HEALTH
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Eating healthy and slowly helps you during both finals and the holidays
When Eric Yong eats dinner, he usually sits down with two of his four roommates in the living room where they watch TV. Yong, a senior from Lenexa, says he eats his meals in 10 minutes, whether he's in a hurry or not because he's always been a fast eater. He also says he eats fast food and snacks often. "I think it's OK because we know we're young and we stay pretty active," he says. Yong says he loves to eat, especially around the holidays when he goes back to Lenexa for winter break.
The end of the semester is quickly approaching with finals and winter break just days away. A downside to this is when busy students are constantly on-the-go, they tend to eat their meals faster, which can lead to stomach problems and overeating. This is also common around the holidays; you want to try one of everything because it all looks and smells so good. But it's just as important to eat slowly as it is healthily because of short- and long-term effects.
When Yong eats fast, he doesn't give his body enough time to break down the food chemically before it's broken down physically. Chemical digestion occurs in the mouth while chewing your food because the secreted saliva breaks down starches with an enzyme called ptyalin, says Andrew W. Saul, a natural health educator who runs www.doctoryourself.com. But when you chew proteins, you're only making them smaller, so the stomach can physically break them down.
Changing your eating environment can help you relax, so you'll be less likely to eat quickly. To have a peaceful environment, turn off the TV and cell phone, and instead listen to music or talk with friends about non-serious issues, Saul says.
If you don't allow your mouth to chemically break down food, you can have indigestion, acid reflux and possible chronic problems from the extra strain on your stomach and intestines, Saul says. When you chew food longer, the more satisfying it is, the less likely you are to overeat, and more food is absorbed. Because your stomach's stretch receptors signal your brain when you're full, eating slower gives your stomach time to tell your brain when you've reached that limit.
Siobhan Barrett has always eaten quickly, but since taking 16 credit hours, volunteering at two organizations and working a part-time job, she has little time to eat her meals. Barrett, a freshman from Lenexa, admits even when she has time to enjoy her meals, she still eats fast, unless she's with friends. "My parents always scolded me for it [eating fast]," she says. "They say, 'slow down, you're going to get a stomachache.'"
And Barrett has experienced occasional stomachaches, but no other short-term effects. There are serious long-term effects though if people are not careful. Obesity is the most common effect because a few extra calories can lead to weight gain, and a lot of extra weight can lead to chronic problems, says David Katz, director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center. Other long-term problems such as bulimia, or binge eating, can lead to a ruptured stomach or esophagus.
We have hectic schedules that don't allow us much time, so we choose foods we can eat
fast. But these foods are the most unhealthy because they're highly-processed, or contain a lot of ingredients. Healthy foods have more volume and take more time to chew.
But we should not eat these highly unprocessed foods because the food we eat makes up our body, Katz says. When your hormones, enzymes and proteins are used up they need to be replaced with new ones. The construction material that builds your body is made out of the food you eat.
It's not too late to change your eating habits. Eat foods close to nature and foods with shorter ingredient lists because they are usually healthier, and reduce your reliance on fast foods. Fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, seafood, lean meats and low- or non-fat dairy are the best foods, Katz says.
Because it's inevitable that people are on-the-go, Katz recommends making a snack-pack by filling a lunch box or bag with fruits, veggies, nuts, dried fruit, yogurt or any convenient healthy foods.
Sarah Roberts only has 20 minutes to get from job to job each morning at 11 a.m. In this time, Roberts, a graduate student from Carlsbad, New Mexico, either eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, yogurt or nuts to satisfy her stomach for the next few hours. Roberts plans out her meals in advance so she not only has time to eat, but so she can control what she eats.
Planning meals ahead allows you to make well-informed decisions instead of waiting until the last minute and eating unhealthily. For the holiday season, Katz recommends making an "agreement" between yourself and food. He says this makes it less tempting when deciding if you should eat one or two pieces of dessert.
In the agreement, state that you won't eat food that's your weakness, such as pie, or make your first plate of food full of veggies, so you can somewhat fill up on healthy food. "It's actually not all that hard," Katz says.
KYLIE NUTT
Photo illustration by Morgan LaForge Food Vacuum: Quickly woofing down a meal can be worse for your health, even long-term, than slowly consuming what's in front of you.
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