There is a saying ‘drink your food and chew your liquid’ and I know it doesn’t make sense on the face of it but if we break it down, excuse the pun, it does make sense. We should be chewing our food until it becomes liquified enough to almost drink and our liquids such as homemade juices, smoothies, wheatgrass, and all the good stuff, should be swished around in our mouth a few times before we swallow.
Why should we do this? Digestion begins in the mouth and if we don’t mix our food and drink well enough with our saliva and the digestive enzymes then the rest of the digestive processes cannot do their job properly. We should chew at least 30 times and for foods such as meat and tougher vegetables it should be more, and purists would say 50 times. I think that 30-35 times is reasonable to achieve especially if we wish to get the most nutrients from our food. Be last at the table to finish your food and put your knife and fork down between each mouthful as there is no way you can take your time if the next fork full is staring you in the face!
You will be doing your digestive system, and your health generally, a great favour by chewing more, sitting at a table and taking your time with food. Remember to relax while eating because if the whole body is tense then so is the food going down through your digestion and this is especially important if you experience digestive discomfort. Happy chewing…