Slow Chewing of food can be a game changer for blood sugar control.
FACT
Indeed. Slow chewing of food helps lower blood glucose spikes.
Can you help you manage your diabetes, simply by changing the way you chew your food? This is the latest in the everday barrage of claims about what one can do to help manage the chronic disease. This reel on instagram claims that "the way we eat - fast gulps vs. mindful chewing - can significantly influence our glucose levels."
"Chewing thoroughly aids in better digestion and a more gradual blood sugar rise, keeping those spikes and dips at bay," they add.
So is this true?
Often referred to as a lifestyle disease, diabetes is caused by various factors including daily routines, diet, and lack of physical activity among some others. Any imbalance in one or more of these factors could lead to health conditions like obesity, insulin resistance, and persistent high blood pressure.
The disease is marked by recurrent spikes in one’s blood glucose readings due to the build-up of sugar in one’s blood. This, in turn, results in the body developing chronic resistance to insulin. Diabetics need to consume drugs that stimulate the production of insulin. The drugs need to be complemented by lifestyle and dietary changes, such as reducing the consumption of refined sugar, and carbohydrates, and increasing that of dietary fibers.
Health coaches advocate improving one’s habits around sleep, meals, physical exercise etc, to ward-off or delay the advent of diabetes.
Chewing of food is the first step in a series of stages that comprise the digestion cycle. During the chewing stage, the bolus—food that is mixed with saliva—is ground by one’s bite into smaller fragments for ease of swallowing. Chewing primes the food for further enzymatic action in the gastrointestinal tract.
There appears to be truth to claims that eating fast can negatively impact your blood sugar levels. A study found that those eating fast reported more fluctuations in their blood sugar levels.
Another study found that individuals who chew 40 times after each bite secreted lower levels of Ghrelin, the hunger hormone, as well as higher levels of gut hormones that are associated with feeling full. The net effect is that one ends up eating less quantity of food, decreasing one’s calorie intake and inducing weight loss. Weight loss is universally known to aid in regulating blood-glucose levels.
