புதன், 4 மே, 2016

உணவே மருந்து

உணவே மருந்து
             நாம் உண்ணும் உணவிலிருந்து சக்தியைப் பெறுகிறோம். உணவிலுள்ள ருசிதான் சக்தியாகும். உணவை உண்ணும் போது, உணவை நன்கு பற்களால் மென்று அரைத்து உணவு கூழாகும் போதுதான் உணவிலிருந்து ருசியானது பிரிந்து நாக்கால் உணவிலுள்ள ருசியை சுவைக்க முடியும். இந்த ருசிதான் உணவிலுள்ள சக்தியாகும். எவ்வாறு அணுவைப் பிளக்கும்போது அணுவிலிருந்து அணுசக்தி உருவாகிறதோ, அதைப் போன்று உணவை நன்கு மென்று அரைத்து, உணவு கூழாகும் போதுதான் அதிலிருந்து உயிர் சக்தி நமக்கு கிடைக்கிறது.
                        இக்காலத்தில் மேலே கண்ட முறைப்படியாக உணவை உண்ணுகிறோமோ என்றால் அதுதான் இல்லை. நாம் உணவிற்கு அதற்குரிய மரியாதையை தருவதில்லை. உணவை உண்ணும் போது பேசிக் கொண்டும், தொலைக்காட்சி நிகழ்ச்சிகளை பார்த்துக் கொண்டும், தத்தமது அலுவலக பிரச்சனைகள், வியாபார சிந்தனைகள் அல்லது குடும்ப பிரச்சனைகளை எண்ணிக் கொண்டும், இவ்வாறு ஏதேதோ எண்ணங்கள் நமது மனதில் அலை மோதியவாறு உணவை உண்ணும்போது, உணவிலுள்ள சுவையை உணராமல் உண்ணும்போது, அந்த உணவானது நல்ல முறையில் ஜீரணமாவதில்லை.
                      நாம் வாழ்வது இந்த ஒரு சாண் வயிற்றுக்குத்தான் என்று பேச்சளவில் பேசிக் கொள்கிறோமே தவிர உணவை உண்ணும் முறையை நாம் முறையாக கடைப்பிடிப்பது இல்லை. வாழ்க்கைக்கு எதுவுமே தேவைப் படாத உதவாக்கரை விஷயங்களைப் பற்றி ஏராளமாக பேசுகிறோம். ஆனால் வாழ்க்கைக்கு தேவையான விஷயங்களை சிந்திப்பதற்கே சிரமப்படுகிறோம்.
             இவ்வாறு உணவை நன்கு பற்களால் மென்று அரைக்காமல் அப்படியே விழுங்குவோமேயானால் இயற்கை நம்மை தண்டித்து விடும் என்ற பேருண்மையை

("Nature will castigate those who don't masticate")  கண்டறிந்துள்ளார் ஒரு மேல் நாட்டு அறிஞர். அவர் தான்-Horace Fletcher  என்பவர் ஆவார். அவர் வாழ்ந்த காலம் 1849–1919 . நமது உடல் நலத்தைப் பேணும் உணவு உண்ணும் முறையில் அவர் ஒரு குருவாக திகழ்கிறார்( health-food Guru). அவரது வாழ்க்கை வரலாறு மற்றும் அவர் எழுதிய நூல்கள் பற்றியும், அவரைப் பற்றி மும்பை மற்றும் பெங்களூரு நகர்களில் வெளியான பத்திரிக்கை செய்திகள் கீழே தரப்பட்டுள்ளன.   
Why chew food thoroughly
ANAND HOLLA | Mumbai Mirror | Sep 11, 2013, 12.00 AM IST

Chew your food thoroughly (Thinkstock photos/Getty Images)

