Hurries... getting up with just enough time, infinite activities and obligations make us not have enough time for eating. The sensation of lack of time, eating being very hungry or eating distractedly is a bad habit that is very common and has turned lunchtime into a pure formality.
Food is one of the great pleasures of life,
dedicate to it the time it deserves.
Discover the advantages of eating slowly
Eating slowly and chewing well facilitates digestion and makes it less heavy. How you chew is essential. It is important to chew until noticing the food is ground, turned into a paste, and you make this sure by chewing each bite approximately 20 times.
Curious fact: the body burns during digestion approximately 10 additional calories for each meal of 300 calories.
Listen to your stomach and your brain. The sensation of hunger and satiation is also regulated by small areas of our brain, such as the hypothalamus. Once we start eating, two antagonist hormones, ghrelin and leptin, like the Yin and Yang, are in charge of send signals to our brain about if we are hungry or satisfied. Curious fact: the sensation of satiation takes about 20 minutes. If we devour our food in a few minutes we will want to eat more and consequently will increase the portions, exceeding the number of calories.
While we eat, the brain is in charge of sending an immediate message, a WhatsApp to the pancreas to secret the necessary insulin to metabolise the nutrients and turn them into glucose, that is, energy. If we eat to fast this communication can be altered, favouring the possible appearance of Diabetes Type 2 or a metabolic syndrome.
It all begins in the mouth. More chewing stimulates more saliva secretion and exercises the gums and helps keep the teeth and jaw strong.
The way you chew and the time you chew directly affect your health: more sensation of satiation, less amount of food consumed, favours digestion and absorption of nutrients, less gas formation, improves the levels of stress because chewing slowly you affect the rest of the body, soothing and calming the possible stress you may have at that moment; it also regulates the level of glucose, looks after your dental health and also by eating slowly you enjoy more and pay more attention to what you eat, practising Mindful Eating or mindfoodness..
Mindfoodness Tips:
- Eat in a space that you feel is pleasant and calm.
- Leave the mobile phone and other screens.
- Sit at a table, avoid eating standing up.
- Don’t wait until you are famished. Know your biological clock and anticipate it. Every now and then leave your knife and fork on the plate and talk or drink.
- Try to take smaller bites.
- Eat with someone slower than you. It normally works by imitation.
- Be patient, changes are slow. When you achieve it it will come naturally.