You might be thinking about alcoholic drinks, but that’s not what I am referring to here. Most, if not all of us, drink with our meals. Liquid dilutes our stomach acid. It weakens our ability to digest food properly.
We all want to get as many nutrients as we can out of what we eat. There are two things we can begin doing today that can help us increase the absorption of foods we eat. The first is not to drink during a meal. If you choose the right kinds of food, it is easy to not have to resort drinking to wash the food down your throat.
By chewing your food longer – a lot longer – you can achieve nearly the same result. Fletcherizing is a term used to describe chewing your food thirty or more times before swallowing. By chewing your food longer, you achieve a couple of things. One is that your food is more thoroughly mixed with your saliva and makes the digestion process easier. The second is that you don’t need liquid refreshment to wash the food down.
Chewing your food longer also has another interesting result. Over time you choose less food to eat. You become sated earlier when eating. A five-minute meal becomes ten or fifteen minutes. You enjoy the taste and texture of your food more. Drinking before eating also fills you up and you eat less food. I highly recommend filtered water to drink before and after meals.
It’s a couple of simple things to do starting today – drink 30 minutes before and after eating – not during a meal. Chew your food longer.