Skip to main content

Mindful chewing


 
Lexico.com* defines:
  • 'eat' as 'put (food) into the mouth and chew and swallow it', and
  • 'chew' as 'bite and work (food) in the mouth with the teeth, especially to make
    it easier to swallow'
Chewing

We at Green Health Watch Magazine think that chewing has other important roles, e.g.:
  • reducing food into a smooth, gruel-like liquid in preparation for its further breaking down by the stomach (using churning, digestive enzymes and gastric acid (see Edi)) in preparation for its digestion by the small intestine
  • promoting calm and rumination (thinking time)
  • promoting the values of the Slow Movement - slowing downthe 21st Century's
    current frenetic pace
Mindful chewing
 
Never 'wolf' your food down.
 
1. Fill your mouth two-thirds full. One moderately heaped spoon or fork should
    do the trick.
 
2. Pause. Put down your cutlery. Focus your attention on the food you are
    about to chew.
 
3. Chew the food at a measured pace - one chew per second feels about
    the right speed. While you are training your jaws a clock with a second hand
    is very helpful.
 
4. Chew in sequences:
 
20 chews - pause - swallow any 'gruel' made
          - position food in mouth with tongue - pause
 
20 chews - pause - swallow any 'gruel' made
          - position food in mouth with tongue - pause
 
20 chews - pause - swallow any 'gruel' made
          - position food in mouth with tongue - pause

           etc. until your mouth is empty.
 
To chew most foods into a smooth gruel seems to require between two and three chewing sequences. Meat and seeds seem to require between four and five.
 
5. Savour the tastes released by your chews.
 

           * the web collaboration between Dictionary.com and Oxford University Press


Editorial
 
Gastric acid (also called 'gastric juice' or 'stomach acid') is composed of hydrochloric acid (HCL), potassium chloride (KCI) and sodium chloride (NaCL). 
 

(17644)  Nick Anderson. Green Health Watch Magazine 1.4.2019

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OsteoTrace

OsteoTrace is one of my favourite dietary supplements. I take two tablets a day (with food) to help stop my osteoporosis getting worse, and with the aim of preventing arthritis developing. Most people take it for their arthritis and arthritis pain. OsteoTrace is the mix of minerals and vitamins developed by Dr. Rex Newnham to treat (successfully) his own worsening arthritis. Principal amongst the minerals is boron, following Rex's observation that the lower the levels of boron in the soil and water of an area, the higher the levels of arthritis in the people living in that area. Each tablet of OsteoTrace contains three milligrams of boron (in the form sodium tetraborate), so three tablets a day taken with food (the therapeutic dosage recommended by Rex) keeps you at the Optimum Daily Allowance (ODA) of nine milligrams and well below the Safe Upper Limit/Tolerable Upper Intake Level (SUL/TUIL) of 20 milligrams a day. The other fifteen nutrients in OsteoTrace were chosen specific...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stroke or migraine?

Firstly, apologies for having been away for so long - the article below explains most of what happened and may, I hope, be of help to some. Secondly, an introduction. I am Nick Anderson, caretaker of this page, editor of Green Health Watch Magazine and, since very recently, founder of The OsteoTrace Shop webshop.  Over Christmas 2016 I had a ‘biological event’ which was diagnosed as a ‘transient ischaemic attack’ (TIA, aka ‘mini-stroke’). A TIA is defined as ‘a short-term disruption of the blood supply to part of the brain’. It can last from a few minutes to 24 hours (after which it is re-diagnosed as a (full-blown) stroke). This disruption of the blood supply to the brain is usually caused by an abnormal blood clot that has formed elsewhere in the body and travelled to and blocked a blood vessel supplying the brain. Abnormal clots can also be formed from pieces of fatty material or air bubbles.  The disruption in the blood supply results in a lack of oxygen (amon...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mouth should have very slightly alkaline/neutral pH

There are several ways to promote a very slightly alkaline/neutral pH (potential of Hydrogen) in the mouth, e.g. : by brushing your teeth with a very slightly alkaline/neutral pH toothpaste (like Weleda Salt Toothpaste or Green People Fennel & Propolis Toothpaste) about an hour after every meal, snack and drink (other than pure water) to remove: any food or drink residues any tartar or dental plaque that may be forming (see Edi below)                  (https://www.weleda.co.uk/salt-toothpaste-75ml-101004)                  (https://www.greenpeople.co.uk/products/fennel-propolis-toothpaste-50ml)   Eating or drinking anything acidic softens both dental enamel and dentine, making them more vulnerable to erosion by brushing, so brushing sooner is unwise. Please note that ‘acidic foods’ and ‘alkaline foods’ ...
Post a Comment
Read more