Chew your food

Yes we hear it over and over again, but which of us remembers or has the diligence to follow through?

It is a challenge - but ever so necessary. Improper digestion is an extremely common problem, creating many sorts of symptoms.
One of the simplest ways to improve your digestion is to chew your food. That is what you were meant to do! Some foods are partially digested by saliva, so a few chomps and gnawings aren’t going to do it. The food must mix with the saliva. They do say you should chew every bite 50 times. Well, see if you can do 25. Make sure your saliva mixes with your food - that is how the digestion in the mouth works.

I find it impossible to chew enough unless I count chews. I expect that I won’t always have to do this, but old habits die hard, and until I am used to chewing completely, counting works fine. This might seem strange - but what else are you doing when you eat. How many of us love eating but sacrifice the actual experience by talking, reading, watching tv at the same time. Why not fully enjoy your food? If you are eating something you don’t fully enjoy, why?

Counting does not take the pleasure out of eating - it actually enhances the eating experience, because you are attending to eating rather than a tv program, a book, a conversation, an email, a cereal box.

Food is an essential part of our existence - don’t be afraid to rethink it!

Interesting things may occur to you as you chew.
For instance, I discovered that there is a huge difference between organic chicken and some kinds of..well..non-organic - the kind you might get in a restaurant of any sort.
In this example the non-organic quickly got mealy and unpleasant as I chewed, while the organic free-range chicken maintained good flavor and texture.

Dr. Isabelle A. Moser in her health book, How and When to Be Your Own Doctor, cites an experiment performed on a military population in Canada by Horace Fletcher. He required half his experimental group to chew thoroughly, and the other half to gulp things down as usual. His study reports significant improvement in the overall health and performance of the group that persistently chewed.

And saving the best for last — Proper chewing helps with weight loss.