This post is sponsored by The Laughing Cow® and features a fun giveaway that I assembled myself that I hope you guys will love! I am an official brand advocate for The Laughing Cow® in 2014 and while I receive compensation for participation, opinions are my own. I hope you enjoy this post and thanks so much for your support!
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you likely already know that I consider myself a very fast eater. (Remember this blog post when I talked about some of the methods Ryan and I use to try to prolong our dinner dates!?) Slowing down and savoring my food takes effort on my part. I’ve always been a really fast eater and for as long as I can remember, I’ve been one of the first people to clear my plate in almost any social setting.
When The Laughing Cow® reached out to me about their new initiative that centers around savoring snack time, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I know I personally could stand to slow down and enjoy my food a little more and this seemed like a good push to brainstorm ways to make myself take a moment and enjoy what I’m eating.
Below you will find some tips and tricks I’ve been trying to practice during snack and meal times to help me appreciate what I’m eating and actually experience food rather than just inhaling it all the time. I’ve also featured some food pairings with The Laughing Cow Cheeses to give you some snack time inspiration!
Simple Tips for Savoring Snack Time
- Step Away from Electronic Distractions
All too often I’ll eat when I’m working at the computer and look up and think to myself, “I don’t even remember tasting that meal!” What a shame! I never watch TV during the day, but I am on the computer all the time. I also check my phone a lot since I use it to respond to emails, blog comments and other work-related tasks. By stepping away from electronic distractions, I feel much more in the moment and this makes me concentrate on tasting and savoring my snacks and meals.
Crisp Apple Slices + Roasted Almonds + The Laughing Cow Light Swiss Cheese Wedges
- Place My Fork Down In Between Bites
This is a tip I read in a magazine years ago that really does work. I tend to shovel food in my mouth a little too quickly, and taking the time to put down my fork or spoon in between bites extends mealtime a little bit and allows me to think more about what I’m eating and enjoy it.
Cucumber Slices + The Laughing Cow Creamy Swiss Garlic & Herb Cheese Wedges + Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- Enjoy A Snack with a Mug of Hot Tea
This is something I tend to do at breakfast time that makes my morning meal last a little longer, so I tried extending it to snack time and it really does help! If I fix myself an afternoon snack and a hot cup of tea, I’m much more likely to sit down and enjoy my snack rather than grabbing it and stuffing it into my mouth while I’m on the go. Which leads me to my next bullet point…
Gluten-Free Almond Crackers + Ham Pinwheels + The Laughing Cow Creamy White Cheddar Cheese Wedges + Cracked Pepper
- Sit Down
I am the queen of eating at the kitchen counter. When I make myself grab a plate or a bowl and take my snack to the table, it seems to send a message to my brain that this is a time I need to chill out and enjoy what I’m eating rather than eat something as fast as possible before it’s onto the next thing.
Fresh Strawberries + Pretzel Crisps + The Laughing Cow Creamy Light Swiss Cheese Wedges
- Break the Routine
I tend to eat the same snacks over and over again until I get sick of them and discover something new. When I take the time to get a little creative in the kitchen and try something new, I find that I’m a lot more likely to notice and enjoy what I am eating.
And now it’s giveaway time!
I have personally assembled a giveaway worth $300 for one PBF reader to win! I tried to select items to help you kick back and relax a bit so you can thoroughly savor your meals and snacks!
This giveaway includes:
- $100 lululemon gift card – For you to pick up some super cute, comfy lounge-worthy apparel that you can also wear in public
- Cable knit throw from Pottery Barn – To curl up with while you enjoy a delicious snack this winter
- Le Creuset tea kettle (color of your choice) – To brew a hot beverage to sip while you eat
- Anthropologie mug with your initial – So you can sip your tea in style
- Snack Time Kit from The Laughing Cow
To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment below telling me about one of the tricks you use to encourage yourself to slow down and savor your food or tell me about your favorite snack!
I will randomly select a winner on Friday.
Good luck!
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My favorite snack is a plain rice cake with peanut butter and a clementine on the side, or mashed avocado on gluten-free crackers! At work, I turn away from my desk and eat facing the side of my cubicle so I can take a few minutes away from my screen and focus on my food. I’m sure it makes me look crazy, but it’s a great break in the middle of a busy work day!
This is your best giveaway yet! Thank you so much, I am so excited. Fingers crossed for me 🙂
I also need to switch my snacks up weekly, otherwise I get bored easily. I am currently loving apple rice crackers with peanut butter, mixed nuts, and some berries. Yum! I have been trying to do the ‘put-ypur-fork-down’ trick and am amazed how much it has helped already.
