Enhance your health by slowing down and learning how thoughtful chewing can reduce stress on your gut and enhance digestion. Additionally, discover the benefits of a short post-meal walk in promoting digestion, peristalsis and in preventing constipation.
What Are the Keys to Optimal Digestion?
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
60 million to 70 million Americans suffer from gastrointestinal (GI) disease and nearly 40% were prevented from participating in routine activities due to bowel problems in the last year. Chronic constipation affects an estimated 63 million Americans, and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) affects about 20% of the population
Proper digestion is required to break down food into nutrients your body can use for energy, growth and repair. Poor digestion can have a serious impact on your health as your metabolism and energy production become impaired
Chewing slowly helps break down your food faster, and saliva, which contains an enzyme called lingual lipase to help break down fats, helps when you swallow. The longer you chew, the more time those enzymes have to start breaking down your food. Eating slowly also lowers your risk for cardiometabolic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and stroke
Physical activity, such as walking, helps optimize gut motility and promotes peristalsis, the rhythmic contraction of your digestive muscles that move the food through your small and large intestines. A 2022 meta-analysis found that as little as a two-minute walk within an hour to an hour-and-a-half after each meal can improve your digestion and cardiometabolic health
Acid reflux is typically caused by a deficiency in stomach acid, not excess. The lower esophageal sphincter is pH sensitive and only closes when there’s a sufficient amount of acid in your stomach
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Digestive problems are incredibly common. According to a 2022 survey1 by the American Gastroenterological Association, some 60 million to 70 million Americans suffer from gastrointestinal (GI) disease and nearly 40% stopped routine activities due to bowel problems in the previous year.
Data2 from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases confirm these sad statistics. Chronic constipation, for example, affects an estimated 63 million Americans, and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) affects about 20% of the population.
Proper digestion is important because it breaks down food into nutrients your body can use for energy, growth and repair. Poor digestion, therefore, can have a serious impact on your health, especially in the long term, as your metabolism and energy production become impaired. Let me review a few important fundamentals for optimizing your digestion.
Fundamentals: Chew Your Food
Research3 on gut transit times shows food will remain in your stomach anywhere from 0.4 to 15.3 hours before entering your small intestine. It typically takes 3.3 to seven hours for food to pass through the entire small intestine, and whatever is left over that your body could not absorb or use is passed down to your large intestine, where it can remain for 15.9 to 28.9 hours before being expelled into your toilet bowl.
Foods rich in fiber, protein, complex carbs and fats take longer to digest than processed foods, which are deficient in these nutrients. Several lifestyle factors can also affect gut transit time, starting with chewing. Chewing slowly helps with the mastication-to-digestion process, starting in your mouth. Chewing more slowly helps break down your food faster, and saliva, which contains an enzyme called lingual lipase to help break down fats, helps when you swallow.
The longer you chew, the more time those enzymes have to start breaking down your food. The process makes digestion easier on your stomach and small intestine, because digestion takes a lot of energy. Slowing down makes it easier for your intestines to absorb the nutrients.
One study4 demonstrated this point well: When study participants ate almonds quickly and chewed less (10 times, as opposed to 25 times or 40 times per bite), their bodies failed to take in all the nutrients almonds have to offer; the bits simply passed through largely undigested.
While I am no fan of eating almonds, the study does demonstrate that for those who chewed the most, the particles (hence the nutrition) were absorbed faster.
Chewing slowly and methodically — even thoughtfully — also helps you relax, and this too is important, as stress and anxiety slow motility and reduce blood flow to your gastrointestinal tract. Stress activates the fight-or-flight system, which suppresses digestion in the stomach and small intestine, while stimulating evacuation from the large intestine.
So, if you’re frequently eating on the go, at your desk or in a rush, you may want to reconsider. Making sure you’re relaxed while eating and that you’re chewing your food well are foundational strategies for optimizing your digestion.
Fast Eaters Are at Higher Risk for Metabolic Syndrome
People who wolf down their food in a rush are also at increased risk for cardiometabolic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and stroke, as evidenced in a Japanese study.5
The study involved 1,083 healthy male and female participants, mean age 51.2 years, who were followed for five years. The participants were divided into three groups, categorized as slow, normal or fast eaters. Over the five years, fast eaters were nearly two times more likely to develop metabolic syndrome compared to their slow-eating cohorts. As reported by the authors:6
"The incidence rates of metabolic syndrome among slow, normal and fast-eating participants were 2.3, 6.5 and 11.6%, respectively. The multivariate-adjusted hazard ratio for incidence of metabolic syndrome in the fast-eating group compared to the normal and slow group was 1.89 ...
Eating speed was significantly correlated with weight gain, triglyceride (TG) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) components of metabolic risk factors ...
Conclusions: Eating speed was associated with obesity and future prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Eating slowly may therefore indicated to be a crucial lifestyle factor for preventing metabolic syndrome ..."
The Impact of Physical Activity
Exercise is another foundational lifestyle aspect that can impact your digestion. Physical activity, such as walking, helps optimize gut motility and promote peristalsis, the rhythmic contraction of your digestive muscles that move the food through your small and large intestines. Frequent inactivity slows everything down and contributes to constipation.
As little as a two-minute walk within an hour to an hour-and-a-half after each meal can improve your digestion and cardiometabolic health.
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