Does laughter help digestion?
How you eat really matters. Bringing consciousness to the experience of eating is a powerful tool to enhance absorption and nourishment from food. For many of us, busy lives mean we can be found eating where we are: behind the wheel, at our computers, or while distracted by reading or eating in a noisy environment. Eating mindfully helps you to develop a healthy relationship with food. It involves slowing things down.
Being attentive to the colour, texture and aroma of food while you are preparing it. Allowing the first mouthful to sit on your tongue for a second before you start to chew; then chewing slowly and observing the tastes as they emerge. Even a little mindfulness can be hugely beneficial to digestion.
Some simple steps to a more mindful approach to eating:
• Set everything aside that you are doing and take a break to savour your food
• Sit down while you eat – this can really help you to relax, and teaches the body that meal time is a time for relaxation
• Pause in between mouthfuls – try setting your utensils down. Finish what’s in your mouth before taking the next bite
• Don’t aim to eat until you are full. Eat until you are satisfied.
• Chew well. The longer food is exposed to saliva, the easier it moves through your intestines. Chew until your food has a pulp-like texture. Undigested food matter can trigger bloating and gas.
• Don’t drink water during your meals – it can dilute stomach acid. Limit your fluid consumption to 15 minutes before, and 30 minutes after a meal.
• Eat to your own schedule. This isn’t always possible, but try to when it is. Try to tune in to your own body signals that you’re getting
hungry. Just before you snack on something, ask yourself why you are having it?
• Be grateful. Acknowledge the privilege of having beautiful food to enjoy. If we value the ingredients, time and intention involved in getting a meal to eat and share, we are more likely not to over-indulge. The tradition of saying a blessing or pausing before eating to acknowledge our good fortune is a good habit to adopt.
• And finally, laughter. Oxygenating our body increases our circulation, and the physical act of laughing exercises our abdominal muscles, giving a good internal massage to all our digestive organs and supporting healthy digestion.
See Taste Success for some delicious recipes to make and eat mindfully, with joy as you make and share them!
