The FREE and very simple thing you can do to dramatically boost the immune system, improve your digestion and prevent things like bad breath, gas and bloating is to separate your liquids and solids.
Separate Liquids and Solids? Yes. That means don’t drink during or immediately after your meals.
Why does it work? It works because your saliva and stomach acid do two very important jobs:
1. first is to kill bad germs that you come in contact with or that may be hiding in your foods. When you dilute the stomach acid and saliva, it is more likely for bad germs to survive and decide your insides might be a good place to call home and start a family. This can lead to an overgrowth of bad bacteria which negatively affects your health. You may have trouble sleeping, get sick more often, develop toxicity or digestive conditions like IBS and have issues with your energy levels, skin and irregular bowel movements.
2. The second important job is to break down your foods. The saliva and stomach acid are the first two steps in the process of digestion. Big deal? Actually, yes. Every single nutrient needs to be separated from those around it to be able to be used to build new cells and perform other functions in your body. If you can’t do that it doesn’t matter now nutritious the food is your eating because you won’t be getting the nutrients!
For example, the intestines don’t recognize a piece of chicken, it’s a foreign object that needs removal (immune systems job). The intestines DO recognize the amino acid or protein molecule that is broken down from the chicken. Think of your food like a chicken made of legos. The different legos represent different nutrients. So there could be green, yellow and red legos, for example, that make up the fish. Your body may only need the red legos to make into a heart cell or muscle cell. In order to get the “lego pieces”, or nutrients it needs, your body has to take every “lego” piece apart. If you’re not able to break each “lego” piece apart there’s no way to get the nutrients to build what your body needs.
What’s worse, is foods that are not broken down can cause toxic by-products, trigger the immune system and lead to toxicity. What would happen if you took some chicken, added salad and bread, smashed it up in a bowl of warm water and left it on the counter? It would get really gross because it would start to rot. That’s what you’re doing when you wash your food down with beverages! The portion of the food that is rotting creates toxic by products that provide an ideal environment for bad germs and place added stress on the immune system and your liver/detoxification system. The fermentation also is the number one cause of bad breath, burping, bloating and gas. Yuck!
Heard enough? Now you need the details on what to do and what to expect:
What to do:
Always try to drink something 10-15 minutes before you eat. This will help you not to get thirsty during your meal and ruin it, along with keeping you hydrated. This is typically long enough for the stomach acid to re-constitute so it can break down your foods effectively. Then wait 45-60 minutes after eating before drinking again to allow the food to sit in the concentrated stomach acid long enough to kill bad germs and break down properly.
What to expect:
It will take about two weeks for your saliva production to increase to the appropriate level. During that time your mouth may feel dry during meals and you may need small sips of water, only as necessary, to encourage saliva production to increase.
In summary:
Drink 10-15 minutes before you eat OR
45-60 minutes after. (or both)