The Brief

This story was originally published on Sept. 9, 2023, and has been updated.

You ever eat so fast that you get hiccups from just like inhaling the meal? Or bite your cheek or tongue because you mistook it for food?

Yeah, I've done it.

To slow down the pace, you'll need to practice mindful eating. That means using your senses to actually enjoy the food, taking the time to express gratitude for your meal, and making "choices that are satisfying and nourishing to the body," says Lilian Cheung, lecturer and director of Mindfulness Research and Practice in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Not only is mindful eating good for digestion, it "allows us to become much more aware of [the food] we have, how we get it and what it takes to be able to have that," she says.

How to eat more mindfully

Remove all distractions while you eat — including your cell phone. They can interfere with your ability to enjoy your food and notice when you are full. "Allocate time to eat and only eat," says Cheung. "Make sure your cell phone is face down and you're not going to be responding to any messages that come through."

See if you can stretch your mealtime to 20 minutes. Very often we find ourselves eating while doing something else, says Cheung, and that can make us eat faster than we normally would. When you sit down to eat, spend about 20 minutes doing so. "It takes about that time for your body to get the signal to the brain that you are full," she adds.

Buy time by noticing (and appreciating) all the little details about your food. You might wonder how to spend 20 whole minutes eating a sandwich. Cheung says one way to slow down is to engage your senses and think through all the details about your meal. "Ask yourself: what's on my plate? How hungry am I today? Is it too salty?" she says. Notice the smell, the texture and whatever other senses that arise as you eat.

You might also think about the effort it took to get the food on the table. If you're eating potato chips, for example, you might "thank the universe for the right climate to have that potato, the manpower engaged in making it available, the transportation to get the chips to the supermarket," she says.

Actually chew. If you're inhaling your food you're probably not chewing it. And chewing is an important part of digestion, says Cheung. It helps "break up the foods so it's easier for absorption." Look at each bite before popping it into your mouth, acknowledge what you're eating and "chew, chew, chew," she adds.

Use mealtime as a moment for reflection. Cheung shares an invocation she learned from the late Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hanh called "The Five Contemplations," outlined in his book Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life. She says that reciting these lines before meals have helped her practice mindful eating.

Reciting "The Five Contemplations" for mindful eating by the late Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hanh before a meal can help you eat more slowly and deliberately, says Lilian Cheung, a lecturer and the director of Mindfulness Research and Practice in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

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Kaz Fantone

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NPR

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The audio portion of this episode was edited by Thomas Lu. The digital story was edited by Malaka Gharib. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at LifeKit@npr.org.

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A real estate agent who calls himself “Mr La Cañada” has been sentenced after facing one of first criminal price gouging charges filed in the wake of last year’s Los Angeles County fires.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Thursday that Mike Kobeissi will face 12 months of probation, 100 days of community service, mandatory ethics training and a requirement to pay $20,000 to a disaster relief fund.

“May this announcement serve as a stern warning to those who would seek to further victimize those who have lost everything,” Bonta said in a statement. “My office is aggressively and relentlessly pursuing those who are trying to make a quick buck off someone else’s pain.”

Kobeissi’s attorney, Dale Galipo, said his client was not ultimately sentenced for violating the section of California’s penal code related to post-disaster price gouging. He was instead convicted of false advertising in a separate misdemeanor charge.

“This was an unfortunate situation,” Galipo said. “Mike did not make $1 off of this situation. And it’s unfortunate that it happened, but we were happy to get it resolved.”

The 38% rent hike that led to the sentencing

In January 2025, shortly after the fires destroyed thousands of homes in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades, Bonta’s office charged Kobeissi with violating the state’s ban on post-disaster price gouging.

The law prohibited raising rents by more than 10% from their advertised levels before the fire. With thousands of displaced families flooding the rental market all at once, many prospective tenants reported widespread violations of the law.

Bonta’s office said the case started when a couple who lost their home in the Eaton Fire applied to rent a property listed by Kobeissi. After they submitted their application, they were told the rent had increased 38% from the listed price. They declined to rent the property and notified the Attorney General’s Office.

