Don't Drive And Eat: It's Bad For Digestion
Driving is a sympathetic process. Digesting is a parasympathetic process. The body cannot do both at the same time.
Did you know that something as simple as eating while driving can hinder your health? When you eat while driving, you are not allowing your body to go into the relaxation state needed to adequately digest food.
The body is intrinsically designed to digest food while resting--it’s the reason the dinner table was created. Well, maybe not the reason, but it still fits.
Our nervous system has many branches, one of them called the Parasympathetic Nervous System. It’s role is to save energy. When you relax, your blood pressure decreases, pulse rate slows, and digestion can begin [1]. If you’re driving in your car, you are most likely not relaxed (especially if you are in traffic) because you are paying attention to everything else going on around you. Your blood pressure and pulse can also be elevated. There will be no digesting when your body is in this heightened state. The same goes for having a heated argument whilst eating (makes you lose your appetite), watching a violent film (heightens pulse and blood pressure), or simply being under a certain amount of stress (either makes you not hungry or causes you to overeat). You cannot digest in this mode. Period.
Also, the food you are eating in the car is most likely processed, fast food. Fast food is toxic and inflammatory in nature. Another negative hit on the health meter.
If you are not in parasympathetic state, the stomach does not get a message from the brain to release stomach acid. Stomach acid is necessary for “mood regulation”. It helps digest protein, unwrap the polypeptide chains, and convert/use the amino acids needed to keep away depression and anxiety. Amino acids build neurotransmitters like serotonin the “happy chemical” and dopamine the “pleasure chemical.”
Stomach acid is also key for the absorption of nutrients and increases the chances of getting pregnant. Folic acid, vitamin B12, and omega-3 fatty acids are especially helpful fertility nutrients. Stomach acid and enzymes from the pancreas help digest and absorb folic acid. Vitamin B12 comes from fortified foods and animal products, including fish, meat, poultry, eggs, milk, and milk products, but we need stomach acid to digest it. And the pancreas and gallbladder help digest omega-3 fatty acids, but only if the body is in a parasympathetic state.
The process of digestion also interacts with the creation and regulation of hormones. When fat is digested by the body, it produces hormones. And in turn, hormones aid every bodily process from brain functions, to the reproductive system, and of course, to the digestive system (pretty much everything mentioned in the paragraphs above). If a hormone imbalance is created because of an inability to digest, it can produce serious health consequences.
The gastrointestinal tract has more nerves than the rest of all the other parts of the nervous system combined. That is why when you have the stomach flu it’s first painful, and then the next day you have extreme fatigue. All of those nerves work overtime to help get rid of the sickness. The inability to digest can have the same effect on the body, and even throw a person into chronic fatigue.
Digestion is a north to south process.
Often times we have things happening south like bloating, or way south like diarrhea or constipation, and we just need to look at what’s happening up north!
Let’s say, for example, you are bloated--you may not have adequately chewed your food. The breakdown of food starts in our mouth with mastication (chewing). When we chew our food, it mixes with an enzyme in our saliva called amylase, which breaks down carbohydrates. This takes some of the burden off the stomach and the pancreas. There is a reason your mom told you to chew each bite 32 times!
When we are not adequately digesting or being mindful of our food, we tend to overeat. This is why I suggest my weight loss clients serve themselves. Do not eat out of the chip bag, but rather take a serving of chips and put it on a plate in order to mindfully eat it. This cannot happen if you are engaged elsewhere like driving, talking on the phone, or watching tv.
The Europeans have it right--the meal is their form of entertainment, not just a quick stop on the way to the next thing. They live to enjoy the food they eat, and so should we all. So SLOW DOWN. Enjoy what you eat as though your body depends on it, because it does!
1. https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/auto.html
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