Want better digestion and feel less bloated? Eat fruits on an empty stomach, not after a meal. Need to lose weight? Eat your vegetables first before the rice. Want to beat cancer? Drink alkaline water.
Do these nuggets of so-called nutrition advice sound familiar to you? They might have been doled out by that colleague who heard it from her aunt or served up by the algorithm as you’re mindlessly scrolling through your social media feed. No matter the source, you might have been intrigued at some point in your life – especially if you’re facing a medical issue and understandably want to improve your health: Do they actually work?
Knowing how your stomach works can help you to form healthy eating habits, according to Dr Melvin Look, a consultant surgeon in gastrointestinal, laparoscopic and obesity surgery as well as the director of PanAsia Surgery. For starters, the food that you eat is temporarily stored in the stomach, where it is “broken down and mixed with stomach acid and enzymes”, he said.
As food continues to enter the stomach, an exit valve called the pylorus gradually allows the partially digested food to be released into the small intestine, where it is further digested and where nutrients are absorbed, said Dr Look.
“The stomach can hold between 2 litres and 4 litres of food and liquids before it is fully distended,” he said, explaining that it is the stomach’s stretching that signals to the brain that you are full.
But if you wolf down your meal, there is a chance you’ll end up eating more than you should. That’s because your stomach and brain take time to register fullness – about 15 to 20 minutes, said Jaclyn Reutens, a clinical and sports dietitian, and founder of Aptima Nutrition & Sports Consultants. This is why you should spend at least 15 minutes to finish your meal as “the difference can be significant”, she said.
THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE MYTHS
The adage “you are what you eat” is certainly subscribed to by many, including dietitians, nutritionists, doctors and the researchers behind this study, who found that food can even regulate mood. But are you how you eat your food in sequence? And what about other nutrition advice such as getting one of those purifiers that converts tap water into “health giving” alkaline water? Here’s a look:
- Fact or myth: Fill up on vegetables first, so you won’t eat so much rice.
If you’re trying to reduce your calorie intake, should you eat your economy rice or nasi padang in this particular sequence? Don’t be so quick to write off this one yet.
“Eating vegetables at the start of the meal might ensure a lower intake of the other food groups. It may help you get full faster and stay full longer,” said Bibi Chia, the principal dietitian at Raffles Hospital’s Raffles Diabetes and Endocrine Centre. “When you are full, there is a possibility that the intake of carbohydrates from rice or noodles is lower.”
Added Reutens: “There are studies showing the overall caloric intake of a meal is lower when vegetables are consumed first. So, for those are looking at weight loss, this could be an easy thing to do”.
For diabetics and those with glucose metabolism issues, eating your stir-fried kailan or salad first can also avoid spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels, said Dr Look, which can otherwise happen when you eat carbohydrates first. Indeed, a study found that carbohydrates were digested slower and required less insulin because of the fibre in vegetables. The greens-before-carbs approach had even been recommended for the prevention of cardiovascular problems by the researchers.