The pace and style with which we eat or rather swallow our food seem to have taken a beating in today’s fast-paced dining habits. Many a time we get put off by the way fellow diners gorge on their food, choke on it and juice it all down with a whoosh. Rush-hour eating is what’s to blame, say hurried eaters. But medical experts say little do people know that eating without chewing on food is what ushers in bodily ailments. True, in today’s world where too many tasks are packed into our seconds, eating leisurely may sound like a luxury, which calls for more time. However, the benefits of chewing and eating cannot be understated.
In fact, Italy had set up an organization titled 'Eat Your Food Slowly' more than 20 years ago, to promote the concept of eating slowly and leisurely for a relaxed lifestyle. There’s no denying the fact that slow eating helps relax the body and mind and builds up a healthy person.
It cuts down the flab
Slow eating tends to cut down on one’s fat accumulation. Slow paced eating can help cut flab up to 9 kg, say experts. For example, our brain may register a time of 20 minutes that’s taken to complete a meal or give a body all that it needs. But when one goes against that registered time, the brain skips its work and fails to understand the speed with which you push food down your gullet. The consequence is that one tends to eat more than what’s required.
The magic lies in the dictum, eat healthy, eat slowly.
Enjoy your meal
Make it a habit to enjoy your meal, be it sumptuous or sparse. The body absorbs food and makes it beneficial to the eater only when what’s eaten is had with relish. It’s painful to see folks just about swallowing the tastiest food without actually enjoying its flavours.
Sound digestion
The first step in the digestive process begins in the mouth. When one eats slowly, the right digestive process has already begun and it’s a lot less stressful for one’s stomach to do its work.
Alleviates anxiety
Eat slow, chase the blues away! Unfortunately, what happens is quite the opposite. People seldom concentrate on what’s on their plate in their anxiety to deal with post-lunch work. Think food, enjoy it and eat it and it unlocks the key to mental relaxation.
Say bye to fast food
Fast food has become today’s password for dining, with the excuse that it’s a much less time consuming eating process. But such food items lack the vital ingredients that go a long way in turning out a healthy mind in a healthy body.
So eat healthy, eat slow, stay healthy!
