My grudge with 'swallow'.......

As a West African one of the staple foods we inherited from our forefathers is mashed/ pounded starchy prepared food that we get to eat with our fingers.

 These food items are mostly made onto small bolus and swallowed with accompanying oily soups

                     

        I honestly do not know how this food evolved and ended up as a staple and since we do not have anyone from the 16th century Africa still alive to interview, we might as well give up on that subject matter.

         What we do know is that our forefathers did a lot of physical activities at that time; from trekking long distance to the farms and then working on the farms with simple implements to walking long distance to the stream to fetch water and looking for firewood in the forest. In short the art of daily living was a chore and labour intensive.

      Aside from the fact that these type of food are too starch filled and oily for our modern day sedentary lifestyle, they are also more difficult to digest because of the way we eat them.

     According to our high school Biology curriculum....digestion starts in the mouth ....with PROPER and THOROUGH CHEWING of food and mixing of this chewed food with saliva.

     The above process is deliberately boycotted when we just swallow bolus of food creating more work and stress for our digestive system.
                                           

 

      The better we are at chewing and breaking down food in our mouths; the easier it will be for our system to digest food thereby eliminating bloating, gas and indigestion which in the long run is a good breeding groun for

         Chewing food properly also aids our bodies in nutrient absorption as the micro nutrients will easily be absorbed unlike when our bodies have to break down the nutrients in large bolus' of food.

          When you eat 'swallow', there is a tendency for you to over eat; on the other hand when you properly chew and savor your food you allow the stomach to signal the brain that it is full so you can stop eating in good time.
         
           I have personally reduced this type of food to like once in 2 weeks and when i do eat  them, I make sure I chew properly
       
              My 'grudge' is that why should something so inimical to my health taste so good?  Anybody got an answer for me?

Hmmnnnnnn........NO PAIN NO GAIN........