Bettina’s Diet: Please Chew Well…But Why?
Hello, friends.
As part of my wellness program, Bettina placed me on a strict vegan macrobiotic diet. One of the main tenants of a macro diet is chewing your food much more thoroughly than many of us are used to…and when I say thoroughly, I mean 50 – 100 times for each and every bite.
“And chew well your food with your teeth, that it becomes water, and that the angel of water turn it into blood in your body.”
—The Essene Gospel of Peace
Such a task seemed daunting to me and immediately elicited my but why response. Thankfully, Bettina is a wise and patient teacher, and she helped me understand this rule wasn’t pulled from thin air. Rather, it is rooted in science and, once I understood, it made perfect sense.
Chewing is one of the most important acts in our entire digestive process. It is the only point during which our food is physically ground. There are no teeth in our stomach or gut, and we were not blessed with the gizzard our friends in the poultry world possess to help grind the nutrients out of food. Our sole opportunity for maximum nutritional extraction comes during the chewing process. Who knew? Certainly not I. As I assumed, as long as I was eating nutrient-rich foods, my digestive system could extract what it needed.
The more thoroughly we chew our food, the better we can process its nutrients, so chewing food 50 times is largely considered the minimum standard within the macrobiotic community, and 100 times is the ideal.
I want to dive a little deeper into the mechanics of chewing—of what actually happens when we place food in our mouths. Upon sensing something in the mouth, the body immediately begins producing saliva, and within that saliva is ptyalin. Ptyalin is an enzyme that works to alkalize the food, allowing our bodies to digest and absorb nutrients. Of particular interest is the fact that ptyalin continues working long after food has been swallowed, breaking down as much as 30% – 40% of the starches we eat into maltose (which is converted into energy by the brain, muscles, and liver) before being neutralized by stomach acid.
Thorough chewing means ptyalin is more thoroughly incorporated into our food, allowing our bodies to use more of the energy and nutrients. Because we are getting more from the food we consume, we don’t need to eat as much of it to feel satisfied.
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Chewing 50 to 100 times really slowed me down. I found that I couldn’t multitask or engage in reading work emails, another shift this journey has created for me.
These are the thing I noticed:
At first it took discipline. It felt like work some meals to sit patiently as I counted to 50.
Overtime, it’s second nature and I no longer have to count. I simply chew as much as required to create a consistent soft consistency. This is aligned with Aryuvedic principles but more on that in a future post!
Eating takes time! Not only that I don’t need to eat as much because my body seems to have time to recognize it’s full.
I also noticed I breathed more. Because I had to be so present in chewing, I sat down before a meal and took a couple deep breaths.
Based on how it felt, I suspect I also calmed or paused sympathetic nervous state I often unknowingly operate in during work hours.
In hind sight it feels like the way I was eating before was rushed, and insane!
