365 Ways #154–Put the fork down and come out with your hands up!

#154–When do you stop eating a meal? When you’re full or when the plate is empty? When you’re satisfied or when the show you’re watching is over? Listen to your body. Slow down and give yourself a chance to recognize and respond to the signals it’s giving you all the time. The average person chews only four times before swallowing. And since digestion is both a chemical process and a mechanical process, the person who doesn't chew their food sufficiently:

--doesn't assimilate all the nutrition available in the food
--gives the pathogens hiding in the food a free ride to the small intestines instead of being eliminated by the HCL in the stomach
--eats more than necessary because the body's signals of satiety don't have enough time to reach the brain.
--dishonors both the plants and animals which sacrificed their lives to become part of his/her body.

Try drinking your food (i.e. chewing until it's more a liquid than a solid) and eating your water (i.e. don't guzzle it but swish it around the mouth before swallowing to instill it with chi for use in the body).