More to Nutrition Than What to Eat
While what you eat is a crucial key for health, how and when you eat play an essential role in digestion. Eating correctly optimizes digestion, absorption, and assimilation.
Humans chew in order to swallow the food without choking, but that does not address how long we should chew. If you’ve ever seen a dog eat raw meaty bones you may have observed that they are not grinding meat and bone into a pulp. They are shearing off pieces that are just small enough to swallow. Human beings have a much different digestive system than omnivores and carnivores. From salivary glands and teeth to pH of stomach acids and length of intestines, we differ greatly.
While we don’t have much control over the output of saliva, we do have full control of our chewing habits. Are you the fastest eater you know, inhaling food like a vacuum or do you take your time savoring each bite? Our parents told us at dinner to slow down and make sure we chew our food thoroughly and it turns out they were right all along. Dr. Richard Mattes, professor of food and nutrition at Purdue University says: “Particle size [affects the] bioaccessibility of the energy of the food that is being consumed. The more you chew, the less is lost and more is retained in the body.” (1) Not only does chewing break down food into a smaller particle size, it is the mechanism for mixing saliva into the food. Saliva not only softens food for ease of swallowing, but it contains both amylase and lipase. Amylase breaks down starches and lipase breaks down fat. Digestion starts in the mouth and it has been noted that amylase breaks down up to 30% of starches before the food is swallowed. (2) Chewing your food thoroughly kickstarts your digestion and breaks food down into more easily digested particles for optimal nutrition extraction. Some nutrients, such as b12 are absorbed sublingually, under the tongue, and the longer you chew, the more of these nutrients can be absorbed in this way.
The times we eat are as important as how we eat. Are you one to skip breakfast and wait until lunch for your first meal? Do you snack during the day and wait until dinner to have a full meal? Or do you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with an occasional mid afternoon snack? The importance of eating breakfast is exemplified by the importance of not eating breakfast by Sumo wrestlers. Eating breakfast kickstarts your metabolism and prevents binge eating later in the day. Skipping breakfast keeps your metabolism slow and encourages eating large amounts of food later in the day. Sumo wrestlers want a slow metabolism so they can pack on extra pounds. Even though most Americans’ smallest meal is breakfast and their largest meal is dinner, University of Arkansas for Medical Science Weight Loss Clinic recommends your biggest meal being breakfast while your smallest meal being dinner. UAMS also “recommends that you eat dinner at least three to four hours before going to bed to give your body time to digest the meal.” (3) Sumo wrestlers’ biggest meal is dinner and they go to sleep right after eating. If you want to gain weight like a Sumo wrestler, skip breakfast and eat a large dinner right before sleep. Eating a large breakfast and light dinner three hours before bed will help keep your metabolism on track and help support ideal weight.
To optimize overall health be sure to chew your food thoroughly, eat a healthy breakfast every day, and have a light dinner 3-4 hours before bed.
1) http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/263541.php
2) McGraw-Hill Tata. Question Bank in Biology for Class XI. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. 2008.
3) http://uamshealth.com/healthlibrary2/medicalmyths/latenighteating/
Humans chew in order to swallow the food without choking, but that does not address how long we should chew. If you’ve ever seen a dog eat raw meaty bones you may have observed that they are not grinding meat and bone into a pulp. They are shearing off pieces that are just small enough to swallow. Human beings have a much different digestive system than omnivores and carnivores. From salivary glands and teeth to pH of stomach acids and length of intestines, we differ greatly.
While we don’t have much control over the output of saliva, we do have full control of our chewing habits. Are you the fastest eater you know, inhaling food like a vacuum or do you take your time savoring each bite? Our parents told us at dinner to slow down and make sure we chew our food thoroughly and it turns out they were right all along. Dr. Richard Mattes, professor of food and nutrition at Purdue University says: “Particle size [affects the] bioaccessibility of the energy of the food that is being consumed. The more you chew, the less is lost and more is retained in the body.” (1) Not only does chewing break down food into a smaller particle size, it is the mechanism for mixing saliva into the food. Saliva not only softens food for ease of swallowing, but it contains both amylase and lipase. Amylase breaks down starches and lipase breaks down fat. Digestion starts in the mouth and it has been noted that amylase breaks down up to 30% of starches before the food is swallowed. (2) Chewing your food thoroughly kickstarts your digestion and breaks food down into more easily digested particles for optimal nutrition extraction. Some nutrients, such as b12 are absorbed sublingually, under the tongue, and the longer you chew, the more of these nutrients can be absorbed in this way.
The times we eat are as important as how we eat. Are you one to skip breakfast and wait until lunch for your first meal? Do you snack during the day and wait until dinner to have a full meal? Or do you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with an occasional mid afternoon snack? The importance of eating breakfast is exemplified by the importance of not eating breakfast by Sumo wrestlers. Eating breakfast kickstarts your metabolism and prevents binge eating later in the day. Skipping breakfast keeps your metabolism slow and encourages eating large amounts of food later in the day. Sumo wrestlers want a slow metabolism so they can pack on extra pounds. Even though most Americans’ smallest meal is breakfast and their largest meal is dinner, University of Arkansas for Medical Science Weight Loss Clinic recommends your biggest meal being breakfast while your smallest meal being dinner. UAMS also “recommends that you eat dinner at least three to four hours before going to bed to give your body time to digest the meal.” (3) Sumo wrestlers’ biggest meal is dinner and they go to sleep right after eating. If you want to gain weight like a Sumo wrestler, skip breakfast and eat a large dinner right before sleep. Eating a large breakfast and light dinner three hours before bed will help keep your metabolism on track and help support ideal weight.
To optimize overall health be sure to chew your food thoroughly, eat a healthy breakfast every day, and have a light dinner 3-4 hours before bed.
1) http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/263541.php
2) McGraw-Hill Tata. Question Bank in Biology for Class XI. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. 2008.
3) http://uamshealth.com/healthlibrary2/medicalmyths/latenighteating/
