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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

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