I am also always loving your timely morning posts. On Wednesday I went to a 6:15am hot yoga class and had such a hard time focusing and shutting my mind off. And then you posted about the same issue – what a coincidence. I am also thinking about you when I get up so early, you’re kind of like a silent accountability partner. 🙂 How fun would it be to have a pbfingers-accountability group created somehow, maybe just with a hashtag. I love knowing that other people are doing an early morning workout at the same time – keeps me motivated.
Keep up the good work, I love reading your blog!
My favorite snack is laughing cow Swiss cheese on tortilla with ham. I eat incredibly fast so what I try to do is keep pace with my husband he is incredibly slow eater.
greek yogurt!
My trick for eating slower is to try to intentionally focus on what I’m eating. When I do, this I feel like I’m tasting more of the flavors in the meal, instead of just gulping it all down. The fork trick also helps!
The easiest way is to eat at the table and turn the tv off!
I love apple slices and almond butter! Probably my all time favorite go to healthy snack!
My favorite snack is hummus and pretzel thins 🙂 Good laughing cow tip — add the original to pasta to make Fettucini or to shells to make mac n’cheese!
This giveaway is AWESOME by the way. Pick me!!!!! 🙂
Like you, one way I try to slow down and enjoy my food is to put my knife, fork down in between bites. I also find that taking smaller bites or cutting my food into smaller pieces helps because it takes more bites to finish my plate!
My favorite snack these days are either a KIND bar (the Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt is my fav) when I am on the go, or if I have time to make something a sliced warmed apple with cinnamon and stevia – it’s like apple pie filling in a cup!
My favorite snack is egg whites mixed with banana. It sounds gross but you cook it together like oatmeal, then add a big spoonful of peanut butter! It’s total comfort snacking
I love cheese and apple slice as a snack 🙂 also hummus and cucumbers or carrot sticks. I tend to get up a lot when I’m eating (kids will make u do that) so my foods generally cold by the time I finish….. probably would enjoy meals more if I made sure they had EVERYTHING they need before I sat down!
What a fabulous giveaway! My favorite way to slow down my eating is to eat with someone instead of by myself! Over dinner, my husband and I always catch up and chat about our days. The more I talk, the slower I eat!
I try to take a drink of water in between bites. This seems to slow me down. Great giveaway!
I like to eat a snack while reading – even if I just get one chapter of a book, it slows me down enough to enjoy the moment. I love laughing cow! The queso fresco flavor is my favorite for an egg sandwich 🙂
I try to drink lots of water and distract with reading
I am just as bad as you are at eating too fast. I blame it on always being in a hurry to rush to my next task. It’s a problem. I love that you are doing posts on ways to slow down and savor your food…because I really need the ideas!! My favorite snack is anything with almond butter: apples w/ ab, dates stuffed with ab, toast with ab & sliced banana. Oh, and ab straight from the jar, of course!
It looks weird, but I eat most of my weekday lunches at my office desk turned away from my computer and instead just facing a blank wall. Having nothing to look at forces me to pay attention to what I’m eating. When I first started doing this it felt so slow and awkward, but I’ve gotten accustomed to it over time.
Apple with Peanut Butter
Anything dipped in guacamole or hummus! Veggies, pita chips, pretzels! Yum!!
I have a toddler boy, who loves snack time! I make snack time a time of day to not only share something healthy with him but to reconnect, talk and enjoy his company while enjoying our snack!
I try to drink 2 full glasses of water during the meal so that it takes me longer and I fill up more quickly!
If I have multiple of the same snack (i.e. peanut butter crackers, cheese and crackers, sliced veggies) I try to take ‘different’ bites each time..for example, maybe making a cheese sandwich with two crackers for one, chewing it seeing how it tastes differently than the other snacks. Or maybe just eating a piece of cheese then a cracker. Really understanding what you’re putting in your body is HUGE! Savor the bite.
This giveaway is awesome! One trick I’ve started doing is actually putting the snack on a plate or a bowl. Eating crackers from a plate forces me to sit down and enjoy the snack, rather than eating them directly from the box. It also is a great portion control too! Also, it makes me commit to my snack since I will be forced to do the dishes too!
I love carrots and hummus but Skinny Pop is also one of my favorites!
I love all laughing cow cheese flavors. I always have the queso, blue cheese and Swiss cheese! I love laughing cow with apples!
