When sitting down to a meal consider a few things: What are you eating? Where are you eating it? Most important, who are you eating with? If this is breakfast, lunch or dinner, eat at a table, not the couch or in front of the TV – or with the TV on. Although dinner and a movie at home can be a really fun, occasional treat, eating while watching the television – anything on the television - on a regular basis does not make you happier, know the others around you, add to your social life, enhance your love life, cause your kids to respect you or make your life better.

Instead, slow down. Converse. Turn off the TV and get to know the people you are with. Do you know your kids’ favorite color? Book? Do they know yours? What was the last book you read for that matter? Multi-tasking might be the buzz word of the day but it doesn’t work watching television when eating and having a meaningful conversation.

Consider this: be polite by saying “please” and “thank you”. Be considerate by chewing with your mouth closed. Don’t talk when food is in your mouth. Lose weight by following the above AND savor, rather than just swallow, your food. That's right lose weight while eating.

It’s a well-know fact among nutritionists that it takes 20 minutes from the start of eating before one begins to feel full. Twenty minutes can fly by with good food and conversation. For that matter, bad food and good conversation can make 20 minutes fly by.

So the next time you sit down to a meal, consider what your priorities are. Do you want to wolf down your food in silence? Eating for 20 minutes straight with no conversation will allow you lots of shoveling time and little down time (one more reason to not eat while watching TV – no conversation, only shoveling). Do you want to talk amongst the people at the table? If so, do you want to do it politely? Do you want them to be polite? Hopefully you know by now that before you can expect politeness, you have to embody it.

Supposing you chose to visit while eating (and implement manners), odds are you will consume at least 20% fewer calories and be just as satisfied as if had you eaten more. This is not a statistic just a mathematical projection – if you slow down, speak, etc. you are going to eat less than if you don’t.

So let’s implement some manners and lose weight!!

First make the decision that manners and conversation are most important. Food is secondary. Then remember to be polite before you eat, drink or speak.

When sitting down to eat, begin first by dishing and passing. Make sure everyone has had the opportunity to dish up before you begin to eat. For the record, this is such a hugely polite thing to do; I hope it’s observed all the time.

Once everyone has made their food choices let the conversation and eating begin. While you eat, remember to not interrupt others who are talking. Be leisurely as you consume and converse. If you want to say something, make sure you don’t have a mouthful of food. Finish chewing. Swallow. Take a sip of what you are drinking. Now speak.

While you are conversing, make sure to set your fork down. This is a tough one to remember but it’s the best thing to do. You don’t want to be cutting meat or fiddling with your food when you are talking and you won’t be ready to chow down on your next bite the second you are done speaking. You may be tempted to put your full fork of food in your mouth while you are talking. Setting your folk down while speaking will cut your calories and keep the conversation enjoyable.

So implement a manners plan and start losing weight in the process.