Holiday Health Tips : It’s all in the chew

It’s precisely between this week and January 1st when people tend to put on most of their weight. There are two reasons for this. The crazy festive season filled with weddings and parties and then Christmas, New Year eve and the fact that people tend to let loose during this time, with the justification that they will start anew with  ‘healthy new year resolutions’ from January onwards.

• What if I told, you could enjoy this season and it would not impact your weight?
• What if I told you that snacking on a cookie or dessert here or there would not impact your weight goals?
• What if I told you that you could eat rice / Roti / Bread at lunch and dinner, and it would not impact your weight or health?
• What if you could enjoy this festive season, have loads of fun, eat your favourite foods and still maintain your health and weight?

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The human body is a miracle and we are living examples of this miracle. The way our brain and body functions, blood flow, smell, feelings, emotions, the ability to recover from the deadliest of diseases, and the ability of our cells to heal and repair.

Every day trillions of cells in our body work non-stop to fight out germs and bacteria all around us, which if infects us, we could fall very sick and even die. That miracle is called ‘ immunity’.

Our stomach produces sufficient acid to melt down a razor blade. Such is the power of our digestive system.

So what’s an ice- cream or a chocolate bar or a cookie going to do when it finds its way into our stomachs?

Our body is made to digest the hardest of foods. Red meat is tough to digest, but the body will break it down. Vegetarians don’t escape either. Cellulose in vegetables are extremely difficult to break down, but the body breaks it down eventually.( this is one reason that vegetarians suffer from more flatulence than non vegetarians.)

The body can break down meats and vegetables and that dessert. The secret lies in the ‘chew’.  The reason food tastes so good is because 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 oesophagus, you’re actually compromising this process. And that’s the mistake many people make.

We have teeth not just to smile or picture pretty. The primary function of teeth is to tear down and break up food into small bits. Saliva mixes with these small bits, further softening them, and guess what?

Let me get down to some basic-here is the foremost reason for why you should begin to chew your food.

When you chew, more saliva gets produced and your saliva contains enzymes that break down FATS and CARBS. Yes!!! Digestion starts in the MOUTH.

By the time your food reaches your stomach, it’s already processed by enzymes, and your stomach has no issues in completing the assimilation/digestion process.

• You feel light
• You feel full for a longer period of time.
• You do away with flatulence, gas, indigestion, burping.
• You learn to savour and enjoy the taste of your food.
• Your body absorbs all the goodness of your food (vitamins, minerals) better.
• You eat exactly how much your body needs, to you maintain or arrive at a healthy weight

Imagine all the times you gobble down your food .You have undigested chunks sitting in your stomach, giving rise to gas, discomfort and chances are that most of your food gets converted to fat.

Chew your food. Enjoy a dessert but eat it slow, savour it, and over time you will learn not to abuse it. The more you chew your food, the cleaner you keep your intestines, stomach and colon, because the body can quickly cleanse itself when digestion happens the right way.

Say bye to constipation, fatigue and migraines/headaches.

Try this exercise today:

The next meal, eat it really slow. Take a spoon of food, chew it several times, savour the flavour and taste, and then swallow. Put your spoon down.

Then take the next. You will find yourself getting fuller quickly, and then you should stop eating. This way you save on calories you intake, and over time this will become a habit and you will serve yourself less food. Less food equals less calories, equals better health, longer living and a healthy weight.

Take 1 serving spoon less at every meal, and chew and eat your food. You will find that it is enough and all these saves spoons of food add up to a lot of calories saved. You will lose fat and you will feel healthier

Diseases are caused in most cases by overeating, and we always think how much we eat is enough, but it may not be correct, if you have been eating your meals fast.

Chew your food and you will never have to diet.

Your meal time is more important that your work, respect it. That’s your personal time between you and your body, where you feed and nourish it to keep you healthy and strong to do your work and live well.

This is a lifestyle change, and if you master it, you can enjoy all the foods you like in moderation.