Sequential eating and food combining

sandstar · Dec 21, 2011

<m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent> [FONT=&quot]Recently, Alpa was mentioning me that bread would take 2 days for digestion. It kept my mind digging to know more about digestion process since the key factor for weight loss is going to be food and its digestion. I wanted to share few things on what I read through recently. Hope it would be useful for all of us.
As we all know, the purpose of digestion is to reduce the size of food particles so your small intestine can absorb them, allowing your body to benefit from the nutrients they contain. While your digestive system is capable of processing varying amounts of food at a single time, overloading it may lead to digestive problems.
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[FONT=&quot]Most of us simply load our plates up and there is no order to how we eat our meal. The basic premise of "food sequencing" is to "layer" your meal by eating all of each food by itself and then moving on to the next food, rather than taking a bite of this and then a bite of that.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Therefore, the concept says if you eat five different foods at a meal and eat each in the correct sequence, there will be five different digestive processes occurring simultaneously, each layer having the different enzymes according to the needs of that particular food. Basically you begin with fruits/vegetables and progress to carbohydrates, seeds/nuts, dairy and animal proteins last.
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[FONT=&quot]Here's a short list of digestion times of foods:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Water - leaves immediately when stomach is empty and goes into intestines.
Juices - 15-20 minutes
Fruits - 20-40 minutes
Raw vegetables (salads, leafy greens, etc.) - 30-40 minutes
Cooked vegetables - 40-50 minutes
Starchy vegetables (squashes, yams, potatoes) 60 minutes
Grains - 90 minutes
Legumes, Beans - 90 minutes
Seeds - 2 hours
Nuts - 2-1/2-3 hours
Dairy - anywhere from 90 minutes to 5 hours
Animal protein:
Whole egg - 45 minutes
Fish - 30 - 60 minutes
Chicken - 1-1/2 -2 hours [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]BASIC RULE - WATERY FOODS FIRST[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]
To simplify this concept of sequential or layered eating, the basic rule or principle can be stated as follows:
Eat the most watery food first .....

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]CHEW ALL FOOD CLOSE TO LIQUID[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
For best digestion - chew all food close to a liquid before swallowing.[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Chewing food also sends a message to the stomach to prepare for the incoming food, which initiates the secretion of digestive juices and enzymes by the gastrointestinal tract. Chewing 20 times before swallowing can help us in digestion.[/FONT]
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[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Please add to it and lets discover more about the digestion process.[/FONT]</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac>

aparnag · Dec 21, 2011

Great information.
thanx for sharing.

Shanvy · Dec 21, 2011

sandstar,

Good read and share..i believe awareness holds the key, and knowlege is empowerment. no wonder, people start with soups and end with a dessert..

And it is said, it takes a few minutes for the stomach to realise that you are eating, and it is reason more to chew and send signals to your stomach rather than over eating because you are not yet feeling full.

Also each person's body composition varies, and you need to be in fine tune with yourself to know what takes longer to digest...i find i take a long time to digest cucumbers,melons.

Vani09 · Dec 21, 2011

Good Info.., Thanks for sharing

sandstar · Dec 24, 2011

Thanks all!!! We can develop the chewing habit and regulate the digestion process easily.
One of the study tells that all the living creatures like animals eat with full attention, chew their foods as much as is necessary for the species and are fully absorbed in the taste of the food while they are eating it. With full attention!!! What does that mean???? They get totally immersed in the taste of the food, even closing their eyes to avoid distraction, and ceasing when the sense of taste begins to lose its enjoyment. Even all little insects eat with total attention.

Why do humans have such difficulty in eating, in knowing when to eat and when to stop?
There are several reasons.

First, people eat according to the clock, approximately 3 meals a day with in between meal snacks and rarely when truly hungry.

Secondly, they eat foods which have spices, sugar and salt added which stimulate them to overeat more than the body requires.

And lastly, because they have minds and enjoy mental stimulation, they eat with a divided attention - while reading a newspaper, or watching TV. Or conversing with someone.

Nothing else should exist for you at the moment you eat but for you to be totally lost and dissolved in the taste of the food. You will be so thoroughly satisfied with a much smaller amount of food that you will be content to stop eating long before you feel any distension in the stomach. When we begin to eat with total attention, we feel totally satisfied with 50 to 40 % less than the amount we used to eat before, and with much greater contentment. If you eat unconsciously, without awareness, you will invariably eat too much because you don't know what you're doing. You stopped only when your stomach felt distended, or even bloated.

KEY TO REMEMBER WHEN YOUR PLATE IS FULL: If you don't enjoy your food, you will have to eat more to compensate. If you enjoy your food you will eat less, there will be no need to compensate.:cool2: