If you get bloated often, you will want to read this!
It seems like gut health is all the rage these days.
Not to say a healthy gut isn’t important, of course. But you might be wasting your money if you’re investing in supplements, powders, teas and eliminating a bunch of foods trying desperately to reduce your bloat.
I can tell you this because I’ve been feeling bloated a lot recently. It wasn’t until I started doing one very simple thing that I noticed a massive difference.
I started chewing my food better.
Let’s have a little biochemistry lesson.
You know when you are ready to eat and thinking about something that’s going to taste oh-so-good and your mouth starts to water? Well, this is to get ready to digest whatever you’re gonna put in there.
Saliva contains enzymes that initiate the breakdown of food. Why is this important? Food we eat tends to be in the largest form of a macronutrient. We eat complete proteins, not single amino acids; we tend to eat complex carbs, not single monosaccharides; and we eat triglycerides, not just a glycerol molecule. Saliva starts this breakdown process so our bodies can better process the food we eat.
There is also a mechanical component to chewing. As we chew, our teeth grind food into smaller, more manageable pieces. This also increases the surface area of food, which makes it easier for digestive enzymes to act on the particles.
And saliva provides moisture, making food easier to mix, process and swallow.
Chewing properly also sends a message to the rest of your digestive system that food is on the way! Stomach acid starts to churn and your pancreas gets ready to send enzymes to digest fats, proteins and carbs even further.
The less you’re chewing food, the lumpier whatever you eat is going to land in your stomach. Then the tougher your organs are going to have to work to break food down into something manageable.
So when we experience gas, it’s completely possible that food has traveled all the way to our large intestine still way too intact. It hasn’t been chewed properly, which means it hasn’t been broken down properly, which means it hasn’t had the chance to interact with enzymes, and your gut isn’t sure what to do with it. And as it’s trying to ferment or excrete, you get gas!
Tips on Better Chewing
- Eat slowly. If you don’t have time to eat, I’d rather you grab something you can sip on or don’t eat at all until you know you have time. A meal should take at least 20 minutes to eat if you’re chewing properly.
- Don’t multitask. If you’re doing something else while you eat, particularly with your hands, then there is a good chance you’re going to forget to chew because you aren’t paying attention.
- Don’t wait until you are too hungry. When we get overly hungry, we tend to want to eat as quickly as possible. This will not help your digestion! Don’t let yourself get here.
- Keep stress to a minimum. Stress can interfere with proper digestion in general. However, we tend to eat quickly when we are stressed, do a lot of talking, or multitask. Be careful about how stressed you are when eating!