LAist asked Bonta’s office why the price gouging charge was dropped, but we did not receive an immediate answer.

What the agent said at the time

When LAist first reached Kobeissi for comment on the charges last year, he initially said prosecutors had it “all wrong.”

“I should be rewarded,” he told LAist at the time. “It's completely opposite, what they are claiming.”

Kobeissi will be required to submit an apology letter to the couple as part of his sentencing.

Prosecutors have charged a handful of other real estate agents and landlords for violating the ban on post-fire price gouging. It remains to be seen what sentences they might face.

Tenant advocates with a group called The Rent Brigade say overall enforcement has been weak, given how few cases were filed in relation to the 18,360 listings they found featuring likely violations.

L.A. County’s ban on post-fire rent gouging lasted for about 16 months before elected officials decided to end it in May.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Housing needs for current and future residents, environmental justice, access to local commercial corridors and preserving Boyle Heights’ cultural legacy will be priorities as the neighborhood grows, according to its newly updated community plan.

In a 14-0 vote, city leaders last week officially approved the update to the Boyle Heights Community Plan, which acts like a blueprint for the future of one of L.A.’s oldest neighborhoods. The multidecade effort to update the document is its first change since 1998.

Councilmember Ysabel Jurado spoke to the greater City Council during a June 24 meeting and pointed to the history of Boyle Heights residents being left out of conversations that impact their neighborhood. For the updated plan, she said neighbors and other stakeholders worked to mold it into a positive asset for the community of roughly 85,000 people.

“This plan reflects years of community advocacy for stronger environmental protections, more thoughtful land-use decisions, greater compatibility between industrial and residential uses, affordable housing antidisplacement measures and investments that allow families to remain in the neighborhoods that they built,” Jurado said during the meeting. 

Jurado spoke as the Lineage warehouse fire was still burning next to homes. She stressed the future of the neighborhood didn’t necessarily have to mirror its past.

“No community plan can undo generations of inequitable land use decisions overnight…” Jurado said, referring to the residential neighborhoods around the industrial zone that endured smoke from the fire for days. “A community cannot thrive if families are asked to bear environmental burdens that [other communities] aren’t forced to accept.”

The plan will allow for 13,000 new homes, attract 12,000 more work opportunities, and accommodate 37,000 additional residents in Boyle Heights through the year 2040, according to a press release from L.A.’s Planning Department.

The latest update incentivizes developers to build in the proposed zones by the L.A. River that will allow more mixed-use structures, such as apartments above small businesses. The plan will also offer opportunities for legacy small businesses to be relocated to the new development area to further preserve the culture and identity of the neighborhood. 

Addressing environmental harms

The plan also includes updated building code guidelines to ensure that:

• Potentially disruptive or hazardous industrial uses along streets that serve as boundaries between industrial areas and residential neighborhoods are discouraged
• Facilities that handle hazardous materials near residents and schools are phased out
• Qualifying development projects conduct soil testing to ensure that lead and arsenic are removed from the soil prior to any ground disturbance

Housing, jobs and neighborhood character

The plan update also features the following tools to “promote affordable housing, economic development, and maintain the community identity” in the neighborhood:

• Prioritizes new production of housing development along commercial corridors and near transit stations to reduce automobile dependency, while safeguarding existing residential neighborhoods
• Incentivizes units for a range of lower-income households, including families of four that make less than $16,000 annually, and family-sized units for intergenerational housing needs 
• Adopts new zoning standards that promote corner shops, or tienditas, that provide groceries and household goods within a walkable distance of the surrounding residential neighborhood
• Strengthens local business and job growth potential along major corridors with new regulations that limit the size of commercial spaces to support mom-and-pop-style businesses and neighborhood grocery stores rather than big-box stores and chains
• New zoning standards that require design features on new development to be compatible with and reflect the existing character of historic and potentially historic buildings, such as those along the historic Brooklyn Avenue corridor

The updated Plan was initially approved in September 2024 and preserves access to incoming affordable housing while safeguarding housing in existing residential neighborhoods.

