Mastication might be the remedy to global obesity.
I recognize how ridiculous this sounds, but I do believe that the culture around the physical act of eating in America is largely to blame for our weight epidemic. Although this issue I really believe is a lack of education and ignorance towards health that too many cling to as a defense towards living their comforting calorie realities.
I believe that with a simple nutrition education and an understanding of digestion, many people would be much better equipped to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This education must start with healthy food choices, but it does not end until we put down the fork.
Why does no one teach us in our 12 years of education how to read a nutrition label, the importance of balance in diet, or the effects food has on every aspect of our physical, social, and mental lives? I’m not one to believe in conspiracy, but if it seems like there are some in favor of a disease-prone populace. Why, when I discover information about how to take care of myself, do I feel like I have been gatekept from it most of my young life? Why do my parents not know the basics of food–something they interact with every day? It is either a conspiracy of greed or ignorance that has been foolishly appropriated throughout our global social atmosphere… This is how I see it from my perspective. This self-destruction of the individual magnifies to affect our communities, our future, and, might I be patriotic, the pride of our nation. This is more than that, though; this is a global issue. This is an issue that requires real work—much more than words.
Maybe food is simple; food is simple. The issue is that, as a species, we are creative and never satisfied; however, we know what is best: food that is closest to its purest source. Dare I say natural—a word that has seemingly lost meaning? Determining what foods fall into this category should be simple, and it should be easily accessible… That might have been the case more or less 50 years ago, but that is far from reality now.
“Chew your food! Do you even taste it?” I have been told this many times. Only as a 20-year-old human have I taken the time.
Work lunches do not offer enough time to eat. 30 minutes to prepare a plate, sit down, eat, and then clean up is not enough.
Rush as few meals as possible. Savor it, if only for today…
My theories on mastication benefits:
Psychologically, we might be wired to feel full faster if we have more time to slowly eat it. Historically, if we were eating fast, that would mean that food was bountiful (like it always is now in developed countries), but back before grocery stores and calorie abundance, we wanted to pack away as many calories in those fast meals. When we eat slower, we might be telling our bodies that we do not have much. I believe that there is some correlation between the use of our mastication muscles and fullness, or at least our mental satiety.
Physical: there is more time for the food to pass into the stomach; the food is mixing with more saliva, increasing the volume; and the nutrients will be exposed faster due to the digestive enzymes in the saliva and the increased surface area created from extensive chewing.
Digestive: this focused attention to the food at the beginning of the process will make it easier for the rest of the digestive system to execute its function, possibly decreasing irritation and stress put on the other organs.
Fullness of stomach: there is more time for the stomach to sense the food and more time for fluids to mix, expanding the stomach.
Dilution: mixing the food with saliva and water increases the absorption of nutrients, controls the absorption rate (GI), and modifies the taste of the food to limit continued craving.
Time: chewing slows down the whole process. If you take half size bites and chew twice as much, it takes four times as long to eat a meal. By the time you are done with a healthy serving, you will not want to chew anymore, the food that you started with will have settled a bit, and you will be ready to move on to the next task.
Remember that all of the above are my theories! Unfounded Ideas.
After a quick 10 minutes of research, I will cite two sources that support some of my ideas:
“Two studies conducted in 2014 indicate that chewing thoroughly may be an effective strategy to reduce food intake. Both studies first established a baseline chewing rate for each participant. Participants were later asked to attend three lunches where they were instructed to maintain their baseline chew rate, increase chews by 150 percent, or increase chews by 200 percent. This means that a participant with an average chew rate of 10 would chew 25 times in the 150 percent increase condition and 30 times in the 200 percent increase condition. When the number of chews increased, the amount of food consumed decreased significantly in younger adults. Researchers concluded that increasing the number of chews before swallowing may be an effective behavioral strategy to reduce food intake and aid weight management” (Mulholland).
Several studies have reported an association between eating speed and cardiometabolic risk factors. In a recent randomized controlled trial, consuming a meal in 10 minutes caused significantly higher blood sugar spikes in healthy young women than consuming the same meal in 20 minutes. High blood sugar levels increase risk for type 2 diabetes. (“Slow and Steady Wins the Waist.”)
I wish I had more time this week to dive into this, but I will let you chew on this for now, and we can come back later for more.
Additionally,
I had this idea of a work hierarchy and categorization:
First, the four types of work: physical, organization, assistance, or thinker. I personally struggle to find satisfaction in being an organizer; I am too proud and ambitious to be an assistant; and I have not yet harnessed the determination to be an independent thinker.
We have the dejects, the maintainers, the organizers/optimizers, the specialized maintainers, the thinkers, the forgers, and the visionaries/revolutionizers.
The dejects are those that contribute a net negative to society, feeding off of the generosity of others for their survival. They can ascend, but they currently exist as a burden.
The maintainers are mostly people in unskilled, low-skilled, or trade professions—they do most of the work on the ground, usually following the command of another.
Organizers are people in a diverse range of professions—they can help at any level. They exist to improve the productivity and effectiveness of others. They also exist to condense data created by all types.
Specialized maintainers are the people at or near the top of the maintainer hierarchy. They usually have advanced education, experience, or skill in their field, but they are still subservient to others.
Thinkers, forgers, and visionaries are rarely exclusive to one another.
Thinkers are those who go out into the world and consistently add new, original information to the well of human knowledge. These are the artists, explorers, the scientists, and the risk-takers.
The forgers are those that work to enact substantial changes to their communities and the structure of those communities. These are the people who move the world forward.
Visionaries are those who have such exceptional ability to innovate and reform that they quickly ascend toward the top of the hierarchy despite the rejection of their often radical ideas.
This is all that I have for you today. I might come back to this hierarchy, and I will likely come back to eating habits another day.
It has been Tristan. It always will be Tristan, signing off. Bye!
Citation
Mulholland, Lindsay M. “A Guide to CHEWING.” Alive: Canada’s Natural Health & Wellness Magazine, no. 388, Feb. 2015, pp. 75–79. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=awh&AN=102388435&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
“Slow and Steady Wins the Waist.” Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter, vol. 39, no. 9, Sept. 2021, p. 3. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=awh&AN=151936136&site=ehost-live&scope=site.