Slowing down your eating is a super important part of mindful eating and one of the easiest ways to do it involves chewing your food thoroughly.
It’s often recommended that you chew each mouthful up to 25 times (sometimes more!). This can be super daunting if you’re used to swallowing your food after just one or two chews but it can be massively important for both digestion and satiety.
Let’s talk a bit more about the role chewing well plays in both:
It’s often said that digestion starts in your mouth, not your stomach. This is because chewing your food really well breaks it down into small pieces that are much easier for your body to digest. It also makes it a lot simpler for nutrients to be extracted from the food. If you tend to struggle with digestive issues, chewing your food well could help with this.
Chewing your food well also helps you to feel fuller. A lot of this is due to the fact that it forces you to eat at a slower pace. Eating quickly is strongly linked to overeating, whereas eating at a more leisurely pace gives you more opportunity to recognize when you’re full. The end result? You’ll probably eat less food.
According to the results of a study involving 30 women, eating at a slower pace meant that they ate less food and felt significantly fuller.
And in another study, chewing thoroughly reduced intake of sweet snacks such as candy.
Until next time!
Adrienne