This afternoon my wife and I had another third of our respective Cadbury candy bars (the ones I purchased last Sunday and mentioned in a blog afterwards). Eating such a small portion is new to me—small, but it's the amount defined as a serving on the wrapper. I ate it slowly, in very small bites. Wondrously, I couldn't remember ever enjoying chocolate more, or remembering many times enjoying it as much.
I think that such slow, appreciative eating must be what is meant by savoring. And it seems to me that savoring might be an effective technique for adjusting to eating less. And not only is savored food more enjoyable, but eating slowly gives your stomach a chance to catch up and tell you it's satisfied before you've overly filled it.
An old friend who admits to being ten or twenty pounds heavier than he'd like to be, but who also seems to regard it as virtually impossible to do anything about it (such as eating less), pronounced that I have "amazing will power" to have lost twenty pounds recently.
Will power? I really don't think so. The benefits of losing unwanted weight are so obvious, it seems that all a person has to do to incorporate a regime of eating less into his or her "life style" is to remember and celebrate those benefits. Moving more nimbly, bending more comfortably. Buttoning pants without having to suck in and pinch the abdomen. Looking better (especially in the mirror). Receiving nice compliments. Feeling better, not only physically but also mentally—and even morally, through having a more flattering self estimation.
And actually enjoying food more, through savoring rather than devouring it. Now that's a surprising benefit, don't you think?
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