Chewing food slowly helps reduce bloating and aids digestion. iStock
Chewing food slowly helps reduce bloating and aids digestion. iStock

Chew on this – 7 reasons not to gobble up your food



While we worry about what to eat and when, what not to eat and why, obsess over dietary supplements and superfoods, and carefully negotiate the increasingly complex matter of what to eat for breakfast, we may be overlooking the simplest and most basic “how to” when it comes to healthy eating and weight loss: chewing our food slowly.

It is said that there is beauty in simplicity, but too often, and this is especially true when it comes to weight loss and nutrition, the simple gets overlooked. With obesity now a critical issue in the UAE and around the world, it seems the more serious the challenge with weight loss becomes, the more complicated and sophisticated the solutions are.

Chewing is one of the most functional aspects of our digestion, yet many of us eat quickly, hurrying through meals because of hectic schedules, or eating on the run between appointments.

Dr Harald Stossier, from the celebrity-favoured Viva Mayr Clinic in Austria, has famously said: “A well-chewed burger is better for your waistline than a badly chewed salad.”

The quickest way to a flatter stomach, then, without changing your diet or what you actually consume for breakfast, lunch and dinner, is to start paying attention to the food that’s in your mouth. Chewing slowly means it will take you longer to finish your meal, but it also means you will need smaller portions. Chewing properly gives your brain a chance to register when you are full, allowing you to stop eating instead of racing through a large meal only to realise you’re full after you have overeaten.

Here are seven reasons why you should eat slowly:

1 Your stomach does not have teeth. If you don’t chew your food properly, your digestive system won’t be able to break it down.

2 Undigested food takes more space in your stomach than digested food and creates bloating, thus slowing down the entire digestive process.

3 Chewing not only breaks down your food for your stomach, it actually is the beginning of the digestion process. Enzymes are released as you are chewing that actually begin to "prepare" the food so that your stomach has an easier job.

4 Chewing slowly also helps increases the alkalinity of the food, which is extremely important. Many people suffer from acid reflux, heart burn and indigestion, and while some foods – even if chewed well – trigger these problems, it is important to note that the longer you chew, the less acid is formed.

5 Eating fast leads to a lot of air being swallowed, causing unnecessary bloating, regardless of what you are eating, whether a fruit salad or chocolate bar.

6 Eating slowly means that your body is more relaxed, which is essential for efficient digestion and a feeling of lightness.

7 Gobbling your meal quickly under stressful circumstances – such as during a meeting at work – means diverting energy away from your digestive system, thus leading to fewer calories burnt, slower metabolism and a bigger waistline.

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RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile

Started: 2016

Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel 

Based: Ramallah, Palestine

Sector: Technology, Security

# of staff: 13

Investment: $745,000

Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors

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11 cabbie-recommended restaurants and dishes to try in Abu Dhabi

Iqbal Restaurant behind Wendy’s on Hamdan Street for the chicken karahi (Dh14)

Pathemari in Navy Gate for prawn biryani (from Dh12 to Dh35)

Abu Al Nasar near Abu Dhabi Mall, for biryani (from Dh12 to Dh20)

Bonna Annee at Navy Gate for Ethiopian food (the Bonna Annee special costs Dh42 and comes with a mix of six house stews – key wet, minchet abesh, kekel, meser be sega, tibs fir fir and shiro).

Al Habasha in Tanker Mai for Ethiopian food (tibs, a hearty stew with meat, is a popular dish; here it costs Dh36.75 for lamb and beef versions)

Himalayan Restaurant in Mussaffa for Nepalese (the momos and chowmein noodles are best-selling items, and go for between Dh14 and Dh20)

Makalu in Mussaffa for Nepalese (get the chicken curry or chicken fry for Dh11)

Al Shaheen Cafeteria near Guardian Towers for a quick morning bite, especially the egg sandwich in paratha (Dh3.50)

Pinky Food Restaurant in Tanker Mai for tilapia

Tasty Zone for Nepalese-style noodles (Dh15)

Ibrahimi for Pakistani food (a quarter chicken tikka with roti costs Dh16)

One in four Americans don't plan to retire

Nearly a quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of ageing in the workforce.

Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.

According to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 23 per cent of workers, including nearly two in 10 of those over 50, don't expect to stop working. Roughly another quarter of Americans say they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday.

According to government data, about one in five people 65 and older was working or actively looking for a job in June. The study surveyed 1,423 adults in February this year.

For many, money has a lot to do with the decision to keep working.

"The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn't gone up that much," says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. "So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement."

When asked how financially comfortable they feel about retirement, 14 per cent of Americans under the age of 50 and 29 per cent over 50 say they feel extremely or very prepared, according to the poll. About another four in 10 older adults say they do feel somewhat prepared, while just about one-third feel unprepared. 

"One of the things about thinking about never retiring is that you didn't save a whole lot of money," says Ronni Bennett, 78, who was pushed out of her job as a New York City-based website editor at 63.

She searched for work in the immediate aftermath of her layoff, a process she describes as akin to "banging my head against a wall." Finding Manhattan too expensive without a steady stream of income, she eventually moved to Portland, Maine. A few years later, she moved again, to Lake Oswego, Oregon. "Sometimes I fantasise that if I win the lottery, I'd go back to New York," says Ms Bennett.