Our food habits can affect our lifestyle and health greatly. At the same time, chewing of the food also carries a lot of importance in terms of our overall well-being. Apart from improving the digestion process, good chewing also helps in avoiding joint pain. Let us see certain of the major benefits of chewing food more.1. Release of digestive enzymes When you chew your food properly, big food particles break down into smaller particles and so the food gets mobilized easily. During the chewing process, saliva is also released that contains digestive enzymes. So the smaller particles of food get easily digested through the release of digestive enzymes. The more we chew, the smaller the particles become and more the enzymes are released; making the digestion process easy. A healthy digestive process doesn’t let bacteria stick around the body as at times the food that is not chewed properly leads to bacterial overgrowth which causes bloating and constipation. If these are not treated at an early stage serious health issues like joint pain can also be experienced.
2. Regulated body weight What we eat depends on our choice and liking but how much we eat shall depend upon the “satiety cascade”. Certainly the delight of good food is highest in the initial bites and slowly that excitement calms down and you focus on eating. Here comes satiety cascade in the picture that defines how much food would be consumed by you. Say for example, if I am having spinach soup but I am not much fond of it, so I will be consuming it in a little quantity (if I am not forced to have more). But at the same time if I am having an ice cream, I might finish a one completely along with having an urge of having more. So if I am eating consciously or in common words if I am into “mindful eating” that is enjoy my food with consciousness, feel its aroma, chew slowly, experience each and every flavor then my palate would relish more of the flavors along with giving me satisfaction. This can give me a feeling of being full and I won’t be able to eat a lot thus controlling my appetite and weight at large. Overweight people are of course at a great risk of suffering from joint pain so again, chewing food slowly and consciously can keep the long term risks of obesity and joint pain at bay.
Have more of crunchy food to tackle this phenomenon. Generally having raw fruits or cereals in breakfast is advisable because it requires more of chewing and you feel full, giving you the energy to start the day. So have more of crunchy or any other food that requires lot of chewing.
Tricks to chewing food slowly Chew for minimum 5-10 times (soft food) and maximum 30 times (textured food)
Go for smaller morsels or bites
Avoid doing multitasking while eating
Have a bite only after the first one is completely swallowed