There is a fair amount of focus on what to eat when people want to experiment with everything from calories and fats to carbohydrates. There are different types of weight loss plans, with every expert giving a different tip on how to lose weight.
Even though all of these weight-loss regimes are important, it is important to view food or diet in a holistic way. There is a lot more to eating than just calories or different kinds of food.
Four Aspects Of Eating
There are, in total, four aspects to eating. We should understand each one of them to plan and eat better and keep them in mind at all times.
- What to eat
- When to eat
- How much to eat
- How to eat
The usual focus when it comes to eating is on what we eat. In fact, most of the diet advice, diet consultation, and diet plans talk only about this.
In the rush to focus on calories, fats, carbohydrates, antioxidants, and what now, we forget the basics. Here, let us look at one of the most important aspects of eating, which we usually tend to ignore.
How To Eat
How you eat might sound like something silly to focus on, but it has a great bearing on your health and weight. Follow these simple habits and regulate how you eat to ensure good health:
1. Focus
When you sit to eat, make sure you are focused only on eating. It is as important an activity as work. Do not eat while watching television, working, or driving. Make sure your smart phone, tablet, or other devices are not around you.
2. Chew The Food
When you eat, make sure that you take smaller bites and chew every morsel properly. Most of the digestion happens in the mouth. When we do not chew properly, food that is partly broken down goes into the stomach. This impacts digestion and absorption, leading to higher fat retention and lower nutrient absorption.
So ensure that a major meal like breakfast, lunch or dinner takes at least fifteen minutes to finish.
3. Eat In Silence
We all usually consider dinner time to be family time, so we gather around and chat over dinner. This is wrong. Even if you sit together at the dining table, eat quietly and focus on the food. After you finish and clear up, you can chat.
4. Prepare Yourself
Before you start every meal, your mind has to be calm and focused on the activity of eating and digestion. Leave behind any worry or stress. To do this, before you eat, sit quietly for three to five minutes with your eyes shut and relax and then start eating.
5. Sit In The Correct Posture
Your posture while eating is very important. Ideally, you should sit cross-legged on the floor. But if this posture is difficult for you to get into on the floor, sit on a sofa or chair with your legs up and folded.
There are multiple digestion-related benefits of eating in this posture. After you eat, do not immediately stand up and start working or rush somewhere. Wait for a few minutes. Then, take a leisurely stroll for around five minutes and later, get back to your activities.
6. Avoid Water
Do not have water, soft drinks, sodas, tea, or coffee during your meals or after your meals for around 45 minutes. It is counterproductive for digestion, which remains incomplete and again leads to weight gain and digestive problems.
7. Lay Down For A Bit
If you are at home, then after your small stroll, lie down on your left side making a pillow with your hands, for around fifteen minutes. This will not only help you relax well (especially in the afternoons) but also ensure healthy digestion and absorption.
8. Bedtime Cushion
After your supper or dinner, do not immediately go to sleep. Ideally, there should be a gap of at least two hours (three hours is ideal) between your last meal and sleep time. This again will ensure optimum, and not sluggish, digestion.
Follow these guidelines religiously and you will find that your digestion and health will start improving in just a few weeks, even though you have not made too much of a change in your diet.
