Grabbing food on the go? Your gut would like a word.

The pace of your eating can affect your microbiome. Slowing down and eating deliberately is key to healthy digestion, experts say.

Media Contact: Barbara Clements - 253-740-5043, bac60@uw.edu


You’re late for work, so you grab that protein bar, and head out the door. Healthy, right? 

Not so fast, according to a UW Medicine gastroenterologist. Eating on the go is bad for your gut and for digestion, in general, said Dr. Jason Harper

“There is a huge difference in how your body interprets cramming down a protein bar on your way to work, and sitting down and eating a meal slowly,” Harper said. 

 He will be one of the speakers in an upcoming series of free online seminars which will be exploring digestion and the “how” of healthy eating. Learn more about the seminars, the first of which will be Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 12:15 PT, here.

Your body and digestive system are not designed to eat fast and absorb nutrients quickly, Harper continued.  

“It’s mostly sugar and protein, and it goes further down the intestines, which can’t properly digest something that fast, so you get bloating and sugar spikes,” he explained. “When you eat slowly, you give your intestines a microburst of nutrients, which they process while waiting for the next batch. It gives the intestines time to break things down and process nutrients.” 

Dr. Debra Bell, a co-presenter in the seminar series, agreed. 

 “It’s not just what happens in the stomach, but in the intestines and in your brain,” said Bell, a family medicine doctor who works at the UW Medicine Osher Center for Integrative Health

“Digestion actually begins when you see the food, smell it, look at it and chew,” she said. “All that impacts digestion.” 

Harper stressed the seminars are not about weight loss or what to eat, but getting “back in touch with the act of eating.”   

“We need to lean into the act of eating food in a way that will cause less digestive distress,” he said. “That means eating very intentionally.” 

Harper and Bell will co-present a three-part series on eating intentionally and deliberately. The first seminar, “The How of Food: How to Eat,” is Wednesday, Feb 5.  

The second seminar, scheduled March 21, is titled “Spicing Up Your Foods and Culinary Medicine.” The last seminar, on April 4, is titled, “Let’s Calm That Irritable Bowel.” 

All the seminars begin at 12:15 p.m. PT and are free to attend.   

Find details about the seminars and register here. 

 

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Tags:gut microbiome

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