www.huffingtonpost.com - September 2nd, 2011
Many of my clients come to my office already very much aware of the importance of eating fresh, organic, locally-grown food. They are eager to talk about the nutritional value of what they eat and they know to avoid fast food. And that's a great sign of progress -- a generation of research and education has taught Americans that there is an important relationship between our food and our basic health. But while we talk all the time about the content of our food, we tend to neglect an equally important aspect: how we eat it. This, I strongly believe, is one of the missing links between food, body and health.
I recently traveled to Spain and was reminded of the importance of taking time to enjoy eating. In Spain, people take two hours for lunch -- two hours! I researched other nationalities and found that the Italians, for example, do the same thing. I'm from Peru, where the midday meal can even take three hours. But for many of my American clients, though they know to eat organic and local, simply finding time to sit down to eat lunch can seem impossible. But it's so important. Don't worry -- I'm not going to tell you to take two hours for lunch. I know that in a busy American culture, that's just not realistic. It's possible to take 20 minutes for every meal and get some pretty impressive benefits, but first you have to make the time commitment.
Many readers are thinking, "I'm too busy!" I was in Peru in May and visited with my uncle. This man is the head of a large company -- he has 500 employees and runs an import/export business. He is busy, to say the least. But amazingly enough, every day he goes home at one o'clock to eat lunch with his wife and kids. On the other hand, I have clients in the U.S. who are power CEOs, and part of the reason they are consulting me is that food is the last thing on their mind. They are worrying about deadlines, meetings, pressure -- and there is no way they could sit down for a long lunch. But if that were working for them, they wouldn't be overweight with health issues. They wouldn't need a registered dietitian.
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