Weight Loss: How Does Utensil Size And The Way We Chew Affect This? - Donna Simon, R.D.

Donna Simon, M.S., R.D.:
When it comes to chewing you need to chew your food well but not over-chew because you got to remember that digestion starts in the mouth.

So you can’t over-chew especially your chicken or your beef because you’re taking all the moisture out of your diet out of the food item and it goes down really slow and it could get stuck.

So you need moist meats and when it comes to how long you need to eat we guide them as 20 minutes.

It should take a minimum of 20 minutes to eat one to two ounces of food and time to give your stomach, time to tell your brain you have eaten so you don’t overeat.

We give them different ideas on how to slow down your eating. Use a food timer. Use chopsticks if you don’t know how to, all right?

Put the forks down in between each bite. Do mindful eating. Pay attention to the process of eating, that you are actually taking the food, you are putting it to your mouth, you are chewing, you are swallowing, you know you are cutting the next piece.

So I mean its mindful eating. You are paying attention to the eating process and not everything that’s going on around you.

We also encourage patients to use the small infant spoon, the little rubber-tip spoon, because that’s really the portion should be given, put it in your mouth at any given time.

Like right now we do shovel food in, but if they get used to using the smaller utensils you know, they learn to eat slower.

About Donna Simon, M.S., R.D.:
Donna Simon, M.S., R.D., earned her B.A. in Food and Nutrition and her M.S. at Queens College in Flushing, New York. She practiced extensively in the state of New York. She was a Dietetic Technician at St. John's Hospital in Elmhurst. She held the position of Food Service Supervisor at Hempstead General Hospital in Hempstead, and Food Service Supervisor and Dietitian at Franklin General Hospital in Valley Stream.

Ms. Simon worked as Director of Dietary Services and Dietitian at Nesconset Nursing Home in Nesconset, and as a Dietitian at Patchoque Nursing Center in Patchoque. She was a Consultant Dietitian at Long Island Development Center. She served as a Registered Dietitian at Parkview Nursing Home in Massapequa, and at North Shore University Hospital in Plainview. Ms. Simon was a Clinical Dietitian and Bariatric Nutritionist at Banner Mesa Medical Center in Mesa, and is presently Bariatric Coordinator and a Nutrition Specialist at Banner Gateway Medical Center in Gilbert, Arizona.

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