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In this era of fast-paced everything, even the act of eating a meal has become something we can do on the run. Breakfast comes in bars, lunch can be eaten while speeding down the highway, and dinner is merely an accompaniment to the evening news, squeezed in between other pressing activities. Invariably, when eating plays second string to everything else, every meal becomes "fast food," as in eaten-very-fast food. If you find yourself wolfing down your meals in a hurry, you’re actually shortchanging yourself in more ways than you might think. It turns out there’s a reason food tastes so good. You’re supposed to enjoy it—slow down and savor it, not just get it to your stomach as quickly as possible. Chewing your food thoroughly is actually the first step in the complex process of digestion, and if you glaze over it, just chewing the minimum amount of times necessary to get the food down your esophagus, you’re actually compromising this process. And it’s a mistake many people make. If you try to imagine swallowing a whole piece of pizza, it’s easy to see why chewing is necessary. But besides breaking up your food into manageable chunks, there’s another good reason to put in the effort and chew. The saliva that coats your food as you chew actually contains digestive enzymes that begin to digest your food before you even swallow it. The enzymes alpha-amylase and lingual lipase begin digesting carbohydrates and fats, reducing the amount of work for which the stomach will be responsible. And it isn’t just a nice gesture. If food fragments are swallowed un-chewed, not only do nutrients remain locked in the fragments, but these fragments create an environment in the colon that is conducive to digestive distress—bacterial overgrowth, gas and bloating. For food particles to even leave your stomach though, the "gates" of the stomach, the pyloric sphincter, must open. Conveniently, chewing also aids in this process, signaling this event. And speaking of signals, just seeing your food causes your brain to send signals to the pancreas and stomach to secrete digestive acids and enzymes that are essential to digestion. And the longer your food has contact with your taste and smell receptors—the longer you chew each bite—the stronger these signals become. Strong signals mean more digestive molecules, less indigestion, less acid reflux and superior nutrient absorption. Chewing your food thoroughly and eating your meals more slowly has another benefit. It might shrink your waistline—and not just because you’ll have less bloating and indigestion. Eating more slowly gives your body a chance to tell your mind that it’s full, so that you stop eating before you go overboard. Here are some practical tips for chewing more thoroughly and eating more slowly:
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Member Comments
my problem is eating meal alone some times i don't fix sparky meals and when you don;t have more then soup and sandwich it seems i eat fast . Report
* Don’t eat amidst distractions, like the TV, computer, or while driving.*
I have found on my journey to lose weight that watching a movie with my huddy while eating our dinner in the evening...SLOWS my eating big time. Many times I have my fork in the air doing nothing while I slowly chew and waiting to see what happens next....or we often pause the movie to ask each other a question. Again....either chewing or at least waiting to put another bite in our mouths!
At lunch.....I either am sitting at my table reading ( hubby usually watches Star Trek on his tablet across from me ) And in the car ( often travelling at lunch time ) I read while I eat ( hubby drives LOL )
Again.....I find reading distracts me from stuffing my food down and does not take away the enjoyment of each and every bite that it seems I chew forever while I turn another page in my book!
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