7 Tips on Having a Well-Managed Eating Habit

Ref. Google Images. the-gluten-free-chef.com

In this article I’ll talk entirely about having good eating habits since what I've observed in today’s era is that most of us forgot to eat right and properly. I understand how quickly the development of the world we live-in shifts. Children, students, employees, professionals or even those retired ones have busy environment and tend to forgot how to eat properly. I as well am guilty by this fact.

Last February, I have adopted a vegan diet, and started learning valuable things not just about the benefit of eating veggies but also about the benefit of having a well-managed eating habit.
My mother who’s a vegetarian shared some tips about good eating habits which they practiced as a vegan. She said she learned all those things to my uncle who is a vegan for years. I’ve learned a lot from her even though I've just adapted the said diet for 2-3 weeks I think.

She even handed me a book about healthy eating and vegetarianism, which I found it very interesting since during that time I was just about to begin my vegan diet. I was engrossed by the knowledge I gain about it and I started a further research on it. Actually, this article is supposed to be my first post in the “health category” but since I don’t have much information and studies about the topic before, it’s just now that I completed it.

This article is not about becoming a vegetarian, but to explain and present the habits that a vegetarian is adapting. Maybe some of you may have different thoughts that may contradict to this article. Some of you may have different opinions about it, but it’s ok. My only desire is to help people. :)

What I will present you now is a fruit of my research for a month.

Your mood affects digestion

Eating while your mind is upset can make your body upset as well. Have you ever experienced eating your meals in a hurry? What happens? Did you by any chance suffer lightheadedness or having trouble in breathing? The tendency when you eat in this mood is that the food you eat might not be properly digested, and when this happens, the nutrition you get from the food that you eat will be lost. For this very reason as much as possible you should try to eat in a peaceful mood; having a noisy environment while eating can also affect your digestion. Try eating with others in a joyful atmosphere. =)

Sit in a proper posture

Sit with your back straight. Avoid eating while standing, walking, lying-down and while driving. Sitting properly while eating can reduce the pressure to your digestive organ. This also encourages good digestion. While sitting in a hunch forward position promotes indigestion and heartburn.

Chew your food slowly and thoroughly

Chew carefully; do not swallow your food hurriedly down your throat. The tendency is that it will pass undigested into the stomach and release toxins which will weaken the entire digestive system. Digestion process begins in the mouth not in the stomach. Chewing your food well allows the food to mix with your saliva which is highly alkaline that can help neutralize the ill-effects of acidic foods.

Avoid eating between meals

Eating between meals can lead to health issues and disease. This is because it takes approximately four hours for the food you have just eaten to be fully digested. When the body has not completed the digestive process, it cannot fully perform the task at handling additional food that is coming in.

The digestive juices never have a chance to accumulate to their full strength in which it cannot digest the food properly. This sets the stage for digestive and metabolic problems. Incoming food only gets partially-digested. As a result, the first batch of food in the digestive process begins to rot and becomes a source of toxins to the body. It is better to eat when you are really hungry and not more than four times a day.

Drink plenty of water everyday

Drinking water keeps the body pure and free from poisons and waste. Increasing your  water intake can increase urine formation and excretion which facilitates the elimination of toxic substances. By eliminating these unwanted substances prevent frequent headaches which are often times due to such substance. A healthy person should drink about 8-10 glasses of water. 10 or more depends if the person is an athlete or if the weather is too hot. It is also advisable to drink water before taking up your breakfast as this prepare your digestive system before performing the process.

Rest after meals

After eating, do not engage in strenuous physical and mental activity. All the body’s energy and blood is needed in the digestive organs. Have you noticed that every time you take a quiz, do your home-works or engage in a mental activity just right after you have taken your meal, it’s difficult to focus and concentrate? That’s because your body focuses on digesting the food that you’ve just eaten. Take a rest. Allow your food to be fully digested before performing such activities.  15-30 minutes of rest after eating is enough. J

Avoid Overeating

Over-eating can also stressed the entire digestive system the entire digestive system. It prevents proper digestion of food which is not good for our health because the half-digested food forms a putrid, decaying mass in the body and poisons our blood stream, and ultimately weakens the entire system. High cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, depression, chronic fatigue, irregular menses, nausea, kidney disease, arthritis, bone deterioration and stroke are the possible effects of overeating. Who would like to have such disease?

No matter how healthy or pure the food is, when excess is consumed it becomes “static”. It is advisable to stop eating while you are still hungry; you will feel full when as soon as the nutrients of the food enter the bloodstream and affect your brain.

"Those who think they have no time for healthy eating will sooner or later have to find time for illness."
- modified from : Edward Stanley (1826-1893) from The Conduct of Life

Reference:

http://agriculturesociety.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/is-eating-between-meals-healthy/

http://www.eufic.org/article/en/expid/review-eating-between-meals-health/

How Your Posture Is Affecting Your Acid Reflux. By Kathryn Whittaker

http://len7288.hubpages.com/hub/Benefits_of_Drinking_Plenty_of_Water

http://www.eatingdisordersonline.com/explain/compulsive-overeating-effects.php

http://www.yogascience.org/yoga_therapy.html