“ Don’t gobble your food Fletcherize, or chew very slowly while you eat, Talk on pleasant topics. Don’t be in a hurry. Take time to masticate and cultivate a cheerful appetite while you eat. So will the demon indigestion be encompassed round about and his slaughter complete”
—-John D Rockefeller.
"Nature will castigate those who don't  masticate"          - Horace Fletcher
Make more of what you put into your mouth simply by thoroughly masticating your food
We Mumbaikars fly through our lives fighting time. Among other compromises, this often translates into limited time for meals, and thereby little or no time for that most overlooked ritual: Chewing. Our fascination or obsession with what to eat has drowned out this equally important facet of nutrition.
When Mahatma Gandhi said — Chew your drink and drink your food — he was stressing on the scientifically proven benefits of chewing.
How it works
A series of recent studies conducted on chewing have established a few facts beyond an intimate connection between chewing and weight control. Speed eating, gorging and binge eating were found to majorly contribute to unhealthy weight gain. The studies confirmed chewing every mouthful for longer helps you lose weight because it allows your brain more time to receive signals from the stomach that it's full. Therefore, the slower you chew, the lesser you eat. Besides, when you chew thoroughly, your digestive system is told of incoming food. This triggers it to produce digestive acids and help the body absorb nutrients.
Inadequately digested food means inadequate absorption of nutrients, which is like paying for gourmet chocolates but getting a toffee. The leptin, ghrelin and cholestokinnen hormones, which are responsible for signaling satiation, don't reach their peak until 20 to 40 minutes after food is ingested. Speed eaters beat their body's signal keepers by wolfing it down.
To make matters worse, unchewed food particles are not welcome in your stomach.
Sloppily chewed food promotes intestinal bacteria, causing flatulence, bloating, constipation, stomach ache, cramps and even diarrhea.
Nutritionist Naini Setalvad, who considers correct chewing as the first mantra of healthy eating, faults parents for inculcating the gulping-down habit. "Mothers keep telling their children to finish what's on their plates fast so to catch the school bus, classes or anything.
The most common refrain is 'Jaldi karo... why are you taking so long to eat?' Our health entirely depends on what we eat and how well our body absorbs it. Incomplete chewing ruins the digestion process and leads to irritable bowel syndrome and flatulence, among other problems."
Where  it starts
Digestion begins in your mouth. Efficient chewing increases the surface area of foods, affording a thorough breakdown by enzymes. Saliva also contains lingual lipase, a fat metabolising enzyme, which breaks down fat before it reaches the stomach. If the fat reached the stomach inadequately chewed, brace yourself for digestion problems. The longer your food stays in touch with your saliva, the better it gets lubricated and lesser the stress on your esophagus. Even digesting carbohydrates starts with chewing right as your saliva detaches chemical bonds that connect the starch-containing simple sugars. When you don't chew well, these enzymes can't break down starches or digest fats, inducing sluggishness and loss of energy.
Setalvad says, "Almost everyone who comes to me does not chew their food properly. The first thing I do to ensure they chew well is to add a salad or raw vegetables to their meals. I know if they aren't chewing properly when they return with constipation or irritable bowel syndrome."
Pleasure principle
Rushing through a meal bars you from enjoying it to its maximum, leading to a sense of dissatisfaction. Mindful eating is about experiencing food more intensely — especially the pleasure of it — and chewing plays the protagonist in this show.
We live to eat, or at least we live because we eat. So good food assiduously chewed for a good time will ensure that you'll love your food the most it can be loved.
Fletcherism
An American health-food guru of the late 1800s, Horace Fletcher, was known as 'The Great Masticator'. He recommended chewing food at least once for every tooth or 32 times per mouthful before swallowing. Fletcher, who would chew a morsel 100 times a minute before swallowing, believed that his method held the secret to unlocking hidden strengths. Fletcher's war-cry was 'Nature will castigate those who don't masticate' and he acquired a legendary status with his set of experiments at the Yale Gymnasium. At 58, he competed with college students in exacting tests of strength and endurance such as deep-knee bending, holding out arms horizontally for a length of time, and calf-raises on an intricate machine — and beat the Yale athletes in all events. Fletcher attributed his feat to studious grinding and gnawing.
Tips to chew well
- Mash slowly and steadily.
- Keep the ambience relaxed rather than loud or distracting. That means no sitting in front of the TV.
- Eat smaller morsels; smaller the bites, the better you will chew.
- Stop only when the mouthful is totally liquid and has lost its texture.
- Take another bite only when you have finished chewing completely and swallowed.
- Drink water or fluids only after your mouth is empty.

Courtesy: Anand.Holla@timesgroup.com
From Around the Web
More From The Times of India

 Chew 32 times: Myth or magic
By Express Features – BANGALORE
Published: 06th February 2013 08:32 AM
Last Updated: 06th February 2013 08:32 AM

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Tough jobs, sedentary routines and eating excessive junk food to kill hunger pangs and get bits of energy. | EPS
Chewing food 32 times has almost been inducted into the league of grandma’s home recipes for combating obesity - the world’s worst killer disease today.
There is nothing new about obesity except its ever-increasing reach thanks to urban stress-ridden lifestyles. Tough jobs, sedentary routines and eating excessive junk food to kill hunger pangs and get bits of energy.
The idea reportedly came from Horace Fletcher who suggested chewing food 32 times at the speed of 100 times per minute before swallowing it.
Fletcher attributed his fitness at the age of 60 to this. He even pitted himself against younger athletes in an endurance test and reportedly emerged a winner at the age of 58.
In the current tech generation, most answers are sought online as the internet has become the home recipe generator instead of grandma. A search of ‘chew your food 32 times’ revealed several health blogs, websites, lifestyle portals offering this advice.
One health blog goes as far as to claim that chewing 32 times reduces calorie intake by 32 percent. There are no reviews or results of clinical trials yet of this exercise in healthier eating but there are several individual testimonies.
Sandeep Maheshwari, a young entrepreneur said that diet and exercise did not work for him and he went back to eating fatty food and leaving unhealthily.
Then, he lost a visible quantity of body fat by, as per his claims, by chewing his food 32 times before swallowing it. In fact, he displayed a plastic plate, off which he ate for the first nine months of this experiment. The letters 32 were cut into its centre. Of course, with half the plate punctured with the digits, much food would not fit into it.
These testimonies cannot be proof alone.
Dietitians and doctors have argued that its not just about how many times you are chewing but also what you are chewing.
But they did agree that it helps speed up the digestion process and gives the feeling of being filled before one had sinfully gorged on fatty foods.
It has not yet been proved if, how and in exactly what circumstances this works.
Cancer foundation Livestrong writes, “Sensible eating involves chewing food until the food is savoured and the morsel is small enough to be safely and easily swallowed. Rather than chewing exactly 32 times, make a practice to eat slowly and stop between every few bites to relax or chat with your table mates.”
But Livestrong Foundation itself proffers the benefit of chewing food multiple times before swallowing food.
“If you thoroughly chew your food, you will slow down your eating and, possibly, eat less total food. Also, the signal that you are full takes around 20 minutes to register and, if you are eating slowly, you will realize you are full before you consume more food than your body needs. Another benefit to chewing 32 times is that you get more enjoyment from the food, which can, in theory, help you eat less,” said a report on the website of Livestrong, which promotes healthy lifestyle. 
The accepted way to practice this would be to mash the food with your teeth and swallow only after the enter food has become de-solidified.
It is advised that those on a strict diet or weight loss regime or with other ailments should consult their physicians before suddenly switching to this technique of eating food.

