What's wrong in drinking water along with food?

It is quite natural and common thing to do, Isn't it ?  While we eat we all drink water or other soft drinks along with the food. In fact we tend to fill our stomach with water or drinks even before the food arrives in our table when we go to restaurants. I always felt this was not correct and I would always finish the meal before I touch my water or drinks. One of the reasons I would do that is, I lose the appetite very soon if I drink water before or during the meal. Some of my friends would be surprised to see me as they would say that they cannot do this for a million dollar! For every one or two bites of the meal they would for sure sip lot of water or Coke. I am sure that is the case with many of us. 

While researching the science behind this, I found some useful and very reasonable arguments. Hunger is nothing but the secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. We all know that when you put water to an acid it becomes diluted or becomes a weak acid. A weak acid cannot perform as good as a strong concentrated acid. In our case the HCL in stomach if it gets diluted cannot digest the food very well. This sounded very reasonable for me and I am sticking with the habit of not to take any liquids during any meal so that the food taken can digest well meaning the nutrients can be absorbed into the body for nourishment. If indigestion happens or in complete digestion happens then the nutrients go wasted without getting absorbed by the small intestine. Not only that the undigested food remains in the body to cause more serious troubles.

In fact these days I take water only after 30-60 mins after the meal, giving enough time for the digestion process in the stomach and small intestine. Earlier in spite of taking water after the meal I very often felt the need for using restroom after every meal. However after following this method of taking water not before the meals and during the meals and having it only after 30-60 mins after the meals is showing a great improvement with me and I feel great. I do not see a need for using the restroom after every meal. On retrospection I think when I was drinking water after the meal most probably I was not giving enough time for the food to digest in my stomach and was pretty much flushing it through the stomach and small intestine. But now it appears like there is enough time for the HCL to act on the food without getting diluted and making the digestion process more effective. While I am an Engineer and no way related to medical profession I believe no one understands my body better than me. While the logic may or may not be accurate I feel great about this method. 

Some authors claim that just by this single method of taking the water only after 30-60 min of taking the meal has provided tremendous benefits in their health improvement because of better digestion process. I sincerely think there is truth to this claim. I recommended this practice to my mom who is 65 and she also feels lot better with her stomach these days.

On the other hand some people think or recommend drinking a lot of water during the meal for better health and to overcome obesity, which sounds extremely weird based on my intuition, above logic and my experiences. I suspect drinking liquids with meal would cause more indigestion which means more loss of nutrients and more undigested fat increasing the chances of obesity and other serious illnesses. 

What is your take?

The next questions that would arise invariably to every one is What if I get hiccups? What if I feel thirsty or dry in my throat? The answer lies in proper chewing of the food with saliva. More chewing leads to better saliva secretion and better mixing of food with saliva making you feel comfortable with the food and it will not feel very dry as it slides through the throat. Chewing the food into minute pieces and mixing it well with saliva is the very first step for effective digestion which is often overlooked or never discussed in health forums. In the worst case scenario the recommendation would be to take very little water to manage the hiccups or dryness.

Ancient Tamil Wisdom on Healthy Eating

The process of eating or ingestion is supposed to be one of the most important process to focus for our healthy living, according to our ancestors. However we all know that in modern times we have thousands of excuses not to learn these principles and adopt them but we are somehow ready to take up diseases and live with that rather than trying to stay away from them by using these ancient wisdom.

 

 

பசித்துப் புசி

Eat when you are hungry.

Hunger is the body’s language of talking to us to say it is ready to digest the food that is ingested. When there is no hunger then it means body is not ready to digest the food or it does not have the digestive fluids ready such as hydrochloric acid and other enzymes required for digestion.

Unfortunately in modern times this very basic knowledge is completely ignored, with most people taking food on a given specific time without checking their body if it is really hungry or not. If one is getting hungry on a regular time interval then it is not a bad idea to take food in that specific time. But to be noted is the snacking habit. Often when we take snacks there is absolutely no hunger and we tend to snack only for indulgence and socializing. This habit should be consciously monitored and checked. Even worse would be the processed food snacks that are even more dangerous in a long term basis.

 

பசிக்காமல் எதையும் உண்ணாதீர்; உண்ணும்போது உணவைத்  தவிர வேறு எதையும் எண்ணாதீர். - ஹீலர் பாஸ்கர்

Do not eat without hunger. While eating do not think about anything else other than eating – Healer Bhaskar - Anatomic Therapy.

This means while eating no TV, no listening to music, no cell phone talking, no chatting with friends and family, no business meetings, no playing with kids, etc. etc. Just see the food and eat. Try to hold your wandering thoughts only on to the food that you are eating.

