Chew Your Food

by: Dave Saunders

I am going to share with you possibly the most important piece of advice you will ever receive about nutrition. This piece of advice is not about supplementation. It is not about what you should be eating. However this piece of advice affects every other dietary choice that you make.

Are you ready?

Chew your food!

Chewing is the first step of the digestive process. The fancy word for it is mastication. What it means is that what you put in your mouth is ground up into smaller pieces and mixed with some digestive enzymes to begin the digestive process.

What is the digestive process? To understand the process, it’s best to first understand the purpose. The purpose of digestion is to extract beneficial materials from what you eat and expel the rest. This process involves breaking down your food into smaller and smaller pieces. When some of those pieces are small enough they are absorbed into your bloodstream. Other components, like insoluble fiber, continue on through your intestines and help to expel other waste products and to clean the surfaces of your intestines.

So what does this have to do with chewing? If you do not properly to your food, what you have eaten will go through your digestive system as large pieces of food. You do not have teeth anywhere else in your body. After you swallow your food, there are no other opportunities to break up large pieces of food. The acid from your stomach and the enzymes from your small intestine will only be able to act on the exposed surfaces. Chewing properly is the only way to grind up your food so that it is small enough to allow the rest of your digestive system to extract as many of the available nutrients as possible.

So the next time you eat, put a little thought into the first step of digestion. Chew your food.

Dave Saunders is a certified nutritional educator, wellness coach and author. He is also the host of a weekly, nation-wide telephone lecture on health and nutrition. For additional information, please visit www.glycoboy.com or email Dave at dave@glycoboy.com.

This Week's Helpful Health Hint

How to Eat More Vitamin B   The B vitamins are essential for healthy nerves, skin, eyes and hair, and for a healthy liver.     Steps: 1. Eat leafy green vegetables, cantaloupe, asparagus, beets and brewer's yeast to get enough folic acid.    2. Add enriched whole-grain products, broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms, leafy green vegetables, Brussels sprouts and grains such as millet to your diet for adequate B-2, or riboflavin.    3. Spike your diet with soy products, yeast and cereals for biotin. Beef liver and clams are also a good source.    4. Eat whole grains, brewer's yeast, wheat germ, oysters and enriched bread for B-1, or thiamine.    5. Feast on chicken, salmon, potatoes and whole-grain products for B-3, or niacin. Peanuts and peanut butter are also good sources of niacin.    6. Eat brown rice, soy products, whole grains, bananas, strawberries, leafy green vegetables, wheat germ and oatmeal for B-6, or pyridoxine. Other sources include broccoli, asparagus, fish, chicken and watermelon.    7. Eat foods of animal origin for B-12, or cobalamin. Vegetarians can get B-12 from fortified products, some fermented soy foods such as miso, and Red Star brand Y3365 yeast.    8. Find pantothenic acid in a wide variety of plant and animal sources, including eggs, avocados, mushrooms, chicken and oranges.      Warnings:  If you have any questions or concerns, contact a physician or other health care professional before engaging in any activity related to health and diet. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment.    From "wikiHow.com - The How-To Manual That Anyone Can Write or Edit"

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