Not Easy Eating Green, Part 2 · 14 January 2013
Eating green is literally not easy. Or maybe it is just not quick.
I find myself eating salad for breakfast quite a bit now. That really just means throwing spinach, broccoli, and any other vegetables we might have into a bowl and putting some salad dressing on them. The interesting thing that I have noticed recently is that it takes more time to eat the food than it does to eat more “traditional” breakfast foods like cereal.
The good part about taking more time to eat is that it takes more time to eat. They say that the brain takes about twenty minutes to register the first bite. So when we eat slowly rather than gobble everything down in two seconds, we might actually eat less and feel more satisfied.
I also know that fruits and vegetables take up more volume per calorie than other foods, which helps to make the stomach feel full, but eating slower has always been a problem for me. I have always been one who gets down to business when it comes to eating. I want the food in my stomach as quickly as possible. Eating green actually prevents that from happening. Raw broccoli does not just slide down the throat into my gullet. It takes lots of time to chew up even the smallest piece. Peas and any fibrous foods are like that too. Those raw vegetables seem to take forever to eat.
I never thought that eating would be such a workout for my jaw, but that is a good thing. After all, my wife has always said that I need to slow down when I eat. So there is a social benefit too. Once I have chewed a bite of vegetables at suppertime, I can talk to others as I rest my jaw from crunching my food.
There are many benefits to eating lots of raw fibrous foods regardless of their color. And at least some of those benefits come about because it literally is not easy eating green.
© 2013 Michael T. Miyoshi
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