People nowadays are always observed to be on the rush. With timed hours for eating when at work or when errands are piling up within so little time, we tend to do all other ‘unimportant’ things hastily. We have cramped so many activities within the day leaving little room for even relaxation.
We are victims of the hurried lifestyle that’s blatant all across the world, and we are left with a body that’s unhealthy, a broken strain of thought and a chaotic day-to-day life. Yes, we might have left some ample time to eat, but are we really eating the right way? All of us had this protocol of chew-and-go attitude towards food, and it’s about time to know why allotting time for eating is definitely more important than we think it should.
When we eat, we expect our stomach and all its accompanying organs to digest the food for us. We can all nod in agreement that this might be true but digestion isn’t really starting with the stomach but with our mouth. Scientifically coined as ‘mastication’, this is the very act of crushing and grinding food using our tongue, teeth and mouth.
To reiterate and bring your Science class back to life, mastication is the first step of digestion and the most overlooked phase that people don’t care much about. Mastication is one of the most efficient bodily activity that performs its’ original function when done and carried out properly.
During this process, all food intakes would be processed by means of grinding it with your set of teeth. Your cheeks, tongue and all other facial muscles would guide your mouth on as to how it would be chewed as it’s expected to be.
The repeated action of grinding the food we eat makes the food softer and warmer and the enzymes being emitted through saliva then breaks down the carbohydrates even at this early stage. The saliva coats the food we’re devouring with amylase and lipase which are responsible in properly digesting fats, sugars and starches in the mouth.
The very act of chewing and moving your mastication muscles not only is concentrated on the mouth area but this also sends some signals to other bodily organs responsible for digestion.
Your stomach and intestines would receive signals through chewing that it should prep in releasing acids that will process food once it is gulped down the digestive track. Mastication is also responsible in waking up your pancreas in sending juices to your intestines as lubricants while the food is being broken down.
When mastication is thrown down the bin and not performed well, there’s a bigger chance that the food you’re eating would stay longer on your intestinal track.
This stagnancy would then result to slow digestion, hence, fats being built-up on your tummy, and some being sent to other parts of your body.
Not enough saliva secretion would lessen the coating of the food and poor performance when it comes to the movement of vitamins and minerals all throughout your body.
Chewing food more would also mark down risks of heartburn, stomach cramps, acid attacks and stomach refluxes.
Mastication is also another form for one person to really enjoy the food that they have cooked or paid for, and eating is an experience wherein you need to savor every jumping flavor, not run away from it and hasten things away.
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