You know the adage, "You are what you eat"? I think it is oh so true.
Food, and more specifically what we eat, mostly determines how our body will look like, how effectively the bodily functions will work and your general level of health.
No matter how many hours a week you exercise and how intense your workouts are, if what you eat does not go in line, it will be all for nothing.
Understanding what foods do to you body, how your body works and what your body actually needs are essential if you want to achieve or maintain optimum health and fitness. Also, understanding how the food industry works will be a real eye opener for many of you, and be an essential part of how to choose your foods wisely.
I have now completed my Nutrition course and, even though I am planning to do an Advanced course probably next year, this added knowledge, as well as the Wildfit 14 Day Reset online program, have given me a better understanding of foods' dos and don'ts, optimal digestion and increased well-being.
PART 1 - How Your Body Works
Absorption of nutrients - and water - is essential for the whole body to function. Therefore, eating is not optional but a genuine physiological need, and what you eat should cater for those needs.
The process of digestion of foods will provide for those needs to be met.
Food is first masticated to make it more digestible but also for it to descend more efficiently through the oesophagus. Put very simply, the bolus of food will then be passed on into the stomach where gastric juices will break down the food for the nutrient to be separated. The pancreas, which produces insulin, will pick up the glucose extracted from the food, and the insulin will store it and transform it into energy.
The food gets moved into the intestines and all nutrients will then be sent into the blood stream. The energy is what will enable the body to move, run, play... Any waste from the food will be passed on into the intestines, to be transformed into urine (pee) or excrement (poo).
This is a very well-regulated system that takes what it needs to thrive and gets rid of what doesn't serve it (toxicity).
The digestion process will last an undefined amount of time, dependent on what foods are ingested, the combination of foods ingested as well as how masticated (broken down) the foods have been.
Mastication is extremely important as the more you chew your food, the more you break it down and the easier it will be to digest as the gastric juices will be able to dissolve it and extract nutrients quicker.
Different types of foods will also vary in their breakdown time due to their texture and consistency.
Fruits and vegetables will take between 30 minutes to 1 hour to get digested (smoothies take 15-20 minutes). Carbohydrates will take about 3 hours. Proteins will be digested on average in 4 hours and fats will take 2-3 hours, depending on the type of fat you eat. Be aware that fat added to your meal will slow down the digestion progress.
Combining foods in the same meal can also extend these digestion time ranges. The stomach will try, in general, to digest first the foods that take the longest to be broken down. So any foods combined that usually take less time will actually be digested after the other harder-to-digest foods have been broken down. The longer the foods stay in your stomach, the more they will putrefy (rot), causing the creation of bacteria and toxins sitting in your stomach and, in time, when accumulated, will lead to digestive problems that could easily become chronic if not addressed.
The reason why different types of foods cannot be digested at the same time is because each type of food requires a different enzyme in the stomach to break it down. Therefore, for optimum digestion, it is advisable to design simple combinations meals.
Bearing in mind that vegetables will be digested rapidly with anything, they can be easily combined with protein or carbohydrates very easily.
Ideally, protein and carbs (grains, pasta, rice, potatoes...) should not be combined in the same meal as the digestion process will be over-extended.
Fruits should always be eaten on an empty stomach, before food, as they are naturally rich in sugar. Sugar is a natural appetite booster so eating sugary foods at the end of your meal encourages you to eat more than your body actually needs to consume. It will also putrefy as other foods combined will take longer to digest.
While general meal sequence of starters, mains and dessert is fully embraced by restaurants and home meals alike, this sequence will focus more on culinary experience rather than nutritious needs and optimum digestion. It is not to say though that, on occasions, you shouldn't experience a delightful and indulgent culinary experience. At the end of the day, and it is certainly true for me despite the fact I try to learn about nutrition and food to optimize my health, you also need to enjoy what you eat as it is an important part of life, especially its social aspect of meeting with friends, catching up and bonding with family, otherwise what's the point.
We're not eating robots, we are human beings entitled to pleasurable experiences.
It is also all a matter of choice.
In our next part, we will explore what our body needs to function. In the meantime, I hope this introduction to food and the process of digestion has given you "food for thought" and more awareness of the relationship between food and your well-being.
Until next time
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