Chewing Food for Health and Enjoyment

We often use the term eating better when we want to improve our health. This generally means to eat better food. Today I want to talk about the actual process of eating and that eating better means chewing your food properly. A complete dinner will be prepared and we can scoff it down in 5 minutes and feel sick and hungry afterwards, or we can eat it over 20 minutes and enjoy it more and not feel the digestive discomfort afterwards. 

Regardless of what type of food it is, it will always be better for you to chew more. The first stage of the digestive system is your mouth. Your teeth and saliva are an active part of the digestive system yet too many people leave this job entirely up to the stomach. The stomach digests food by breaking it down with acid and enzymes, this process is very difficult if the food has not been thoroughly chewed before swallowing. 

Some benefits of chewing your food more include:

Being satisfied with less food

The longer you chew your food the longer it will take to eat a meal. This gives your body more time to recognize the amount of food you are eating and to signal to your body that you are full. The longer a meal takes to finish the less people tend to eat overall.

Having fewer digestive problems

As mentioned above, the stomach does not have its own teeth. It has to break down food by using stomach acids. The more broken down the food is when it reaches the stomach the easier it is for the stomach to digest it. When the stomach has trouble digesting food it will release more and more acid to try and digest it, often leading to a person feeling sick and having stomach problems.

Absorbing more nutrition from your food

The more food is broken down by the mouth, the less effort the stomach has to go through. The stomach can then break food down completely which enables you to absorb more of the food you eat. There is no point in eating good food if your body cannot utilize it completely.

Enjoying your food more

Probably the best part of chewing properly comes from enjoying your food more. Food is meant to be enjoyed and eating quickly does now allow us to fully savour a meal. Slowing down your eating gives you the chance to extend the experience of eating a nice meal. I would also recommend only eating when you eat, not watching TV, reading or using the computer. These distract from the meal and can make us unable to connect with what we are doing.

Chewing food more will always be beneficial. Eating so quickly becomes a habit and like all habits we must make slow and steady alterations to change them.

A few easy ways to start doing this today:

• Start with just one meal each day where you really focus on this idea
• Sit down at a table for this meal, not in front of a TV or at your desk
• Try to stop halfway through your meal for a minute or two
• Take smaller bites and cut up food more before eating
• Try and focus on what you are eating and enjoy it
• Also try to slow down overall and also have more breaks throughout the meal
  

Chewing food may seem like something minor, but it is a very simple and good way to improve your health. Try to at least have one meal a day where you focus on the meal and what you are eating. You will not only improve your physical health but you will find more enjoyment of the food you have. I hope this was helpful and if you have any questions or comments please leave them below or email me at [email protected]

Thank you,