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Microblog: Getting in a Parasympathetic State Is Absolutely Critical for Digestion and Nutrient Absorption

Microblog: Getting in a Parasympathetic State Is Absolutely Critical for Digestion and Nutrient Absorption

Mindful Eating Tips

As we are social distancing and eating all our meals at home, here are some tips for mindful eating.



🤤We must be in a parasympathetic state (rest and relax) to start the digestive process. When we see and smell our food, we begin to salivate. Our saliva has digestive enzymes that help us begin the digestive cascade and proper breakdown and absorption of foods.



🍽So pull up a chair and sit down for your meals. Don’t just graze through the day. We weren’t meant to be stimulating insulin all day long and have our digestive process working 24/7. Eat when it’s time and S L O W down. How does your food taste? Temperature? Texture?



💡The recommended amount of chews per bite is 20-30 times. Yes, the more you chew, the easier it will be on your digestive process.



🥩Eat the cuts you enjoy. Yes, organ meat is nutrient-dense. Yes, there are benefits in a variety of meat but there is no point in force feeding yourself foods you don’t enjoy. If you are eating in a stressed or sympathetic state, you will adversely impact the digestive process. Then forcing down organ meat may not even make its way to be digested or absorbed. Lose-lose. If you can, eat liver but if you can’t, don’t force it.


🧑🏼‍🍳I talked about mindset and cooking in anger never did good for anyone. If you are in charge of cooking for the meal, do it with love and joy. Luckily, Carnivore takes a lot of time out of cooking.



📺To minimize overeating, don’t multitask (e.g., watch TV). Studies show that people eat significantly more when multitasking.⠀



🧂Over-seasoning and saucing can also cause you to eat past satiety. How many of us have eaten a piece of meat and added salt or sauce at the end to eat more? It’s likely a sign that you are full and should stop eating.⠀



👥Meal times are often when conversations are held. But keep conversations light. We need to be in a parasympathetic state and eating while angry or upset is not ideal for digestion. This is also why it’s not a good idea to have battles with kids at meal times. If they’re crying it’s better to wait and feed them.⠀



⚠️If you’re upset, wait until you are calm before eating. Your body and digestive process will thank you for it.

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