28/08/2023
Your digestion begins well before food enters your mouth.
“Digestion is a symphony of the senses, where the taste, smell, sight, touch, and the sound of food harmonise to nourish your body and mind.”
👂🏽Sound (auditory): the sounds of cooking, chopping and stirring in the kitchen, and even the ambiance while eating alerts your body to ready the digestive system.
👁️ Sight (visual): the sight of visually appealing food activates your brain's pleasure centres and initiates the release of digestive enzymes and gastric juices preparing your stomach.
🐽Smell (olfactory): the aroma of food triggers the release of saliva and digestive juices, preparing your body to receive and process nutrients.
👌🏽Touch (tactile): the texture and temperature of food encourage the secretion of enzymes in your stomach and influence the way the digestive system responds to different types of nutrients (that’s why its very common to eat with your hands in South East Asian countries).
👅Taste (gustatory): the taste of food sends signals to your brain and stimulates the production of digestive enzymes and gastric juices.
So knowing that digestion involves your senses, you can assist your body by:
🥑 Eating mindfully to allow your senses to engage the digestive system in an uninterrupted way. Take the time to sit down and savour your meals. NEVER eat on the go.
🥕Cooking in a calm and peaceful manner, giving gratitude for your food.
🥦Taking pride in the visuals and making your food bright and appealing to boost your digestive readiness.
🍐Chewing your food thoroughly until it forms a paste. This allows the digestive enzymes in your saliva to turn your food into a substance that your stomach can make use of. It also helps you recognise when you're truly full, which can prevent poor digestion through overeating.
Remember, you are not what you eat. YOU ARE WHAT YOU DIGEST.
For food to become our medicine we must actually be able to utilise it.
So, happy digesting everyone 🙏🏽
