Provide by Katie m. Berggren
As a salad-loving wife and mama of two busy boys, I find myself alone at the dinner table more often than I like to admit. My hubby and sons enjoy but blast through their meals and our dinner conversation to head off in search of whatever activity I had to pry them from when I served the before-mentioned meal. They are making the most of their evening time together, and I get that, whilst I remain: mindfully enjoying and thoroughly chewing my greens.
Last June (2011), I made some big diet changes (hence me, the now salad-lover) and one of those big changes involved taking the time to chew versus gulp my meals. As mamas we are busy and burdened and full of ideas of how we’d like to be or should-be spending our time. However, additional moments spent chewing assist in proper digestion in so many ways, leading to a healthier body, thus, a happier mama.
According to The World’s Healthiest Foods website when we take the time to chew our food long enough for it to be unrecognizable by texture before swallowing, we are on track to reduce esophageal stress, bacterial overgrowth, intestinal gas and other symptoms of indigestion.
And if an efficiently-working system isn’t benefit enough ~ obviously when we take the time to enjoy our meals and think about the effort we (or someone else) put into preparing the meal as well as the different colors, flavors and textures of our foods, we are flung into the present moment ~ which really is a great place to be.
Read The World’s Healthiest Foods website’s take on why us busy mamas should take the time to nourish ourselves properly, not hastily.
When I added the habit of mindful chewing to my mealtimes last year, I noticed a definite and immediate result in the way I felt after a meal.
And I won’t say that I completely dislike those last few moments to nibble alone some evenings, with the sound of three happily-playing boys wafting through the house.