I was reading about chewing last night in "The Kind Diet". Alicia goes on and on about how important it is to really chew our food.
She says that she herself tries to chew every bite 30 times. Apparently chewing food thoroughly makes it easier to go to our bloodstream as glucose, because of the chemicals in our saliva. Gross. But healthy!
According to the book, if you are feeling like you have low blood sugar, it could easily be because you aren't chewing enough when you eat, and sitting down to eat some brown rice and a salad and chewing every bite at least 30 times or until it's practically liquid before you swallow it will relieve the feeling.
I was eating almost entirely white sugar and white flour products before starting this diet. All of that food is so soft, it requires very little chewing and sometimes can be practically swallowed whole. (which came in very handy for binge-eating, but for very little else).
Now that I'm eating mostly whole foods, I am re-learning the "art" of chewing. It's definately strange! I will start really practicing this at lunch when I sit down to eat a healthy home-made burrito.
I'm thinking that one of the keys to why eating this way helps aid in weight loss is because of the whole "it takes your stomach 20 minutes to tell your brain it's full" thing. If I start eating slowly and chewing every bite until it's liquified, my stomach will hopefully have plenty of time to tell my brain when it gets full. The trick is to listen to it!
1 comment:
You're definitely right about it being hard to get used to chewing like that, or even just eating slowly. I struggle with that a lot, especially on days when I have to eat lunch or dinner in a hurry. I have been better, though, with starting with a smaller portion and waiting at least 20 minutes before getting more. It's been working so far this week : )
btw: that edamame recipe sounds great. I adore them too, so if you stumble across another really good one, let us know.
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