Oct

How to Eat Healthily

Eating healthily is not only about the foods that you choose; how, when and why you eat can be just as

important.

Focus on your food and eat slowly.

Give your food your full attention when you are eating. Make the time to sit down and eat at the table

rather than in front of the television. When you don’t concentrate on your food, you are more likely to miss the signals that you’re full. The brain can take 15 minutes to get the message that your stomach

has had enough, so eating too quickly can lead to you overeating without realising it.

Chew your food thoroughly.

Chewing food properly gets the digestive processes off to a good start. Food is broken down into easily

swallowed pieces, mixing it with saliva to begin carbohydrate digestion. Chew each mouthful carefully

before beginning the next as indigestion and wind can be caused by not chewing properly.

Don’t skip meals.

We often think that depriving ourselves of calories is the solution to losing weight. Skipping meals can

cause bad breath. The body burns up energy improperly and forms toxins that are released through the

lungs. These toxins result in a recognizable smell of acetone.

Skipping meals or your body’s starvation defences will kick in, hence lowering your metabolism, and

storing food as fat.

Fasting causes the body to use protein as an energy source even to the point of breaking down vital

tissues such as organs and muscles. Excess protein, is converted by the body to fat and stored.

Skipping breakfast is also not a good idea. After 1- to 12 hours without food, your blood sugar levels

are low and your body and brain need sustenance. Skipping breakfast can affect your mood, concentration and eating habits for the rest of the day, leaving you more likely to snack or overeat at lunch.

Avoid drinking with meals.

It has become a habit for most of us to drink with our daily meals. Do you know that drinking freely

during meal times can be harmful? Not only does it encourage hasty eating, but dilutes the gastric

juice, and thus lessens the activity.

Food should be chewed until sufficiently moistened by saliva to allow it to be swallowed. When large

quantities of fluid are taken into the stomach, digestion does not begin until a considerable portion of

the fluid has been absorbed.

If cold foods or drinks are taken with the meal, such as ice-cream, ice-water, iced milk or tea, the

stomach is chilled, and a long delay in the digestive process is occasioned. So take it easy with your

drinks during meal times to aid healthy digestion.

Drink more water

Without water, your body would stop working properly. Water makes up more than half of your body weight and a person can’t survive for more than a few days without it. Why? Your body has lots of important jobs and it needs water to do many of them. For instance, your blood, which contains a lot of water, carries oxygen to all the cells of your body. Without oxygen, those tiny cells would die and your body would stop working.

In addition to being an important part of the fluids in your body, each cell depends on water to function normally.

Your body doesn’t get water only from drinking water. Lots of foods contain water, too. Fruit and vegetables contain quite a bit of water.

One thing that my clients often tell me is that they think they eat healthily. They then go on to tell me that they grab breakfast as they run out the door, eat lunch at their desks and eat dinner while watching the TV.

As you can imagine – our ideas of eating healthily don’t always agree.

One point that I do try to get across to them is that eating healthily is not only about the foods that you choose; how, when and why you eat can be just as important.

Here are some tips on how to eat in a healthier way.

Focus on your food and eat slowly.

Give your food your full attention when you are eating. Make the time to sit down and eat at the table rather than in front of the television. When you don’t concentrate on your food, you are more likely to miss the signals that you’re full.

The brain can take 15 minutes to get the message that your stomach has had enough, so eating too quickly can lead to you overeating without realising it.

Chew your food thoroughly.

Chewing food properly gets the digestive processes off to a good start. Food is broken down into easily swallowed pieces, mixing it with saliva to begin carbohydrate digestion.

Chew each mouthful carefully before beginning the next as indigestion and wind can be caused by not chewing properly.

Don’t skip meals.

We often think that depriving ourselves of calories is the solution to losing weight. Skipping meals can cause bad breath. The body burns up energy improperly and forms toxins that are released through the lungs. These toxins result in a recognizable smell of acetone.

Skipping meals can lead to your body’s starvation defences kicking in; hence your metabolism will be lower, and food will be atored as fat.

Fasting causes the body to use protein as an energy source even to the point of breaking down vital tissues such as organs and muscles. Excess protein is converted by the body to fat and stored.

Skipping breakfast is also not a good idea. After 10 to 12 hours without food, your blood sugar levels are low and your body and brain need a boost.

Skipping breakfast can affect your mood, concentration and eating habits for the rest of the day, leaving you more likely to snack or overeat at lunch.

Avoid drinking with meals.

It has become a habit for most of us to drink with our daily meals. Did you know that drinking freely during meal times can be harmful? Not only does it encourage hasty eating, but it also dilutes the gastric juice, thus lessening the activity.

Food should be chewed until sufficiently moistened by saliva to allow it to be swallowed. When large quantities of fluid are taken into the stomach, digestion does not begin until a considerable portion of the fluid has been absorbed.

If cold foods or drinks are taken with the meal, such as ice-cream, ice-water or cold juice, the stomach is chilled, causing a long delay in the digestive process. So take it easy with your drinks during meal times to aid healthy digestion.

Drink more water

For instance, your blood, which contains a lot of water, carries oxygen to all the cells of your body. Without oxygen, those tiny cells would die and your body would stop working.

In addition to being an important part of the fluids in your body, each cell depends on water to function normally.

Your body doesn’t get water only from drinking water. Lots of foods contain water, too. Fruit and vegetables contain quite a bit of water.

Making these small changes to how you eat can help to make you feel healthier.

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