When one avoids all other activities and thoughts, and focusses only on food, the body is supposed to be well prepared for the digestive process. Also when the focus is on food and eating, we can take only the proper required amount of food and avoid over eating.

Today people tend to do everything during eating, giving the least importance for the process of eating and digestion. One of the excuse given is life is so fast that we have to do all other stuff while eating. This is very destructive to one’s health.

 

நொறுங்கத் தின்னா நூறு வயசு

If you eat food by chewing properly, then you can live up to 100 years.

While eating chew the food very well and mix it well with saliva. Have the mouth closed so that no air enters in while chewing. The food should enter into the throat as a semi solid homogeneous fluid.

Only food that is well chewed and mixed with saliva gets digested well. Saliva contains a huge number of digestive enzymes that moistens the food and prepares it for digestion. Without this saliva, food ingested will not be well prepared for digestion in the stomach.

In modern times we do not understand the importance of chewing the food well and mixing it well with saliva. Food that is gulped in hurry does not get digested well causing indigestion and eventually causing other serious diseases. Also the necessary nutrients required for nourishment of the body goes wasted. So instead of chewing the food for 2 or 3 times and gulping it, it becomes necessary to chew the food for 20-40 times to make it a semi solid homogeneous fluid before it slips through the throat. This means it may take little longer say 15-30 minutes for eating but this is a necessary step one has to do towards one's health.

 

மருந்துஎன வேண்டாவாம் யாக்கைக்கு அருந்தியது

அற்றது போற்றி உணின் - திருக்குறள்  942

Body does not need any medicine, when one eats only after the previously ingested food has been digested well – Thirukural 942.

Digestion is the process of separating the wanted from the unwanted, useful nutrients from the gross material, so that the useful nutrients can be assimilated into the body for nourishment. However if the digestion process is not satisfactory then the semi digested or undigested food causes various problems from minor discomforts such as constipation to serious illnesses such as obesity, cancer etc.

Digestion is one the most misunderstood term. People think anything that goes into the stomach will be digested well. This is completely a wrong notion. Only the food that is well prepared in the mouth in pre-digestion process by chewing and mixing with saliva will digest well. Hunger is the confirmation that the previously ingested food is digested. However often people tend to eat without getting hungry.

Every living being is food for another

जीवो जीवस्य जीवनं – Shrimad Bhagavatam

Jivo jivasya jivanam meaning every living being is food for another.

This shows that a living being has to eat another living being to live a life. As we can see we cannot eat stones and sand to be alive. We have to eat only living beings such as plants, fruits, legumes, nuts, fish, animals etc.

 

There is always a long and furious debate going on between people on vegetarianism vs. meat eating. People who stick to vegetarian diet do so for various reasons such as religious faith, moral grounds on not to kill animals, environmental reasons and more importantly for health and hygiene reasons.

While plants, fruits, legumes and nuts have a life, it is of the thought that vegetarians cause less pain to these beings as compared to the pain and horror caused to the animals by the meat eater. At least we do not see the plants defending for their life and we also do not see any blood as we cut the plants. Also when we pluck the fruits from trees we think we are causing very little pain to the trees and also the tree continues to live. Nevertheless it is agreed we do cause minimal pain for the sake of our survival.

Another interesting argument is that we can eat most of the fruits and vegetables raw without cooking meaning they are alive as we eat and they become part of us as we assimilate them in our digestion process increasing our life energy or “Prana”.  This could be one of the reasons why raw and live foods are found to be much healthier and claimed to possess magical healing powers. As a stark contrast, meat cannot be consumed without killing the animal which means the dead meat is what is being consumed which started its decaying process the moment the animal was killed. In modern times compared to the olden times frozen meat is commonplace in super markets meaning the consumer is often eating dead rotten meat after few days or few weeks if not few months after the decaying process has started. Note that the refrigeration process just slows down the decaying process and does not completely stop it. This could be a clear argument on why the heavy meat consuming countries have the highest number of major killer diseases including obesity, heart diseases and cancer.

In the capitalistic world the billion dollar meat processing industry will do everything they can to sustain their business. It is the responsibility of the individuals and families to find out what is good for their health and educate others on their findings. You cannot expect the governments, mass media and educational institutions to stop the menace as they are invariably controlled by those corporates. In the worst case if you are not able to leave the meat eating habit at least avoid red meat and stick with chicken and fish. If possible get the meat from the shop where it is butchered just as you purchase so that you can consume the meat within say 6 hours of killing. Avoid packaged and processed meat by all means.