OBC Food Blog Day 49: Consult your gut

Most of us allow external, and usually visual, cues to determine how much we eat.  The larger the portion, for example, the more we eat; the bigger the container, the more we pour.  As in so many areas of modern life, the culture of food has become a culture of the eye.  But when it comes to food, it pays to cultivate the other senses, which often provide more useful and accurate information.  It can take twenty minutes before your brain gets the word that your belly is full; that means that if you take less than twenty minutes to finish a meal, the sensation of satiety will arrive too late to be of any use.   So slow down and pay attention to what your body-and not just your sight-is telling you.  This is what your grandparents were getting at with the adage "Your eyes are bigger than your stomach."