Popcorn is my go-to snack for sure! I make it spicy so you have to eat it slowly or your mouth it on fire 🙂
I am so guilty of eating with distractions. I flip on the TV or go on the computer while I eat. I like the idea to put the fork down between bites. Though my fiance always has his plate cleaned before I’m even half done! Favourite snack is currently pbfingers butterscotch banana bread oatmeal bites. And I really hope I win this just so I can quote the Friends Pottery Barn episode!
In reality, my favorite snacks are any kind of salty chip (hehe) but as for a healthy snack, I love cut up pieces of apple with almond butter! A great trick if your in the mood for a dip is to use plain greek yogurt and mix in a ranch dip packet and eat with sliced cucumbers 🙂 very refreshing!
OH and I usually eat quite fast so these helpful tips are wonderful!! THANK YOU!
wow thats a good idea! I’m going to try that!
I tend to make sure I always have something to drink when I snack – it sounds simple and obvious, but I noticed that often when I’m just snacking and not having an actual meal, I generally didn’t drink anything with it. When I started doing this, I found that it takes me longer because I’m not just shoving food in my mouth and I’m also more aware of how I feel and what I taste. It has made a difference for me for sure!
I’m usually at my desk at work when I’m snacking so I usually like to look out my window as I snack on either yogurt and granola or some fruit. Since I work in NYC and my desk is right by the window over looking Madison ave I see a lot of interesting things. Great giveaway, Julie!!!
I loved eating almonds and a banana as my morning snack before I workout.
What an awesome giveaway! My favorite snack is cheese and crackers but I always seem to eat too much of it too quickly! It helps if I only slice myself a portion of cheese as opposed to sitting in front of the TV or computer with a whole block of cheese, I guess that’s where the Laughing Cow portions would come in handy haha!
I have to make myself sit down to eat! I too find myself eating at the kitchen counter in a hurry! I read the book Mindful Eating and it has helped a lot! My favorite go to snack is cut up carrotts and red peppers with hummus! Mmmmmm! SO good!!!
I’ll stay off of my phone, computer, etc. I’m so easily distracted!
I always try to never have food in my mouth and on my fork at the same time. Another way I savor food is to take really tiny bites, especially when eating something decadent like a piece of cake or a good dessert. Makes it last a lot longer!
Oh my goodness the cracker with pinwheel ham looks absolutely delicious. Yuummm. So simple it makes me want to kick myself for not thinking of it! haha
I love having an afternoon snack with a mug of hot tea and try to savor every bite!
To ensure I don’t eat too fast I have to sit at a table, distraction free(so no TV, phone or computer) and with a big glass of water! If not, sometimes I don’t even realize what I’m eating!
As a fellow super quick eater, I’ve been cutting up my food only one bit at a time. In between I set my fork and knife down. My husband and I have also tried having more of a conversation during dinner as to help us slow down. No full mouths while talking kinda forces us to take a break. It seems to be working so far, and savoring a meal is sooo much better than scarfing it! Thanks for the awesome giveaway opportunity, Julie!!
I read an article once that you should always put your fork down after each bite you take. I try to remember to do this otherwise I’m like you: my dinner is gone in 2 minutes flat!
My go-to way to slow down is to break apart or cut my food into smaller pieces. I’ll take a pretzel crisp and break it in half so that I eat each side separately. Makes me feel like I’m eating more food too! 😉
I love cottage cheese with grapes and cantaloupe!
I eat fast also – it is like I am always in a hurry for some reason! I try to always but my utensil down after every bit and not just shoveling it in – LOL!
I love your idea about making tea to enjoy with your snack – I think it makes it more of an “event” than just gobbling down food while focusing on other things. When I’m enjoying a snack alone, I try to use it as a bit of meditation time – really enjoy the snack and clear my mind at the same time.
I can definitely relate to this! I eat as if someone is going to take my food away. I try to practice putting my fork down in between each bite or to make myself concentrate on what the food actually taste like and the texture rather than concentrating on shoveling in the next bite. I am definitely a slow work in progress when it comes to this though!
I tried adding Laughing Cow Swiss cheese to my quinoa and broccoli like you mentioned and it was delicious!! Thanks for the tip!
I try to make it a point to eat my meals at the dinner table instead of the TV and turning it off during meal times. It helps my fiance and I to enjoy our meal and connect with each other!
I look forward to snack time in the morning and mid afternoon so I try to treat it like a planned event! I pack snacks the night before a work day so there is careful thought put into them. I try to not look at my phone or computer when I eat them so that I can elongate the fun as long as possible 🙂
My favorite snack is granola – easy and filling!
I’m pretty much obsessed with eating any and every kind of cheese for a snack 🙂