Liquids with meals

[caramba]

I've read you shouldn't drink liquids less than 30 minutes before or 2 hours after a meal. (Makes sense, really ...) But just wondering if anyone follows this strictly (or not...)?

[askcassyfirst]

This is something my husband educated me about years ago when we first met. It is something that we have done, (not drinking liquids with meals) since long before I ever learned of raw. Now, working for a digestive care company, it is something that i try to spread the word about when ever I get the chance.

Liquids will thin out your digestive juice, specifically in the stomach, impairing digestion. Cold liquids in particular will make things worse, as the ambient temperature 'inside' help our organs function best.

Now, if you are drinking a liquid meal, such as a fruit smoothie, this theory can't be applied. :) What it infers, however, is that then it is best that you also "chew" it, by swishing it in the mouth, allowing the enzymes in saliva to break down the sugar and starches before you swallow. Such a beverage wouldn't need the same quanities of enzymes in the stomach.

Many eastern cultures advocate tepid beverages as well. Personally, I have always prefered room temperature water over most other beverages. (I do like coffee or hot tea, but those aren't somthing I drink round the clock.)

Cassy :)

[Pink_Berry]

wow interesting...
i knew of this also.. but it just doesnt seem to work very well for me!
it totally gets my entire digestion track all clogged up and i get constipated lol!!
i never drink during my meals tho... but i technically dont even have meals... i eat every 2 hours 7 times a day... roughly 200 cals each time!
so this theory couldnt even apply to me could it? if you shouldnt drink 2 hours after?? i wouldnt be drinking at all during the day then! lol


i always found that what works for most poeple.. or what is said SHOULD be done... or is the RIGHT way to do things... always works in the oppasite way for me lol!

i just drink when im thristy or when the water is calling me to... when its not.. i dont worry about it :)

[caramba]

Have to agree Pink Berry. Personally I don't have the free head space to track when I last ate and if it was 2 hours ago...lol...But I don't drink with meals. I used to but I think that's because the food was too heavy (meat, cooked food in general) that I needed something to wash it down with...also to replace the water that you just lost by cooking it in the first place..!

[Jay]

I heard other sources say that the thing cassy says (water will dilute your digestive stomach juices) is not true, I think Frederic Patenaude mentioned it in one of his e-zines...
Fiona, I agree with you, before when I ate cooked I needed to drink water to flush it down and to replace the water that got cooked out, also because it sometimes is a bit too salty, but now, I actually drink less just because the food I do eat is full of water! I actually sometimes have to remind myself that I didn't drink enough yet... besides, what is enough?
Some people drink 1,5 to 2L of water per day, others drink more, I think I drink about 2 liter of water per day... (half a gallon)

Joke

[Rawmommie]

Joke!!!!!! I LOVE your new picture!!!! You are glowing! It looks like your face has really cleared up too.

Ok, back to our regularly scheduled program... :rolleyes:

Karen

[Jay]

Thanks Karen!!! :) Put a huge smile on my face, lol!

[MaxMarie]

We should rejoice in the fact that we aren't those sad folks eating bad foods, then taking antacids to stop their struggling stomaches from trying to make heads or tails of noxious substances they've just swallowed which then dumps whole, undigested food into their intestines and onward. They've essentially STOPPED their body from taking any nutrients from what they've just put in their bodies. Then they wonder why they're always hungry.

No thank you...

I don't think anyone really imagines folks will watch the clock and time their food and beverage ingestion. It's much like evolution. Theory, not fact. Data points to, but has not proven...

The raw foods we eat are loaded with enzymes which will break them down on consumption. It's been years since I've studied enzymes so please pardon me if this is out of date. Cathepsin is the enzyme within us all that "digests" us when we are no longer living - or any other animal. When we cook food (meat), the cathepsin is rendered inactive. Our pancreas is about 3 times the size of a cow's due to the cooked food we eat (have eaten over the centuries...) which forces it into over-time and high-gear. 90 percent of our pancreas produces digestive enzymes. 5 percent produces insulin to deal with sugar. Too little = diabetic. Too much = hypoglycemic.

Diabetes reaches epidemic proportions as we do further damage to ourselves eating all this cooked and high processed food. (I say "we" in terms of the general planetary population.) Our poor little pancreas just can't handle it. It's struggling so hard that little 5 percent shorts out.

Which might explain why so many folks report being "healed" of diabetes after going raw. We know that the brain can create a reserve that saves us from the effects of strokes and alzheimers. Why wouldn't the pancreas? If it were suddenly (or even slowly) freed from the forced labor of creating all those enzymes, it just might regulate its insulin production better.

[rawvegirl]

I generally follow this rule but not exactly. I don't keep my eyes on the clock. If I'm thristy and know I'll be eating soon, I won't drink water, I'll just wait for my juicy meal. Then afterwards I'm usually not thristy for maybe an hour of so.

[askcassyfirst]

Thought I would add that I have read that certain foods, and certain beverages will stimulate digestive juices, enhancing digestion. Herbs such as ginger and peppermint made into tea are popular for this. And, I am not sure that anyone would be strictly obeying a 2 hour window before or after meals, unless they themselves have determined that that is what their body needs. Personally, I just don't drink LOTS with my food, but I have noticed that when I do, I get "bloated". Thats my body I guess.

Just thought I would clarify from my initial post, when I said liquids thin your digestive juice, I was speaking of stomach acids, not enzymes. The stomach acid, can be diluted by non acid liquids, just as a chemist can thin out an acid with another liquid. We should realize that that means large amounts of water. Most of the stuff I have read about not drinking with meals, is refering to quanities greater than 4 oz. This doesn't mean you will have a huge problem on your hands if you happen to drink more, it depends on what you ate, but it does encumber the process of breaking down food. Anyway, I just wanted to clarify.

I agree that the whole "cooked" view of enzymes is way off, and I advocate eating raw. I will point out that the human body does not make cellulase, the enzyme which breaks down plant fiber. That is why many vegetarians take digestive enzymes, such as what Alissa sells on her site.

Speaking of what MaxMarie just mentioned, at work we often talk about those sad people you mentioned, whose doctors give them antacids and acid blockers, who not only have undigested food in their bowels, but who most certainly have chronic constipation. When one step of the digestive system is impaired, it sets up a chain reaction. The same person is eating hamburgers with cheese, which they wolf without chewing, don't break down in thier stomach, and then sit for days in the colon...not a happy picture. I too am glad that what I am eating won't have such a damaging affect if it happens not to move along on its happy way on time!

Water is Very Important to drink. I just time it away from large meals.

Just my 2 cents.

Cassy