Whether it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner, the scene is always the same: in ten minutes you have devoured everything on your plate. Well, if you aspire to join the Guinness World Records as “the fastest fork in the world” yours is definitely a winning strategy, but remember that you are doing yourself and your body a disservice because, as they say haste is the sworn enemy of the line, but not only.
Weight gain
“It takes about 20 minutes for the satiety signal to travel from the stomach to the brain. Eating fast means getting more calories than you need. The ideal would be to have a bite every 30 seconds ”, explains a Madame Figaro Gilles Mithieux, nutritionist. “It is also worth remembering that digestion begins in the mouth. Food, shredded thanks to chewing, is more exposed to the attack of enzymes. Conversely, insufficient chewing makes foods more resistant to digestion by increasing the likelihood of experiencing a sense of heaviness”, Comments Mithieux. Saliva is not a simple lubricant, but through some enzymes, including pepsin, amalgamating with food activates partial digestion, especially carbohydrates.
Effects on health
A study conducted in Korea and published in the magazine Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease, which was attended by eight thousand subjects, highlighted how those who are used to eating very quickly presented, compared to those who respect a slower style at the table, more cardio metabolic risks caused by high blood glucose levels and low good cholesterol levels. A Japanese research conducted on 170 individuals aged between 40 and 60, published in the journal Nutrition, noted how theingestion of food too fast caused higher levels of interleukin -1 beta, a cytokine, to enter the body inflammatory which, in turn, relates to problems of obesity and the various pathologies associated with it such as those cardiovascular and the diabetes.
Drowsiness
Have you ever felt heavy eyelids and the inexorable need to take a nap after your lunch break? The fault could be the toast devoured at lightning speed. “Digestion always takes a lot energy. If the food arrives in the stomach not sufficiently chopped, the energy required for digestion will be greater. This explains why, in this situation, fatigue increases ”, explains the nutritionist.
Mood disturbances
The quality of life depends on how we eat, but also how we ingest food. Intestinal neurons perform immune, hormonal, and metabolic functions digestive, therefore extremely important for physical and psychological health. More, the intestine cooperates with the brain, carrying out important functions such as the production of serotonin, the good mood hormone. “If we feed too fast the intestine will realize it, it will send a warning message to the brain with negative repercussions on the mood” concludes Mithieux.
Lifestyle change
As we have seen, consuming food too quickly can negatively affect both physically and moodally. Eating slowly is important because it improves digestion, allows you to keep weight at bay, promotes the assimilation of nutrients, reduces the intake of carbohydrates and fats, fights abdominal bloating and gastric reflux, reduces anxiety and stress. Slowing down the pace, savoring what we have on our plate improves (in general) our day.