Horace Fletcher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the English footballer, see Horace Fletcher (footballer).

Horace Fletcher
Horace Fletcher (1849–1919) was an American health food enthusiast of the Victorian era who earned the nickname "The Great Masticator", by arguing that food should be chewed about 100 times per minute before being swallowed: "Nature will castigate those who don't masticate". He made elaborate justifications for his claim.
Fletcher and his followers recited and followed his instructions religiously, even claiming that liquids, too, had to be chewed in order to be properly mixed with saliva. Fletcher argued that his mastication method will increase the amount of strength a person could have while actually decreasing the amount of food that he consumed. Fletcher promised that "Fletcherizing", as it became known, would turn "a pitiable glutton into an intelligent epicurean".
Fletcher also advised against eating before being "Good and Hungry", or while angry or sad. Fletcher would claim that knowing exactly what was in the food one consumed was important. He stated that different foods have different waste materials, so knowing what type of waste one was going to have in one’s body was valuable knowledge, thus critical to one’s overall well being (The New Glutton, 1906, 132-133). He promoted his theories for decades on lecture circuits, and became a millionaire. Upton SinclairHenry James and John D. Rockefeller were among those who gave his ideas a try. Henry James and Mark Twain were visitors to his palazzo in Venice. He lived in the Palazzo Saibante with his wife, Grace Fletcher, an amateur painter, who studied in Paris in the 1870s and was influenced by the Impressionists, and her daughter, Ivy. Ivy, later to become a journalist at the Daily Express in the 1930s, was often a guinea pig for Horace's experiments, which she described in her unpublished memoirs "Remember Me".
Although many people believed Fletcher’s laboratory reports, the more important eye-opener to doctors and laymen was his series of experiments at Yale University. It was here that he participated, at the age of fifty-eight, in vigorous tests of strength and endurance versus the college athletes. The tests included: “deep-knee bending”, holding out arms horizontally for a length of time, and calf raises on an intricate machine. Fletcher claimed to lift “three hundred pounds dead weight three hundred and fifty times with his right calf”. The tests claim that Fletcher outperformed these Yale athletes in all events and that they were very impressed with his athletic ability at his old age. Fletcher attributed this to following his eating practices, and ultimately these tests, whether true or not, helped further endorse “Fletcherism” publicly.
Fletcher saw many similarities between humans and functioning machines. He posited several analogies between machines and the human body. Just some of the comparisons that Fletcher drew included: fuel to food; steam to blood circulation; steam gauge to human pulse; and engine to heart.
Along with "Fletcherizing", Fletcher and his supporters advocated a low-protein diet as a means to health and well-being.
Fletcher had a special interest in human excreta. He believed that the only true indication of one’s nutrition was evidenced by excreta (Fletcher 142). Fletcher advocated teaching children to examine their excreta as a means for disease prevention (Fletcher 143). If one was in good health and maintained proper nutrition then their excreta, or digestive "ash", as Fletcher called it, should be entirely "inoffensive". By inoffensive, Fletcher meant that there was no stench and no evidence of bacterial decomposition.
Fletcher was an avid spokesman for Belgian Relief and a member of the Commission for Relief in Belgium in World War I.
By 1919, when Fletcher, 69, died of bronchitis, his diet plan was already being replaced by the next approach to dieting championed by Irving Fisher and Eugene Lyman Fiskcounting calories.
·         Menticulture or the A-B-C of True Living (1896)
·         Happiness as found in forethought minus fearthought (1898)
·         The Last Waif, or Social Quarantine: A Brief (1898)
·         The New Glutton or Epicure (1906)
·         "The A.B.-Z. of Our Own Nutrition" (1908)
·         Fletcher, Horace. Fletcherism: What It Is or How I Became Young at Sixty (1913)

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