This blog was written by Stephanie Moore MS, RD/LD

One of my patients the other day enlightened me with a smart phone app called Eat Slower Pro. Such a great concept!

Here’s what we know about eating slowly:

1. It takes 20 minutes for the brain to identify fullness, so eating slowly prevents over-eating.

2. Eating too quickly after weight-loss surgery can either lead to discomfort or nausea, OR what we call “pre-mature fullness” when it feels like time to stop but in a couple hours hunger is back.

Here’s a screen shot of how this phone app works:


Slide the bar on the screen across to determine how long you want to wait in between bites. (This may depend on how far you are postop- but in general you want 20-30 minutes total for your meal.)


When the time you have allotted is up, you can choose to have a cute “ding!”  go off or the phone will vibrate and you know to take the next bite.


Based upon your average amount of bites in a meal, the app will ask you if you are full when you are nearing your typical amount of bites consumed. This is a great reminder to truly ask yourself if you really need another bite.


I love this screen. The app will summarize the meal with how many bites you had, how many bites you average per meal, and how much time it took you to eat the meal.  Such a great way to learn from each meal and stay aware of eating behaviors.

The app is available in iTunes for $0.99 when you search “Eat Slower Pro.” There is also an “Eat Slower ” which is free and provides just the timer…so you lose the information on how many bites on average and the function to ask you if you’re full. Happy eating!

For further questions related to food and nutrition contact Steph at