My best kept secret for better digestion…
So what does it actually mean to have better digestion and why should I care?
We all know that suffering from digestive problems such as gas, bloating, reflux, stomach cramps, diarrhea, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease can seriously hinder our daily functioning and make us miserable.
Your gastrointestinal (GI) tract acts as your body’s food processor and if it’s blocked, overloaded, polluted with toxins such as food additives, pesticides and preservatives, or otherwise irritated, it is going to let you know how it feels by having one of the reactions listed above.
Your GI tract first breaks down your food by the mechanical process of chewing and then by a multitude of complex chemical processes that extract nutrients to feed your system and expel toxins.
The best way to ensure that we are helping our bodies easily digest our food is to chew A LOT so that our food mixes with our digestive juices so it can be easily digested and better absorbed for optimal nutrition.
So what is my best kept secret to better digestion?
CHEWING!
Believe it or not, chewing is one of the most important aids to our digestion and it’s also one we often take for granted so much so that we sometimes just swallow our food whole, forgetting to grind our teeth altogether!
Learning how to chew your food properly (up to 20-30 times per bite) will help you extract the maximum nutrients from your food and get your digestive juices flowing right AND help keep your weight down and your tummy flat.
How? Because if you eat healthy food packed with nutrients that you chew properly with each bite, you will be able to recognize once you feel full and you will, therefore, eat less!
My clients find that learning how to chew helps to:
Sense intuitively when you are full
Gain way more satisfaction from eating
Develop a healthier relationship with food
How to chew better for optimal digestion:
To get in the habit of chewing, try chewing each bite of food at the beginning of your next meal 30 times. (Putting your fork down and breathing between bites will help.)
Even if you only have 5 minutes for a meal, let the chewing relax you and use it almost as a meditation. That way you’ll enjoy the whole spectrum of tastes and aromas that make up the meal, trigger cephalic phase digestion, and your body and brain will be satisfied even with a quickie.
What do I do now?
In my health coaching practice, I help clients understand why they eat in a rush and forget to chew and we come up with a how-to guide for chewing that is easy to implement and turns eating into a whole new enjoyable experience.
If you want to learn how to chew for better digestion that will lead to a flatter, firmer belly, then click the link below to schedule a time to talk with me about it!
To your health!
Em