With the Holiday Season right upon us how can we maintain the success we have had in decreasing inflammation, weight, and flare ups? Throughout the holiday season we will share some holiday tips to help you successfully make it to 2025 and beyond with your health goals intact. Sound good?
It all starts with proper digestion!
Good digestion is key to abundant health because we are only as healthy as our gut is. God wants us to enjoy our food and have mealtime be a pleasurable experience, so He created us with taste buds to appreciate the various flavors; in fact, nine thousand taste buds!
Taste buds are replaced every 21 days. Therefore, if we want to introduce a new food to our diet that we currently do not like, we can continue to introduce that food for 21 days and we will learn to like the new food!
If we want to remove a food from our diet, our taste buds can adapt within three weeks! The longer you stick to a new pattern of eating the more the brain will run along the new channels or grooves, and less on the previous brain grooves, forming new habits and preferences.
How we chew our food has a huge effect on our gut health. Some benefits of proper chewing include:
Improved digestion and nutrient absorption
Less work for the digestive organs
Increased appreciation of food and flavors
Decreased cravings
Decreased gas and bloating
Strengthened immune system
Improvement with weight management
The smaller the food particles that enter the stomach, the easier it is to digest, process and assimilate into useful nutrients and energy by the body. When food is chewed less, the larger food particles pass through the system and become a ready platform for bacteria as they decay. This creates an avenue for disease resulting in less nourishment for the body. Initial symptoms may include (but are not limited to): gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, bad breath, abdominal pain, and cramping.
As food is chewed, saliva is simultaneously excreted from the salivary glands and mixed with our food. Saliva contains digestive enzymes that help breakdown carbohydrates, as well as prepare and lubricate the food for easy transit through the esophagus and into the stomach for further digestion. The longer food is chewed, the longer the enzymes have to initiate the process of food breakdown and digestion, making it easier on the stomach and intestines to work efficiently.
Be "Chewsy" to Control Weight!
Chewing your food twice as long may result in 10% fewer calories consumed. This is because your brain is given adequate time to signal “enough." It takes about 20 minutes for the signal to trigger, no matter how many calories you eat. However, this signal can be desensitized by repeatedly overeating. Simply chewing well and eating slowly can lower your risk of diabetes and obesity giving you a lower body mass index and waist circumference. (1)
Learning to change a chewing habit will take conscious effort, but if you can still eat, it is never too late to start a new chewing habit at your next meal. Slow down, enjoy your food, savor every bite, and learn to appreciate the true flavors.
Tips to Be Chewsy:
Take smaller bites of food. Smaller bites are easier to chew.
Be conscious of what, when, and how much food you put in your mouth.
Chew slowly and steadily.
Lay down your utensil between each bite.
Finish chewing and swallowing completely before picking up your utensil for the next bite.
Avoid drinking with your meals. Drinking with meals dilutes the saliva and digestive acids.
Avoid eating between meals. This interrupts the work of the digestive organs
Eating foods in as close to their natural state as possible will necessitate that you chew more (think salad vs. smoothie).
“In order to secure healthy digestion, food should be eaten slowly…The benefits derived from food does not depend so much on quantity eaten as on its thorough digestion." (2)
Blue Skies,
Dana West, RDN, LD, DIPACLM
Call us today at
to schedule a FREE INTERVIEW to Start a New YOU!®
References
Eating Slower Tied to Lower Obesity Risk in Type 2 Diabetes. http://www.physiciansbriefing.com/Article.asp?AID=731038
White, E. Counsels on Diets and Foods, Review and Herald
Comments