Ever think about chewing your food properly? Read the following from Nutritionist Laura Rivkin:

We wait all day, thinking about what we are going to eat, yet when it comes time, we rush through the whole experience. We swallow our food practically whole, often while distracted, reading or watching television. In fact, we chew each bite an average of only eight times.

When it comes to increased health, it is not just what we eat, but how we eat. Digestion actually begins in the mouth, where food has its first chance to be broken down by the physical act of chewing and by its contact with the digestive enzymes contained in saliva. Saliva breaks down food in the mouth into simple sugars, creating a sweet taste. The more we chew, the sweeter our food becomes and the more we produce endorphins, the chemicals in our brains responsible for feeling good. Who thought that chewing could also help us reduce our cravings for sweets?

Chewing our food well maximizes assimilation, enabling  our bodies to absorb the nutrients in our food. It also increases our awareness of the food we are eating. When we are chewing well, we are more able to feel when we are full. In fact, chewing well can also eliminate digestive distress, promote healing and circulation, enhance our immunity, increase energy and endurance, improve skin health and stabilize weight. There are moving stories of concentration camp survivors who made it through the ordeal when others did not, due to chewing the meager amount of food they did have - up to 300 chews per bite of food!

Quiet can be confronting, with our constant mental diet of advertising, news, media, work and rush. Taking time with our meal, beginning with chewing, allows us to enjoy the whole experience of eating: the smells, the taste, the textures and our own anticipation. It helps us to give thanks, to show appreciation for the abundance we have in our lives and develops patience and self-control. For most of us 300 chews is pretty daunting and unrealistic. However, try chewing 30 chews per bite of food, and possibly, for the super challenge, to eat without reading or watching television. Rather than rushing through eating, what a shift it can be to savor and enjoy this thing we do all day, every day.

See Laura’s website at http://www.awholenewyou.org and put in your 30 chews!