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The longer you take to chew and swallow your food, the less you're likely to eat. A lot of people, especially here in the states, tend to bolt their food. Feelings of fullness take a while to register, so by the time you realize that you've had enough to eat, you've already eaten more. By eating more slowly and pausing, you give your body time to signal that it's full before you make the decision to eat more.
I once read an anecdote by a psychiatrist that I've never forgotten. He was given a two-year fellowship at a prestigious institue of psychology in Switzerland in which the academic staff all went out for a two-hour lunch together every day. He assumed that they'd be talking shop, but on his first visit he found out that all they talked about was food. They were gourmets and went to good restaurants for multiple-course lunches, and endlessly discussed each morsel that they ate and took the time to appreciate the flavor of everything before they ate. He learned to do the same and after two years of such lunches, he'd come to appreciate food as he never had before -- and lost 20 pounds.
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