heartburn
• decreased gut flora population

Corisol and insulin are two hormones that tend to track each other. When your cortisol levels consistently rise under a chronic low-level stress response, you’ll likely have problems losing weight and building muscle.

The worse part is, with rising cortisol, you’ll tend to gain weight around your midsection. Body fat, particlularly visceral fat (fat around your midsection that gathers around your internal organs), increases your risk of diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Eating under stress puts your body in the opposite state of where it needs to be so it can digest food, assimilate nutrients and burn calories. In short, eating under stress is a recipe for weight gain!

So what can you do to avoid eating under stress?

Stress management is an important part of optimizing your overall health. Though it is not possible to completely eliminate stress, there are several ways that will help you minimize the stressors that seriously disrupt your digestion and other important bodily functions.

Here are some stress-busting strategies:

• Use the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). Meridian tapping helps restore your mind and body’s balance by clearing emotional blockages from your system.
• Exercise is another effective and natural way of providing your body with relief from stress. Endorphins, your body’s “feel good” chemicals are released into your brain during exercise.
• Get proper sleep.
• Meditate.