I have a wonderful dentist. He works with me and my health in a way that I wish had been available to me some years ago when I was young and didn't have the inner strength to argue for the right to listen to my body. I saw him last week and he was extolling the health benefits of leisurely eating. Endocrinologists, he says, advocate chewing each mouthful of food 30 - 40 times!This was a great reminder of something I already know and do advocate (ask my children). Though I rarely intentionally practice it, I can think of more than a handful of significant times in my life when I, by choice, necessity or serendipity, developed a leisurely, appreciative relationship with each mouthful of food...and it dramatically changed my health in surprising ways.
There's basic common sense here. Our processed foods are devoid of the digesting enzymes nature packed them with in their raw state. Undigested food particles ferment in the body and themselves become food for yeast and other unpleasant organisms. Some physicians feel that food allergies are basically the result of poorly digested, and therefore irritating, food sitting like a brick in our stomach. All good reasons for giving time for digestion to get more than a cursory beginning in the mouth.
Eating slowly is, in spirit, a matter of presence and relationship. I'm resolving to make it a joyous health habit.
2 comments:
Our mother-in-law certainly knows how to eat leisurely. I, on the other hand, tend to inhale each forkfull. This is a good reminder to slow down.
I am grateful for the reminder, as well.
I wish we three women could sit down for a leisurely meal together...
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