5 Ways to Practice Slow Love

In 1986, when Italian chef Carlo Petrini saw a McDonald’s restaurant being constructed near the historic Spanish Steps in Rome, he quietly said “Enough.”

What followed was a movement he founded in response to non-nutritious fast food simply called “slow food.”

At first the group was small with a single-minded goal: boycott fast food and return to the more time-consuming preparations that grandmothers had perfected, which included a wider variety of plants than are commercially grown.

Before long, the missives of slow food included supporting local farmers, avoiding mass-produced food, choosing organic, taking the time needed to prepare unprocessed food from scratch and joining family and friends more often at communal tables.

Today, the worldwide slow food movement has given way to other lifestyle trends that eschew technology and a fast-paced, often unhealthy life.

These include slow travel and slow design. These movements put human mental and physical health above profits and technology.

In the world of online dating, digital hookups, speed dating, sexting and high breakup rates, it only makes sense “slow love” should emerge.

Slow love is a philosophy I coined in my book “The 30-Day Love Detox” to describe a trend where men and women put quality relationships above sexual opportunity by slowing down the pace of the physical relationship to allow the vulnerable emotional brain to create a more lasting bond.

It’s a way to say no to junk food sex and and yes to a healthy, supportive relationship.

And, make no mistake about it, slow love isn’t some old-fashioned return to traditional gender roles where women withhold sex to make a man think his longing is love.

It’s a call for new courtship rituals that allow the men and women to build trust before sex.

“Low-criteria relationships make it difficult

to make sound relationship choices.”

The tenants of slow love are:

And get rid of poor nutritional relationships. Low-criteria relationships — the ones that bring sex without commitment or expressions of love — cloud our vision and make it difficult to make sound relationship choices.

They also train our bodies to need low-substance variety.

Adopt healthy sexual boundaries. Learn the vital communication skills you need to slow down the pace of a new romantic relationship.

Delay the onset of sexual activity with a new partner until a healthy degree of emotional intimacy is established.

Reduce the use of digital technology in courtship. Supplement it with telephone conversations and face-to-face nonsexual interactions.

Create a positive “passion turning point” through sex by exchanging a verbal expression of love before sexual activity begins.

I hope you’ll read more about slow love in “The 30-Day Love Detox” so you can find the care and commitment you deserve.