Article: Many health professionals, especially registered dietitians, recommend that you take at least 20 to 30 minutes to eat your entire meal. This helps support many of the other mindful eating practices. The basis of this rule is that it takes 20 or 30 minutes for your stomach and digestive track to begin digesting and absorbing the food from your meal or snack. It takes at least 20 minutes for your GI system to signal your brain that it's had enough food. When you eat faster than 20 minutes, you're more likely to overeat because you haven't received a signal from your brain that you've eaten enough. Many times, when you're eating rapidly, the first signal of "fullness" you feel is coming from your stomach. Stretch receptors are activated when your stomach is full of food and you've eaten too much. If you're out with a group, it may be easier to take your time. If you have a notoriously slow eater in your group, try to mimic their eating speed. Or, engage in conversation to slow you down. To help slow your eating pace down and for you to use up that 20 or 30 minutes, aim to take smaller bites and chew each bite more thoroughly. Studies have shown that people who take smaller bites may eat up to 30% less compared to those who took normal or larger bites of foods. In addition, even if those people who were taking smaller bites were distracted, they still consumed less food. In addition to taking small bites, studies have also shown that if you chew that bite of food 15 30 times you may end up eating less and losing more weight. Chewing your food more will naturally slow you down and help signal satiation cues in your brain. Focus on cutting your food into much smaller pieces and only spearing a small amount (aim for 1/2 the amount of your normal bite) on your fork or spoon. Then, count 15 or 30 chews per bite. It can be difficult to practice eating slowly and waiting for your brain's cues to tell you that you're satisfied. To aid in that process, drink a glass of water (or two) while you're eating. Drinking water while you eat can help your mindful eating practice by slowing you down. Set your fork down, take a sip and swallow before you pick up your fork again for another bite. The water consumed during your meal can also help speed satiation signals to your brain and make you feel more satisfied with less food. You may also want to drink a glass immediately prior to your meal. This can help your stomach feel artificially full and make it easier for you to concentrate on mindful eating practices during your meal. Another benefit of drinking water during your meals is that it aids your stomach in digesting foods and helps your body absorb all the important nutrients contained in your meals. When you're in a group, try drinking as others talk. This will help you listen more carefully, but also slow you down and help you consume more water. Whether it's lunch with your co-workers or dinner with your family, try to engage in conversation with those who are eating with you. Talking can help you to slow down and be more mindful while you eat. When you're alone and eating, it can be difficult to concentrate on anything other than the food in front of you. Although this is great for mindful eating practice, it may be easier to start when you are dining with friends or family. Between each bite of food, set your fork down and ask someone a question, bring up a topic or answer a question. This can help you prolong your meal significantly. Forks and spoons can act as little shovels when you're eating. They make eating too easy if you're working on slowing down. If you make eating your meals physically harder to eat, you'll slow down. Make eating your meals more difficult. This can help naturally slow you down so you're forced to take your time and pay attention to what and how you're eating. Eat with your non-dominant hand. If you are right-handed, put your fork or spoon in your left hand when eating (or vice versa if your left-handed). This will be somewhat awkward and you'll find it difficult to eat and your pace will naturally slow down. Another way to slow your eating pace down is to use chopsticks to eat instead of a fork or spoon. Chopsticks are difficult to use and they do not allow you to take a large bite.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Take at least 20 30 minutes to eat an entire meal. Take smaller bites and chew thoroughly. Drink while you eat. Talk to others. Make eating more difficult.

Try not to let your nerves overcome you before you speak. Whenever you start to feel nervous, start thinking about your talking points instead of thinking about what could go wrong. Then, refocus your mind back on your material. Accept that you will make some mistakes. Embracing the fact that everyone makes small, recoverable mistakes when they speak will help you feel less nervous and keep you from making larger, more critical mistakes. Most minor mistakes won't even be noticed. If you make a minor mistake like mispronouncing a word or skipping a small part, don't stop your presentation or start backtracking. This can interrupt your flow and make you even more nervous. Correct the mistake if you notice it right away. Otherwise, just move on. Close your eyes, inhale deeply by breathing into your abdomen, count slowly to three, and exhale fully. Repeat the process until you feel calmer and you can focus on your points instead of your nerves. This is an especially helpful tool to use right before you have to speak. Actors say and do things onstage that they would never imagine saying or doing in everyday life. That's because actors are playing a character. Think about yourself as a character who is a lot like you, but is really comfortable with public speaking. Play that character when you have to talk in front of your class. This helps some people because when they are playing a character, it is easier to take risks knowing that if you mess up, it's the character that will get the blame, not you. Being an actor is a "fake it until you make it" approach. Play someone who is collected and confident. Given enough time, your confidence will stop being fake. You've worked hard to make sure that this speech goes well, so show it. Your classmates will appreciate watching someone who has a bit of fun with the material. The more enthusiastic you are, the less likely they are to notice minor errors and missteps. Congratulate yourself for having the courage to get up in front of your peers. You will always be harder on yourself than anyone else. Ask yourself what you could do better next time. You can even make a list. Try writing down two positives of your presentation for every negative. This way you can focus on areas where you need to improve without feeling like the whole speech failed.
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One-sentence summary --
Stay calm on the big day. Try deep breathing exercises. Be an actor while you speak. Do your best and have fun. Reflect on your speech but don't dwell on mistakes.