Article for 06-2000
Chewing Cuts Your Food Bill in Half
By Wendy Wilson Cheslak
It seems so simple, but it is true. Here is something that you can do to improve your health and save money. You can empower yourself by improving your health with a few basic principles. Staying healthy shouldn’t require a Ph.D., just common sense. After all, Adam and Eve didn’t have a pharmaceutical industry to keep them healthy.
You can reduce your food bill by taking the time to properly chew your food. Here is how it works: Your digestion process begins in the mouth with chewing. As you chew, your food becomes mixed with your saliva and prepares the food to go to the stomach and intestines to be assimilated. Your body is able to absorb more nutrients when the food you send into the stomach has been properly prepared. You significantly reduce the body’s ability to fully absorb nutrients if you ‘inhale’ your food.
Today we don’t take the time to enjoy a meal. Our ancestors spent hours at the dining table. Of course they didn’t have the hectic lifestyle that we have today, however they knew the importance of good digestion. Our ancestors knew that a proper diet, along with a proper eating technique, was a key to good health.
So, am I saying that you should schedule two hours for each meal? Hardly. That would be nice; however, it’s unrealistic for most people. What you can do is select a nutritious diet and be more conscious of your chewing while eating. Saliva glands in your mouth send chemical signals to your stomach to prepare the correct amount of digestive enzymes for assimilation.
Try not to chew two or three times and then swallow chunks of food. The food will sit in the digestive tract, rot and ferment. This puts a burden on your pancreas and liver, which supply digestive enzymes to your stomach and intestines. Chew your mouthful of food thoroughly until it is in a liquid state and then drink it. Yes, I said to drink your food. This is the proper way to get the most nutrients out of your food, and you will see a significant difference in your body’s ability to assimilate food. Be consistent with this practice. You cannot expect to see a significant improvement in just one or two meals.
One other thing you can do is to keep the bowels clean. Good assimilation is also affected by the condition of the bowel. The bowel is one of the most important organs of the body. Without proper function of the bowel your body becomes a toxic waste facility. You’ve probably heard that all disease begins in the bowel. This is true. We can discuss bowel cleansing in a future article.
So, how do you know if you have chewed your food enough before swallowing? You have chewed your food enough when you can eat an entire meal without a beverage. Consume your beverage thirty minutes after your meal. If you gulp or inhale your meal, you will absorb only 8-10% of the nutrients in your food. When you masticate (chew) your food properly, you will absorb 40–45% more nutrients, and your body will require less food per meal. So, why not spend a little extra time and chew your food to reduce the amount of money you spend at the grocery checkout?
Next Issue: Celtic Sea Salt vs. Table Salt, What’s the Difference?
Wendy Cheslak is author of "The Power Herbs: Thirteen Herbs Every Medicine Cabinet Should Have" (Morris Publishing) and an herbalist for Apothecary Herbs, Inc.
Sources: Dr. Christopher’s Herbal Home Health Care
The information contained herein is not intended to diagnosis, treat, prevent or cure any disease. Please seek medical advice from a licensed medical physician before using any herbal products or natural therapies. The information contained herein is copyrighted by Apothecary Herbs, Inc.
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