Don’t you just hate it when you sit down for a cup of tea and you spot a cobweb or dust in the corner?
How many of us sigh and think about doing something about it but continue drinking the tea and how many leap up to grab a duster and remove the offending article?
Those first rays of spring sunlight will be highlighting all your housekeeping shortcomings with rapier intensity any day now. The National obsession with cleaning has taken a disturbing upturn and not in a good way. Personally I find the cleaning of my own house boring enough without having to watch people on TV clean theirs. But then we do have shows where we are expected to watch paint dry so who knows what others call entertainment.
We may have more gadgets and products than our Mothers and Grandmothers but cleaning is still cleaning no matter how you spin it. The advertising industry insists on using smiling, bouncy haired women, who are dressed carefully in colour co-ordinated clothes that won’t alienate any viewer, to demonstrate the newest mop or toilet cleaner. They are well balanced enough to giggle with their children and blow bubbles with the washing up liquid without a cross word or a sigh of despair as another dish crashes to the floor.
There are depressing surveys that tell us that even with the use of electricity we still spend a large portion of our day battling dirt or paying some one else to do it for us. It’s not just the dirt but the bacteria that has us running scared.
Babies of the past few decades have lived in a world of clean unheard of before. The Holy Grail words ‘Anti bacterial’ appear on every label of every product aimed at young ones. We worry neurotically about every thing that the child could come into contact with. It takes Granny to ride in shouting loudly ‘ A bit of dirt never hurt anyone’ to bring us to our senses.
Any Mother spitting on a handkerchief then wiping her child’s face is likely to draw looks of horror. Saliva is naturally anti bacterial so well done Mum for being safe.
Saliva, which is produced in the mouth for many reasons, is a combination of 98% water and 2% compounds such as mucus, anti bacterial enzymes and ‘electrolytes’, also known as salts. These salts are in all bodily fluids including blood and plasma. This makes our fluids similar to seawater with a high concentration of sodium chloride. You lose salts in your sweat and these need to be replaced to balance the body, so you will find salt as well as sugar in energy/sports drinks. The salts help the cells to pass messages to each other. So that’s why when people are very dehydrated they cannot function properly.
Saliva is there to activate the breaking down of food and to work away at any food caught in the teeth that if not removed could cause decay and to prevent bacterial growth. Saliva cleans the inside of the mouth and rinses the teeth with the enzymes it contains fighting off infections in the mouth. It acts as a buffer to neutralize acid and to slow down the production of plaque. So even before you hit the mouthwash and toothpaste your body has been taking care of business.
To top all of this wondrous activity it is sometimes used as an enzymatic cleaner in the Art World. Moistening a cotton swab with saliva and rolling it gently across an Old Master’s surface breaks down centuries old dirt to reveal the original colours underneath. (Note, you have to roll the swab not rub – just in case you decide to give it a go.) So cleaning a child’s grubby face with saliva is logical and effective but also enormously embarrassing for said child so try to avoid doing it in public.
While we are obsessing about keeping the outside of our body clean we should channel some of that thought to the keeping of the inside pristine as well. The digestion process that absorbs mobilises and finally ejects the food that we take in needs to be rolling along like a well-oiled machine in order for toxins and wastes to be removed successfully.
If we suffer from bloating or feeling uncomfortable after eating this may be because we are not chewing our food properly. Saliva partially digests food in the mouth, especially starches. An enzyme that is released from under the tongue breaks down fats. Chewing stimulates the saliva to release digestive juices and dial ahead to start the digestive process.
Mechanically breaking down food by chewing is vital. This means that more surfaces of the food are exposed to saliva, which in turn means better digestion. If our food is not broken down properly we are not absorbing the nutrients we need. This leads to a compromised immune system, as the body will rob it of nutrients to keep its other functions going. Good digestion equals healthy cells and fewer colds.
Food that is shovelled down in large bites and not chewed sufficiently can damage the lining of the throat and the oesophagus leading to painful acid reflux. Too much air can be taken into the stomach if you eat this way, leading to poorly digested food with the ubiquitous feeling of bloating and all that goes with it.
Poor digestion can interfere with your metabolism. A slow metabolism allows toxins to remain in the body, which accumulate, and over stress the body. Other side effects of bolting your food can include insomnia, joint and muscle pain, skin disorders and sugar cravings to name just a few.
It takes about twenty minutes for the brain to register you have eaten so if you inhale your food you are still going to think you are hungry even though you have had sufficient, this can lead to binge eating to satisfy the empty feeling and inevitable weight gain.
So slow down and take the time to enjoy your meal. Make sure your focus is on eating and try to avoid watching TV or walking around doing something else at the same time. Put your fork down between mouthfuls and chew diligently. There is no point on prescribing how many chews per bite but you can use this rule of thumb, which is, that if you can still identify what you have put in your mouth by shape then you have not chewed it enough.
It’s clear that if you want to look good and be healthy then you must work harder at eating more slowly. Which will leave less time for housework so I suggest that you invest in a long handled feather duster so you can dust from your chair, should you feel so inclined.
Happy Trails, Readers, Happy Trails.
First publisbed May 2011 By the Dart
