Chewing 2.0
More on Chewing
So, we’ve determined that digestion starts at chewing from my blog “Let’s Chew on It” (https://www.samskarahealth.com/blog/2018/3/24/6eegqg0igp0u6010uqrgsey4ianqaa). Actually, digestion starts even before we put the food inside our mouths.
Smell is the first trigger that activates our digestive system. When we smell food in anticipation of eating, our salivary glands start working. When the aroma of that stew mom is cooking on the stove permeates the air in the house, good things start happening. Digestive enzymes are activated and a feeling of hunger grows. This is why eating at home helps digestion, not just your bank account - when we are in that state of getting ready to eat, we are activating the physiological powers of the digestive system and the powers of digestive healing.
Ritual also plays a part. Some people say a prayer or a blessing before eating. The mere action of wrapping your hands around the bowl of delicious food, or simply repeating a mealtime gratitude ignites our digestive fires, releasing enzymes, activating hormones and digestive juices. Your body is getting ready to digest the food you are about to eat!
So how and why does the mere smell of food or mealtime ritual activate our digestion?
Just to back up a little, have you heard people talk about the “Vagus Nerve?” In brief, this is the biggest nerve of the body, starting from the base of the brain wrapping down to the heart, esophagus, the abdomen, then back up to the brain. It forms part of the involuntary nervous system and commands unconscious body functions such as keeping the heart rate constant and controlling food digestion.
When we eat, the Vagus nerve slows down the heartbeat so that digestion can happen. It puts us in the “rest and digest” mode instead of the “fight or flight” mode. (I remember vividly my parents telling me to NOT play while eating or not to do anything else besides eating when it was meal time. Now it makes sense. To this day, it's difficult for me to multi-task while I eat. I feel best to sit down at a table with my food in front of me, proper eating utensils, and a beverage.)
The Vagus Nerve is responsible for notifying all systems and functions related to digestion and having them produce the necessary enzymes and actions to process the food for absorption down stream. Once activated by the sight, smell and thought of food, the Vagus nerve sends signals to the hypothalamus situated at the base of the brain. This is the control center of our hormone production. This is why hormone balance is so important to digestion. (Hormones: another topic to be addressed another time.)
The enzymes found in our saliva start the breakdown of carbohydrates and initiates fats digestion. When the food stays longer in this stage of break down and dissolve, the easier it will be for the rest of the digestive system to digest it and the easier it will be for the rest of the body. When we use less energy to digest our food, there is more energy to be used somewhere else. The body system will have less duress to deal with. So, we also CHEW for more ENERGY!
Chewing has three main physiological functions – to reduce the size of the food particles; to expel air and mix the food thoroughly with the saliva; acting as a lubricant, making it easy to go down our esophagus; and to increase the surface area of the food so it can be coated with more digestive enzymes for the enzymes to break down the food molecules.
Chewing also helps to chemically alert the rest of the digestive system to get ready by secreting other critical enzymes downstream in the stomach and intestines to do their jobs. Dried and unchewed food has a more difficult journey going through the digestive process and will cause unwanted metabolic chain reactions.
Some people even chew their liquids and smoothies in order to start generating the digestive enzymes downstream. You can see why chewing will lessen gas, bloating and other abdominal pains. And we can also start to understand why it’s hard for the elderly to eat especially protein or foods that require more chewing.
Chewing is also an important element in weight loss. It is easiest to execute as we just s-l-o-w down at meal time and chew until the food is small enough before we swallow it. Chewing creates an automatic delay factor in eating our meals. There is also a 20-minute lag when your body realizes that it’s full. It is most important to know that we CAN avoid overeating or eating to that place of feeling discomfort.
When we chew more and when the food stays in our mouth being generously surrounded by digestive enzymes to start the digestive process, it gives more time to generate more digestive enzymes circulating in our digestive system downstream to further break down the food and deliver the nutrients to the cells. This also helps the body to feel full and sated.
And lastly, conscious chewing causes us to slow down, helping us appreciate what we are eating more fully—the visual presentation, taste, texture. Our enjoyment increases as we savor all of the flavors of the food we are eating.