The plan update also incorporates the New Zoning Code, a more flexible zoning system designed to promote sustainable development and equity across L.A. neighborhoods. Boyle Heights is the second L.A. neighborhood to utilize the new code after downtown. 

Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and members of Eastside LEADS speak at a town hall at the Boyle Heights City Hall on June, 10, 2026.

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Laura Anaya-Morga

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Boyle Heights Beat

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Residents’ hopes for implementation

At a June 10 town hall at Boyle Heights City Hall, various community groups and organizations met with Jurado and the Eastside Leadership for Equitable and Accountable Development Strategies (LEADS) coalition to discuss the plan.

At the end of the meeting, attendees broke into groups to talk about issues they wanted addressed and what neighborhood identity and culture would be important to preserve as the community plan is implemented.

Daniel Jimenez said that his table discussed “how important it is for us to be able to have affordable housing in our neighborhoods.”

In addition to affordable housing, others shared that the plan should ensure adequate parking for new developments, create more green spaces and programming for youth.

Fanny Ortiz, a longtime Boyle Heights resident, said, “In order for us to live and thrive in our community, we should be able to have housing with dignity.”

According to a representative from Jurado’s office, the plan will take effect later this summer. 

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Every Wednesday morning, at a coffee shop near the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Western Avenue, a line begins to form. 

People aren’t just coming to South LA Cafe for coffee, they come for the groceries that will ensure their respective households have enough food for the week.

The food giveaway at the cafe, co-founded by Joe Ward-Wallace, has become a weekly stop for hundreds of residents. What started as a coffee shop has grown into a community hub addressing food insecurity through consistent grocery distributions and local support.

Each week, South LA Cafe distributes 200 bags of groceries, many filled with fresh produce, meat and a mix of pantry goods. 

Most of the people in line are the elderly and families because the distribution happens mid-morning during the week.

“Usually a bag of groceries can feed a family of four for about a week,” Ward-Wallace said. “It gives them the essentials so they can survive … We hope for a lot of people.”

Volunteer Kiki Miller distributing strawberries into each bag of groceries.

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Hawaii Utterbach

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The LA Local

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As of 2026, South LA Cafe has five locations across LA. It opened its fifth location on Vermont Avenue in October 2025. 

“It’s become more than a coffee shop. It’s become a movement in every community.” Ward-Wallace said.

That growth is supported by a system that depends heavily on volunteers. From packing bags to organizing supplies, the weekly food drive requires constant coordination.

 “Every bag has fresh produce in it… so it requires a huge volunteer network,” said Kiki Miller, a volunteer.  “People are constantly coming in to prep and pack bags.”

The need for that support continues to grow as many families struggle to keep up with the rising cost of living. Rent, transportation and supporting a family can quickly add up, making food one of the hardest expenses to afford consistently. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, food prices have risen by 3.1% overall during the last 12 months. Grocery prices increased by 2.4%, while dining out saw a 4.1% increase.

There is also a stigma attached to seeking food assistance. Some people feel like spaces like this are not meant for them, or they feel embarrassed to show up at all.

Ward-Wallace understands that feeling personally.

 “I used to be in those lines … and I was embarrassed,” he said. “If we’re going to have a community space, people are going to feel welcome. No one should feel bad for needing food.”

Co-founder of South LA Cafe, Joe Ward-Wallace, stands outside the cafe.

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Hawaii Utterbach

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The LA Local

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That perspective shapes how South LA Cafe operates. The grocery program meets immediate needs, but it also prioritizes removing stigma around asking for help. 

“Why do they have to go somewhere else?” Ward-Wallace said. “We can do it right here in our own community.”

For volunteers, the impact is easy to see but meaningful.

“I might not be able to fix everything, but today I can come feed someone,” Miller said.

For more information on South LA Cafe’s Wednesday grocery giveaway, including how to receive groceries or volunteer, visit the cafe’s website. 

This story was produced under The LA Local’s Youth Journalism Program. To learn more or to get involved, click here.