Technically, digestion begins the moment you see and smell your food. Chewing is your body's first mechanical step in breaking food down and supporting proper digestion.
Do you chew each mouthful 32 times or more? That's the number recommended for firmer foods in particular.
Like most people, you probably eat while doing other things — sitting at your computer, working, driving, busy with the children, watching TV, or caught up in any number of things that pull your attention away from being present with your meal.
And yes, that distraction genuinely harms your digestion. It lowers your energy, creates a heavy feeling in your gut, slows digestion, and contributes to uncomfortable gas, bloating and constipation.
It can even lead to overeating, because it usually takes your brain 20 minutes or more to tell your body it's full.
When you chew deliberately — even counting your chews until it becomes a habit — you'll notice you eat more slowly, which makes it easier for your body to digest and to absorb more nutrients from your food.
Chewing also increases saliva production. Your saliva contains epidermal growth factor, a polypeptide that stimulates the repair of epithelial tissue.
Why does that matter? Have you ever heard of leaky gut? Your intestinal epithelial barrier prevents viruses, pathogenic bacteria and microorganisms from entering the body, and it's essential for nutrients to be absorbed.
Even if chewing your food thoroughly feels hard at first, try mindful chewing for a week and notice how much more comfortable your digestion becomes. Chewing your food is vital to making everything pass through your digestive system as easily as possible.
Every bite should be a mindful step toward better nourishment and proper digestion. But because of our busy lifestyles, that's sometimes easier said than done.
Why Is Chewing Your Food Properly So Important?
Eating shouldn't be something we do mindlessly; it deserves to be its own separate, sacred task. If we don't chew our food well, or don't concentrate on it while we eat, we're wasting our time with the meal.
When we eat, we release the energy and nutrients stored in food, which pass into our body through digestion and assimilation. For plant foods in particular to truly nourish us — even if we eat the healthiest, most organic foods on the planet — we have to make sure we digest them properly. Chewing your food well not only leads to healthy digestion but can also encourage healthy eating habits like not rushing and eating slowly. That, in turn, helps you stay at a healthy weight, because it's far easier to notice when you're full and avoid overeating.
Let's walk through it step by step, looking at each point in your digestive system:
An important step of digestion begins in your mouth. Chewing food isn't just turning one large piece into many small ones — it adds salivary enzymes to each mouthful so digestion can begin. When food is broken down enough before you swallow, nutrient absorption becomes much easier.
When you swallow, your tongue pushes the food toward your throat and oesophagus, where it moves on to its next stop. Once it reaches your stomach, it's mixed with stomach acid for further digestion, and when it's digested enough, it passes from your stomach into the small intestine.
In the small intestine, food is broken down further before the nutrients are absorbed into your bloodstream. The remaining food matter is then carried to your large intestine, where it meets a diverse community of beneficial bacteria known as probiotics. These bacteria play a vital role in processing waste, protecting you against harmful bacteria, and even synthesising vitamins your body needs.
Your large intestine processes the waste to make elimination as easy as possible. The final stops in your digestive cycle are the rectum and anus, where waste is eliminated. Your bowel movements can actually tell you a great deal about the state of your health — if you'd like to learn how to tell whether things are healthy, you can search “Bristol chart” online and look at the images.
Digestion isn't a mechanical process that always gives the same result regardless of circumstances. It involves our whole being — our state of mind, our emotions and our environment. And when it comes to chewing your food, all of these matter.
If you want to optimise your digestion and get the most nutrition from your food, here are six tips for doing exactly that, simply by chewing your food properly.
1. Chew, chew, chew!
If we don't chew well or concentrate on the meal, we're wasting our time eating. An old saying holds that solid foods like salad should be chewed 40–100 times. You'll be genuinely surprised how much saliva you produce when you chew thoroughly. Imagine a bell ringing every 60 seconds — when you chew mindfully for 60 seconds, the food becomes almost liquid. Chew this well and you'll notice you feel fuller on less food. Swallowing pieces of food without chewing is extremely hard on the body; it has to spend far more energy and extra enzymes to break them down. Chewing thoroughly also helps reduce bloating and discomfort.
2. Relax!
You eat with your whole body and brain, so begin by relaxing completely. If it helps, take a few deep breaths. Unclench your jaw (most of us tense it), and even say the vowels out loud first to fully relax the muscles of the face. Move your hands toward your belly to prepare to receive food. This also helps us make mental contact with our digestive organs and become more connected to our bodies. Smell your food before you eat it, and really look at it — your body starts producing important enzymes just from the smell of food.
3. Notice your food before you start eating
Mindful eating not only connects us to the food we're eating but is also very important for healthy digestion. Before you begin, a few things worth considering: Where did it come from? How was it grown? Who were the people who grew it? Under what conditions did it grow? When we truly think about our food — and about the answers to these questions — we feel more grateful for it. And when we eat with gratitude, our food is digested better, and not only our body but our emotional, mental and spiritual sides are nourished too.
4. Don't eat in a noisy place!
Noisy environments, scraping chairs and loud talking make digestion harder. If there's an uncomfortable energy where you're eating, your digestive enzymes may hold back from being secreted. When you have to go somewhere that leaves you unsettled, it can help to eat beforehand and just have something to drink once you're there.
5. Avoid eating when you're angry, sad, anxious or stressed
Life is sometimes stressful — that's completely natural. But to optimise digestion, it's important to avoid eating as much as possible when you're in a negative emotional state (this also helps prevent emotional eating). Not only are you far more likely to overeat — especially with unhealthy comfort foods like crisps or ice cream — but your body will also struggle to digest your food and absorb its nutrients. If you eat while stressed, angry, anxious or upset, your body won't digest the food well; you'll get lower-quality nutrient absorption and feel more tired, because more energy goes to digestion. Given how stressful and busy life can be, it can be hard not to eat when you're not feeling your best. But if you try simply waiting or postponing the meal in these moments, your body will thank you.
6. Don't work, watch TV or read while eating
For healthy digestion, giving your full concentration to the meal is very important. If you do something else while eating, your attention drifts from the digestive process and you won't absorb the food as well. Talking should be limited too. Eating and socialising are deeply woven into our culture, and when we go out to eat we're always focused on talking with friends, so this is genuinely hard to apply. But even if you often eat with others, at least try to concentrate on your food while you chew and swallow, and you'll see the difference it makes to your digestion.
How we chew our food, the nutrients we absorb, and the overall health of our digestive system deeply affect not only our physical health but our mental and emotional state too. So as you enjoy your next meal, consider the wisdom of the simple act of chewing — it's more than a mechanical process; it's a doorway to nourishing both body and mind.