Day 50 - Prolonged Chewing & Weight Management

My dog Lucy has horrible gas. I mean... it is really bad. Is it foul? Yes! At first I thought maybe she rolled in something dead outside. Nope. Then I thought perhaps she was eating something rank and diseased without me knowing it. I went out and bought hypo-allergenic dog food in the hopes that eliminating the common food allergens could start to calm her gut. Yet when my husband was feeding our dogs a special treat last night I realized that the solution was right under my nose this whole time. In fact, the nutrition program I teach is precisley what could get at the root of Lucy's problem; unconscious eating.

Here is a link to a blog on my dogs Lucy and Basil: Which One Are You?

When Basil was fed a large 2 ounce chunk of chicken breast she gently placed it in her mouth and walked over to a corner to revel in the experience, alone and undisturbed. She would bite off a piece and then position it in the side of her mouth to chew it down. She drooled over and savored every bite.

Lucy on the other hand shocked me. When fed a piece of chicken the size of a deck of cards she swallowed it practically whole. No wonder her digestive system was having such a hard time!

When it comes to weight management, The Awake Eating Method (AEM) was specifically designed to get you to your optimal weight and to deliver nutrients to every nook and cranny in the body (i.e. through enhanced digestion). Enhanced digestion means that your body is able to benefit from what you are eating, and stops releasing craving and hunger signals that were just a product of eating skills gone mad.

Step 3 in the AEM, Savor, was not only designed for enhancing the pleasurable taste and texture of food. It focuses on the sensations of the food beyond the taste buds. Chewing properly allows the rest of your body (your stomach, intestines, etc.) to 'taste' and utilize the food as well.

A recently published study confirms the benefit of this step in The Awake Eating Method.

Published in Appetite, a study from the Functional Food Centre at Oxford Brooks University in England tested the theory, originally introduced by Horace Fletcher in the late 1800's, of prolonged mastication's effect on the eating experience. Fletcher's philosophy was a bit extreme, recommending to chew up to 100 times for each bite, but he claimed that doing so dramatically increased health and weight profiles in his subjects. In this study the researchers compared 35 to10 chews per mouthful and showed that higher chewing counts reduced food intake despite increasing chewing speed. They also doubled the length of the meal for achieving a subjective reference point for feeling ‘comfortably full.'

What this shows is that applying the Savor step, of slowing down and enjoying food has the ability to naturally regulate weight. Learning the skill of how to chew and savor has lasting health effects. I do not advocate counting the amount of times you chew a bite - this monitoring can diminish the enjoyment of the eating experience. Here are some simple ways of applying this step, without the counting:

• Focus on small bites, rather than large ones with overflowing fork or spoon. 
• Put your utensil down while you chew and savor each bite. Many of us tend to focus on getting the next bite on our fork or spoon before we are even half-way finished with what is in our mouth. 
• Practice the Eyes Inward Exercise to slow down and revel in the sensations of food.
• Practice the Two-Time Sit Down Exercise when feeling a rushed feeling when eating.

Lucy is going to need some help with her deep rooted food fears. I am going to start by adding a little warm water to her feed so that it will help soften up the kibble for digestion.With us, though, we have the ability to slowly change our eating habits with the above simple baby steps and to see the results come filtering in.

Nat

Sources: 


Does prolonged chewing reduce food intake? Fletcherism revisited. Appetite. Smit, Hendrik. JanKemsley, E Katherine. Tapp, Henri S. Henry, C Jeya K. doi: DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2011.02.003