Mixing Liquids and Solids ::: Some thoughts

GOOD MORNING!  

Wew, worked until 3:30 am last night and I'm tired this morning.  Yesterday (see previous blog) I didn't drink my liquids in the morning and spent the day trying to catch up.  I've heard that it's not best for digestion to mix liquids and food together in the stomach as it dilutes the digestive secretions.  As my body has become more accustomed to doing the bulk of my hydrating in the morning I've noticed the negative affects of mixing liquids and food all day long.  I also have noticed that I tend to feel dehydrated all day and no mater how much I drink I can't get enough.  When I have the liter of water and 12 ounces of juice in the morning ON AN EMPTY STOMACH I don't feel thirsty throughout the day.  I may choose to have a glass of water or another green juice BEFORE a meal, but not usually.  This interests me and when I have time I am going to look into this further.  Based on MY own experience and the experiment this lifestyle does on my own little body, I'm making it a general rule not to drink liquids except on an empty stomach unless the liquid is an purposeful indulgence (like an after dinner tea or glass of wine slipped slowly).

Please take a look at this link.  It's very interesting as it explains the digestive process.

http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/yrdd/

PS:  One of my new years resolutions is to CHEW my food better.  A raw vegan friend of mine told me that you should "drink your food and chew your juice".  Since digestion begins in the mouth it's important to swish liquids for a second in your mouth so that they can mix with our bodies digestive juices.  Same with your food - chewing your food better also means less energy that your body has to spend breaking your food down in search of nutrients.  This is one of the reason that juicing is so amazing because it cuts out a "chunk (ha-ha)" of the digestive effort.  Having worked in restaurants for 15 years I have become accustomed to scarfing down my food in a corner as fast I can and this was certainly the case last night.  It's important to take time to eat and if you don't genuinely have time to properly chew your food maybe you should wait.  It's not the end of the world to have a hunger pang or two.  Obviously this isn't always an option and sometimes you have to inhale your meals, but I think we should all try to avoid this.