Scarfing down your food? How to be intentional about meals

Summary

Life Kit (NPR) – Episode Summary

Title: Scarfing down your food? How to be intentional about meals
Host: Marielle Segarra
Guest: Dr. Lillian Chung, Lecturer on Nutrition & Director of Mindfulness Research and Practice at Harvard University
Date: July 6, 2026

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Overview

In this episode, host Marielle Segarra explores the all-too-common habit of rushed eating and discusses how to slow down and be more intentional at mealtime. Drawing on insights from Dr. Lillian Chung, an expert in nutrition and mindfulness, the conversation provides practical strategies for developing healthier, more mindful eating routines—even for those with busy lives and limited time.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Problem with Eating Too Fast

• Physical consequences: Eating rapidly can result in hiccups, biting your cheek or tongue, heartburn, and ongoing discomfort. It can even disrupt eating for days after (00:14–01:01).
• Emotional & psychological factors: Rushed meals are often driven by work pressures, ingrained habits, cultural productivity norms, and even past experiences of food scarcity (01:21).
• Mindless behavior: Many people eat while multitasking—scrolling phones, replying to emails, or watching TV, which further disconnects them from the experience and their hunger cues (01:47).

Introduction to Mindful Eating

• Definition: Mindful eating is about making choices that are satisfying and nourishing for both body and environment (02:00–02:28).
• Core aspects to consider:
  • What to eat
  • How to eat
  • How much to eat
  • Awareness of why we eat what we eat (02:32)
• Quote:

  “Mindful eating practice encourages us to make choices that are satisfying and nourishing to the body.”
  — Lillian Chung (02:04)

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Practical Techniques for Intentional Eating

How Fast Should We Eat?

• Nutritionists commonly recommend a 20-minute meal to allow fullness signals to reach the brain, preventing overeating (05:01).
  • Quote:

    “It takes about that time for your body to get the signal to the brain that you are full. If you eat fast, your brain is not getting that signal that you are full until about 20 minutes.”
    — Lillian Chung (05:01)

Simple Daily Strategies

• Dedicate time to eat—only eat: Put your phone away or face-down, and avoid distractions (06:13).
• Engage the senses: Notice what’s on your plate. Consider your hunger, the food’s taste, smell, texture, and even emotions or memories triggered by the meal (06:13–07:28).
  • Example: Pausing to savor food that reminds you of loved ones can bring back positive memories (07:28–08:00).
• Embrace emotions attached to food: Recognize when cravings arise—especially for ultra-processed foods. If indulging, portion them intentionally and eat with appreciation for the food’s journey (08:00–09:51).
  • Quote:

    “Make sure you just take a handful and put it in a nice dish and eat it mindfully... thank the universe for the right climate to be able to have that potato...”
    — Lillian Chung (08:00)

Portion Control & Serving Habits

• Serve smaller portions: Bringing a single serving to the table prevents mindless overeating—especially with snack foods (09:51–10:48).
  • Quote:

    “If you have a whole bag of chips with you and start eating, it's really challenging and difficult to stop after six or eight chips.”
    — Lillian Chung (10:05)

Affirmations & Intention Setting

• Begin a meal with a pause: Take a few breaths, look at your food, and mentally affirm, “I’m going to enjoy this, and this food will nourish me.” (11:03)
• Affirmations: “I'm not in a rush,” or “I enjoy my food” can help reinforce mindful eating intentions (10:48–11:03).

Chewing & Biting Practices

• Chew thoroughly: Proper chewing enables easier digestion and slows down the eating process (12:31–13:15).
• Pause between bites: Take moments to consider the meal’s enjoyment and what you might want to focus on for your next plate (13:15–13:39).

