Slow down you’re eating too fast
“Slow down you’re eating too fast, you have to make that meal last!” (With apologies to Simon & Garfunkel)
Okay, let’s put a halt, once and for all to gulping our meals down. Not very gracious, and certainly not a good look. Food should be eaten in a considered reflective manner. Gulping down our meals in a hurried, anxious manner is a digestive disaster. Chew each mouthful thoroughly and thoughtfully.
There is an enzyme in our saliva, called amylase which initiates the breakdown of starches. Salivary amylase continues to act on starches for 15 minutes after the food has been swallowed. So insufficient chewing and gulping means this first crucial stage in digestion is bypassed, resulting in possible gut pain, indigestion gas and wind. Not nice. Let’s try our best to make chewing each (small mouthful) thirty times before we swallow.
I guarantee you will have a much happier gastrointestinal tract and will be less inclined to overeat, as it takes 20 minutes for our brain to register we are full. Slowed down chewing will result in a happy situation of less gut pain and less food consumed at one sitting. A double bonus. And besides, with all the vegetables and whole grains you will undoubtedly be consuming this month, you will need to chew thoroughly and eat mindfully.