[Kim Jaeho's Life Story]<208> One Pillar of Healthy Eating, How Should We Eat It?

Today, there is a wealth of information about what foods to eat for health, and since people's views on healthy eating vary, it has become difficult for anyone other than experts to discern which advice is more accurate. Fortunately, we have moved beyond the difficult times when food was scarce and we could not eat properly even if we wanted to, and now live in a world where, unless it is a special food, we can choose and eat as much as we want.

People's interest in food mainly focuses on foods they like and tasty foods, but recently, interest in foods known to be healthy has also increased significantly. Many people commonly believe that Korean cuisine is healthy food, and we often hear reports that it is recognized as healthy food abroad as well. However, statistics on the digestive health of our people do not show a positive picture.

In 2019, the number of deaths from digestive diseases, including 40,538 deaths from digestive cancers such as stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, liver cancer, gallbladder cancer, and pancreatic cancer, totaled 52,501, accounting for 17.8% of all deaths. Koreans have a high incidence of digestive cancers and many people die from them. The incidence rates of stomach and colorectal cancers rank first and second in the world, liver cancer remains prevalent, and gallbladder and pancreatic cancers, which were rare in the past, are rapidly increasing.

People tend to think that eating a lot of good food will be well digested and good for health, but digestion does not happen automatically or simply. It is essential to remember that how you eat is as important as what you eat, and to develop eating habits that promote good digestion. This way, you can absorb the nutrients in food well and maintain digestive health.

To ensure good digestion, it is necessary to understand the digestive process accurately. Digestion is a complex process that requires numerous organs?including the mouth, esophagus, stomach, duodenum, small intestine, large intestine, and anus, as well as the salivary glands, liver, stomach, pancreas that produce digestive enzymes, and the brain that controls these organs?to cooperate diligently over three days. If any one of these organs has a problem, digestion becomes difficult.

A meal should be as simple as possible. When cooking rice, mixing various grains is not recommended, and eating too many types of side dishes in one meal makes digestion harder. For example, if you eat rice mixed with peas in the morning, eat rice mixed with black beans at lunch, have different side dishes for breakfast and lunch, and vary fruits at each meal, you can eat a balanced diet, but each meal should be simple.

It is best to eat food as close to its natural state as possible. The less processing, refining, and cooking, the better, and foods that can be eaten raw should be eaten as they are. Processing, refining, and cooking cause nutrients originally present in ingredients to be lost, leading to nutrient imbalances where some nutrients are overconsumed and others are deficient, which is undesirable. Additionally, many additives, including salt, can harm health.

For these reasons, when eating nutrient-rich grains, fruits, and vegetables, it is very important to eat them whole without peeling or cutting off parts to minimize nutrient loss. When cooking, using the whole ingredient without removing parts prevents nutrient loss. When making namul (seasoned vegetable dishes), boiling and discarding the water causes nutrient loss, so it is better to use less water and cook directly whenever possible.

Food should be chewed thoroughly to mix well with saliva, and eating habits that hinder digestion should be improved. Most nutrients exist as large molecules that are insoluble in water, so food must be mechanically broken down (mechanical digestion) and chemically broken down into small, water-soluble molecules (chemical digestion) to be well absorbed. Overeating or drinking water while food is being digested in the stomach makes both mechanical digestion and chemical digestion by digestive enzymes difficult.

The habit of eating fruit after meals also hinders digestion and needs to be improved. Fruit is a very good food, but it does not stay long in the stomach and quickly moves to the small intestine for easy digestion. When eaten after a meal, it ferments in the stomach while other food remains, producing effects similar to alcohol consumption. It is best to eat fruit separately from other foods, and eating it before meals is better than after meals.

Giving the digestive system sufficient rest is also important. If you do not overeat, food generally stays in the stomach for about two hours, but overeating or snacking makes it difficult for the digestive system to rest properly. Especially in the evening, it is best to go to bed when digestion is almost complete, so dinner should be light and consist of easily digestible foods like fruit. Fasting in the evening is even better.

Kim Jae-ho, Independent Researcher