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Eating Mindfully with Limited Time

• When under time constraints: Split your meal and eat at a comfortable pace. Save the rest for a snack later (14:27).
• If eating at your desk: Minimize distractions—don’t check emails or messages, and consider setting boundaries (like an away message) to protect your mealtime (14:43–15:32).
• Quote:

  “Just tell them, I have to nourish my mind and my body with this food.”
  — Lillian Chung (15:37)

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Five Contemplations for Mindful Eating

Dr. Chung shares an incantation from Thich Nhat Hanh to deepen food appreciation (15:59):

“This food is the gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard work and loving work. May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive this food…”
— Lillian Chung, reciting Thich Nhat Hanh (15:59–17:27)

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Summary Recap & Actionable Tips

(17:27–18:57)

• Engage your senses during every meal: Notice taste, texture, smell, sound, and feeling.
• Honor your food: Acknowledge the labor and natural resources involved.
• Eat smaller portions: Avoid bringing entire bags or containers to the table.
• Chew and savor: Thorough chewing aids digestion and enjoyment.
• Stretch the meal to 20 minutes: This increases satiety and reduces overeating.
• Don’t skip meals: Even a few mindful minutes are better than none.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “We tend to do that in the 21st century because most people are not eating really sitting down to eat a meal.”
  — Lillian Chung (05:37)
• “Pause and say: Who does it remind me of? Does that help? … it does help because it brings back loving, wonderful memories.”
  — Marielle & Lillian Chung (07:28–08:00)
• “The hurried life—when you start to eat, literally stop and take a few breaths…”
  — Lillian Chung (11:03)
• “May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of living beings, stops contributing to climate change, and heals and preserve our precious climate.”
  — Thich Nhat Hanh via Lillian Chung (16:40)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:14: Host and guest open the discussion on eating habits
• 02:00: Introduction to mindful eating
• 05:01: Why 20 minutes per meal?
• 06:13: Practical steps for slowing down
• 09:51: Serving size and snack strategies
• 11:03: Affirmations and intention-setting
• 12:31: Chewing, pausing, and practical pacing
• 14:27: What to do when you have limited time to eat
• 15:59: The Five Contemplations (Thich Nhat Hanh)
• 17:27: Recap of main tips

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Final Thoughts

This episode of Life Kit offers compassionate and doable strategies to break out of rushed, distracted eating habits. By bringing more intentionality and gratitude to meals—even snacks—we can improve digestion, satisfaction, and our overall relationship with food. Whether you have 20 minutes or 2, the takeaway is clear: slow down, savor, and honor each bite.

Transcript

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[Mariel Segarra]

You're listening to Life Kit from NPR. Hey, everybody, it's Marielle. You ever eat so fast that you get hiccups from just like, inhaling the meal? Or you bite your cheek or your tongue because you mistook it for food? Yeah, I've done it.

[Lillian Chung]

And that's horrible because once you bit your tongue or part of your side of your mouth, you get a canker sore and it's going to just really disrupt your eating throughout the next days, right? So that's no fun.

[Mariel Segarra]

That's Lillian Chung. She's a lecturer on nutrition and the director of mindfulness Research and Practice at Harvard University. Other signs you're eating too fast.

[Lillian Chung]

You may get heartburn and just discomfort, you know, or later on, you might feel still hungry and want to eat more despite of the fact that you thought you ate already.

[Mariel Segarra]

There are a lot of reasons we scarf down our food. Tight deadlines, short lunch breaks. Also the great American virtue of productivity that's infiltrated every part of our lives. Like, let me hurry up and eat so I can run more errands. Or if you grew up without enough food, you might have a feeling of scarcity while you're eating. And for some of us, it's just a habit. You know, we eat while we're reading emails or scrolling on our phones.

[Lillian Chung]

People are not eating really sitting down to eat a meal. Very often we found ourselves eating something and doing something else.

[Mariel Segarra]

Lillian practices and researches something called mindful eating.

[Lillian Chung]

Mindful eating practice encourages us to make choices that are satisfying and nourishing to the body. And as we become more aware of our eating habits, we can take steps towards behavior that will benefit not only ourselves, but also an environment.

[Mariel Segarra]

Mindful eating asks us to slow down and notice our food.

