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Business News/ News / Business Of Life/  The benefits of slowing down
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The benefits of slowing down

Eating healthy is not enoughyou need to eat slowly too. For eating fast is linked not only to indigestion, but also to weight gain and diabetes

Quick eaters are more prone to obesityPremium
Quick eaters are more prone to obesity

OTHERS :

With our busy schedules and fast lives, running from one errand to another, most of us do not make enough time to eat our meals. Many of us eat while working, or gulp down a burger or a sandwich on the move. While this is fine once in a while, turning it into a habit can have serious health consequences.

Food is meant to be eaten slowly—it’s better digested that way, it enhances the feeling of satisfaction, and may even help you lose weight.

A study published online in January in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition And Dietetics found that eating slowly led to fewer hunger pangs after a meal. In the study that spanned two days, 70 participants, 35 people of normal weight and 35 overweight people, consumed the same meal on both days, but at different speeds. On Day 1, the participants were instructed to eat slowly, while on Day 2 they were asked to eat quickly. Energy intake, perceived hunger and fullness were assessed at specific times. Both groups reported less hunger up to 60 minutes after eating the meal slowly. Slow eating also reduced calorie intake significantly among people of normal weight.

“Food is connected to many aspects of our life affecting our mental and physical well-being," says Mamatha Mishra, founder and chief nutritionist at Health First Services, a counselling and food management company based in Bangalore. “We need to give importance to not just what we eat, but how we eat food. When we eat fast and gulp down food, we do not feel satisfied and end up eating more meals in a day, leading to weight gain."

One of the first things that happen when you eat slower is that you chew your food more thoroughly. This helps the saliva to mix with the food, and the salivary amylase, a digestive enzyme, break down carbohydrates into smaller sugars.

Adarsh C.K., assistant professor in the department of gastroenterology at St John’s Medical College Hospital in Bangalore, says: “It is recommended that on average one should chew about 20 times. Not only is the digestion more efficient, the saliva lubricates the oesophagus, the food pipe, making it easier to swallow. When the food reaches the stomach, gastric juices, already released, take over the digestion."

Food that is not chewed properly is often not digested properly since the digestive juices in the stomach are not produced in sufficient quantity to break it down.

“As a result of that, nutrients are not absorbed efficiently," says Mishra. “So even if your meal is a healthy one, you may not be getting all the nutrients from it."

Also, good digestion is important for people suffering from diabetes, since the release of glucose, the end product of food metabolism, is slower in the blood, keeping insulin levels at a constant.

The association between eating fast and weight-gain is also strong.

A 2006 study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology, where the rate of eating of over 5,000 people, recorded and reported by themselves, was analysed against their current body mass index (BMI) over a month, found that the BMI increased steadily with the increase in the speed of eating.

Dr Adarsh says: “Fast eaters are three times more prone to obesity than slow eaters. When our stomach is full, it sends a signal to our brain, which then tells us to stop eating. But this signal takes some time to reach the brain. So when we eat fast, we tend to overeat as the signal for satiety reaches the brain long after the stomach is full."

A good first step towards slowing down is to cut back on junk food, the nature of which encourages quick eating, partly because heavily processed food does not require much chewing.

“Start your meal with a salad; cut pieces of cucumber or carrot which cannot be gulped down," says Mishra. “That will set the habit of chewing."

Dr Adarsh’s advice is to eat in a calm environment, sitting at a table, and avoid reading or watching television while eating. “Set out at least 20-30 minutes for each meal," he says. “Take small bites and savour the texture, taste and smell of the food you’re eating. Include more fibrous foods which help you to chew."

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Published: 31 Mar 2014, 07:01 PM IST
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