How long to eat a meal?

 How long do you allow yourself to eat a meal?  I'm almost 7 weeks post-op and it takes a long time to eat.  Silly as this may be... I'd like to get my protein in from food as much as possible so sometimes it's 40 mins later before I finish; sometimes longer..should I have stopping time?  I measure my food and it seems to take forever to finish.  Your thoughts??

 I was specifically told at least 30 minutes by the surgeon and the nut. I take up to an hour depending on what time of day I am eating. Don't pu**** your body will tell you what is right.

My NUT says take aleast 20-30 mins if not more.

I used to take about 40mins or so too.. and sometimes only could eat 1.5oz meat in that time. It gets a bit better as the swelling reduces and things relax. By a few months, I was close to 2oz meat (no room for anything else) in about 25-30mins, and now I eat at a relaxed but more regular pace, about 2oz-2.25oz meat, plus usually a few bites of some veggies if room in about 20mins or so.. I too needed to take my sweet time early out in order to hit my 70+g protein minimums. 

 Don't pu****  Sounds like you are doing just fine. It takes me 30+ minutes to eat as well.  The only bummer is the 2nd half of my meal is always cold!

Thank you for all the responses...just making sure I was on the right track.  The reassuarance is needed sometimes!  Yeah!!!

At least 20 minutes, no more than 40 minutes per my instructions.

And, for cold meals, get one of those electric candle warmers, sit your little plate on it and it will help keep your food warm through the meal.

That's a great idea! 

I remember running to the micro to zap my TB of chicken so many times.. lol.. Yeah, 5 seconds.

 lol!  I do the same thing!

Yep, you're not alone.  I'm 5 weeks out and it still takes forever.  My instructions said to stop eating at 40 mins if I wasn't done.  I haven't ever taken that long, but easily 20-30 depending on what it is.  Even shakes take me about 45 mins.