[Lillian Chung]

It's about what to eat, how to eat, how much to eat, and awareness of why we eat, what we eat,

[Mariel Segarra]

and, of course, how fast we eat. So today on Life Kit, how we can become more mindful of our eating habits and in particular, what are some techniques we can use to eat at a healthy pace. We'll also talk about what to do when you don't have a lot of time for a particular meal.

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[Mariel Segarra]

the [e-mail] Lillian, how fast are we supposed to eat a meal? Like, is there a standard we should be following?

[Lillian Chung]

Well, most. You'll find most nutritionists urging us to take 20 minutes for a meal because it takes about that time for your body to get the signal to the brain that you are full. If you eat fast, your brain is not getting that signal that you are full until about 20 minutes. And it involves a nervous system as well as hormonal system.

[Mariel Segarra]

Yeah. So then you eat too much and you feel terrible after.

[Lillian Chung]

That's right. And we tend to do that in the 21st century because most people are not eating really sitting down to eat a meal. Very often we found ourselves eating something and doing something else.

[Mariel Segarra]

Okay, so let's get into some of the really practical tips here. If you want to start to slow down when you eat or to eat at a healthy pace, what are some principles you can follow?

[Lillian Chung]

So first is allocate time to eat and only eat and make sure your cell phone is not with you or is face down. You're not going to be responding to any messages that come through. And then to make sure we engage our senses, be with the food and ask yourself what's on my plate. How hungry am I today in this meal? And notice the taste, really, the recipe that I just cooked, Is it too salty? Does it need something else that I can improve it next time? And engage your smell, all your senses, the texture, and whatever thought you that arose as you eat, because there might be some emotional aspects related to the food and be aware of it.

[Mariel Segarra]

Okay, let's say you make a meal that is something that your grandmother used to make for you, and you're eating it and you're tasting, oh, my God, this tastes just like my grandma's stuffed cabbage. You know, like, that's an emotional reaction that you can have to a meal too. That's positive. But if you pause for. Rather than just shoveling it in, if you're pausing and saying, like, what do I feel when I bite into this stuffed cabbage? You know, who does it remind me of? Does that help?

[Lillian Chung]

Yeah, it does help because it bring back loving, wonderful memories. And the dish that you used as an example is a great, healthy dish. So nowadays we have to consider sort of the physiological and emotional, psychological aspects of food. But I really worry for America because the amount of ultra processed, highly refined foods in the market is so huge, and it's easy to get addicted to it. So we have to be very mindful when we yearn for those. And if you're really longing for potato chips, eat it. But make sure you just take a handful and put it in a nice dish and eat it mindfully to be able to taste the saltiness, this crispiness, and thank the universe for the right climate to be able to have that potato and the manpower that has been engaged in making it available not only at the factory, but also transportation

[Mariel Segarra]

to

[Lillian Chung]

get the chips to the supermarket, etc. But mindful eating really allows us to become much more aware of what we have, how we get it, and what it takes to be able to have that.

[Mariel Segarra]

The point you make about taking the potato chips and putting them in a bowl, it gets at another tip for how to eat at a healthy pace, which is take smaller portions to the table, right?

[Lillian Chung]

Mm, exactly. If you have a whole bag of chips with you and start eating, it's really challenging and difficult to stop after six or eight chips. Because, you know, we love the taste, we love the crispiness, and we just keep getting it from the back. And especially when you may be looking at your cell phone or watching a TV program, you're distracted and you feel good about the crispiness and the taste, and you just want more and more without Consciously thinking about stopping.

[Mariel Segarra]

Yeah. I wonder, is there a spirit space for saying affirmations even in your head, you know, like, I'm not in a rush, you know, or I, I enjoy my food or something really simple to

[Lillian Chung]

keep yourself on track. Oh, yes. I think the key with a hurried life when you start to eat is literally stop and take a few breaths, in and out, look at what you are eating and tell yourself, I'm gonna enjoy this. And the food will nourish me, both my body and my mind.

[Mariel Segarra]

We'll have more life kit after the break.

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[Mariel Segarra]

Is there a particular way we should try to eat? Like any technique that you could tell us that'll help us eat slower.

