Chewing improves your Digestion and prevents Overweight

Published: 07/15/2012 - Updated: 06/02/2016

Did you know that chewing is crucial for our body to properly get the nutrients you need and if you do it quickly, without enjoyment and almost mechanically, will predispose to gastric problems, flatulence and you can even gain more weight?

In addition, there are medical studies that indicate that proper mastication helps prevent tooth deviations and promotes the correct positioning of the teeth.

Avoid weight gain

It is important when eating, give us time to chew without haste, to savor the food and put all our senses alert in this process, which is often downplayed and is vital to our health. By doing this, your brain gets the message or the "signal" that we are satisfied and we have had enough.

If you don’t eat slow and put all your attention to other activities like watching TV, chatting or reading a newspaper, our brain is "not aware" that we have eaten and finally we are always hungry and eat more and more.

Therefore, it is recommended to chew at least 20 times each bite; this avoids digestive problems and can ensure our regular weight.

The more you chew food, the better you will swallow them. If we eat smaller parts of the food, it will degrade better with hydrochloric acid in the stomach and therefore the nutrients it contains are easier to absorb.

Poor digestion by chewing causes bad stomach heaviness, aerophagia with abdominal pain, bloating and gas.

Those are the common symptoms that people suffer after eating, however they don’t relate them with the chewing way. They feel that the food was heavy and take digestive medicines that only act as palliatives.

Benefits

We talked about disadvantages of a bad chewing but now we will show the benefits of chewing slowly and with enjoyment.

Physical

Chewing properly can grind food into a perfectly digestible bolus, if this doesn’t happen, the organs involved in digestion work at top speed, which will generate indigestion, stomach pain and gas emissions.

Informative

Flavor, color, odor and texture of food are very valuable information for the body because it activates certain organs of internal secretion depending on the stimuli received. Taste buds are information censors that record the nutritional characteristics of each food, which is why it is desirable that the food stays in the mouth long enough. Thus, the feeling of fullness is reached faster.

Emotional

Surprisingly, the flavors of the foods stimulate certain organs and their corresponding emotions, that’s why chewing is required for the brain to fully register the taste of food and thus, enable certain organs.

Although we live in a world of constant change, where stress is common and we have to live with it, we should eat slowly and doing the proper chewing action.

About the author
  • S.M. Aiquipa

    She has a degree in Communication. She has complemented her work as a journalist with an in-depth study of dietetics and health. Sally has a solid background in journalism and great communication skills. She is able to explain in a clear, simple and understandable way complex nutritional concepts or high level scientific studies. Linkedin profile.