How to chew your food | Life and style

You must chew your food until they are small enough to swallow easily, so your stomach does not have to work too hard. Digestion begins in the mouth.

Saliva contains amylase, the enzyme that helps break down food chemically. There is also mechanical digestion, the physical action of breaking down food. If the foods do not stay long enough in the mouth, they are not exposed to amylase to break down carbohydrates. There is very little digestion of carbohydrates in the stomach and if foods get there without being properly digested, the stomach has to work harder. There are also things that the stomach can not stomach. If pieces of food enter the upper part of your small intestine, this can lead to bloating and discomfort.

Rather than recommending an absolute number of times to chew your food, I recommend that people put their food or cutlery between bites – then, once you have finished chewing and swallowing, pick up your cutlery and take the next bite. There is something that calls for urgency when you have a fork full of food in front of your face, waiting to enter your mouth, which makes you think that you have to finish your food faster. Simply placing your cutlery between two bites can give you an idea of ​​when the food has been sufficiently chewed.

Jo Travers, nutritionist at the London Nutritionist and author of The low fashionable diet, spoke to Tolani Idris