[Lillian Chung]

I think chewing is important. We don't chew enough and we just swallow the food. It's harder on our digestion that way. So chewing our teeth is supposed to help us to break up the food so that it's easier for absorption. So look at your food, know what you're eating, take a bite and chew, chew, chew, and then pause a little bit and it's, you know, drink some water. Or maybe for other cuisines, they may be having soups, you know, okay, so take the time.

[Mariel Segarra]

And so it sounds like we should be pausing in between bites and not just. It shouldn't be just one series of bites after another.

[Lillian Chung]

Yeah, yeah, I think so. You know, it helps to think of, okay, did I like this food? Should I get it again? Or should I be focusing more on something else on the plate next time?

[Mariel Segarra]

Right, right. We've been talking about this with the idea that we have choice in our lives, Right. But sometimes we're in situations where we really don't have much time to eat a meal. Especially if we work at a job where we get like a 15 minute lunch break. I remember when I worked in retail at a clothing store and I had to clock out, run up to the food court, get on the escalator, wait in line, get my food, eat it, and be back on the floor 15 minutes later. I mean, how, how do you eat at a healthy pace when all you have is 15 minutes.

[Lillian Chung]

Yeah, that's right. In that case, I would split up the food, the meal, eat at a good pace that you find comfortable. Save it for later for a snack.

[Mariel Segarra]

Yeah, that makes sense. I felt. I always felt like maybe again, life gets in the way if you don't have time to prep your meals or, you know, if I could have brought food from home, then that would have saved me some time. But it's tough. It's tough. And sometimes people work at a job where they. They really have to eat at their desk that day.

[Lillian Chung]

Yeah. And that's okay. Just when you're eating at the desk, maybe just make sure that you're not going to be looking at your email.

[Mariel Segarra]

Yeah. I think there might be an element, too, of setting boundaries with your co workers. You know, if you have to put an away message on slack that says eating lunch.

[Lillian Chung]

Yeah.

[Mariel Segarra]

Or if somebody comes up to you, you can just be like, just eating. I'll get back to you.

[Lillian Chung]

That's right. And you just tell them, I have to nourish my mind and my body with this food.

[Mariel Segarra]

I love that. Lillian shared an incantation that she learned from the late Buddhist monk Thich Nhat called the Five Contemplations. And she says these have helped her practice mindful eating.

[Lillian Chung]

This food is the gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard work and loving work. May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive this food. May we recognize and transform unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed, and learn to eat with moderation. May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of living beings, stops contributing to climate change, and heals and preserve our precious climate. We accept this food so that we may nurture our brotherhood and sisterhood, our family, and realize our ideal of serving all human beings.

[Mariel Segarra]

Okay, time for a recap and some extras drawn from Lillian's book with Thich Nhaan. It's called Mindful Eating. Mindful Life. Engage your senses as you eat. Notice the sounds, smells, colors, tastes, textures, and the emotions that you're feeling. Honor the food. Acknowledge the work that went into putting that meal on your plate. Eat smaller portions. Instead of grabbing the whole bag of potato chips, pour some chips into a bowl and take your time eating them. Savor and chew your food thoroughly. This will help with digestion and will also engage your senses. See if you can make your snack or meal last about 20 minutes. And try not to skip meals, even if you just have a small bite. Give yourself a few minutes to eat and savor. For more Life Kit, check out our other episodes. There's one about mindfulness based stress reduction and another on honoring traditions through food. You can find [e-mail] LifeKit and if you love Life Kit and you just cannot get enough, subscribe to our [e-mail] lifekitnewsletter. This episode of Life Kit was produced by Thomas Lu. It was edited by Sylvie Douglas. Our digital editor is Malika Garib, and our visuals editor is C. E.J. ricolon. Megan Cain is our senior supervising editor and Lauren Gonzalez is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagle, Margaret Serino and Claire Marie Schneider. Engineering support comes from Sina Lofredo. I'm Mariel Segarra. Thanks for listening.

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