Some food faddists have inveighed against accompanying solid food with a beverage, alleging it dilutes the acids and enzymes secreted for digestion. Well, food faddists get called uncomplimentary things for a reason, don't they?

Clearly none of them had trouble getting a cold hardboiled egg down at a picnic lunch when they were kids... those things can hang up in a youngster's throat and really need a swig of something to ease the passage.

:lol:

:rotflol:

UG - the secret is to peel them first.

Nope. Digestive juices don't mix with water. It would be like saying you were "diluting" oil with vinegar.

Also not true, at least not long term. However eating foods high in moisture, or blended with water (ie soup) can make you feel fuller for longer - a lot longer actually. That's why there are so many slimming soups.

But I agree it's unnatural to drink at the same time as eating. In fact cat and dog guides caution against putting water bowls next to food - animals will drink more (and therefore keep a healthier system) if water is kept in a different location because it feels more natural to them.

I am in the unnatural camp myself - we always had a drink with our meal at home and it freaked me out to go to friends' houses and not be offered anything. I always thought it was very rude if a drink wasn't offered - I hadn't properly understood that it simply hadn't occurred to them (brief aside - a friend asked in a shocked voice if she could have a napkin when eating at my house - she was embarrassed at having to ask, my Mum was embarrassed because we never used them and I was embarrassed because everyone else was. It was perhaps the worst meal of my life)

Napkin? That's what blue jeans are for.

I would choke to death without liquid with meals. Or not eat. Hey, maybe I'm on to something. Or maybe Freud would have a heyday.

Some of my friends are sold on that nuttiness.
From, "It's BAD for you!" to "It makes you gain weight". I have yet to get them to explain how the latter works.
When I take a drink during a pause in a meal one of them will, inevitably, bring it up as if they, and four others, have not told me this fourteen times each... WHY!?:mad2:
The food stays in your stomach while th liquid moves on, why can't these people see this, why... WHY?!:mad2:

I haven't heard of that fad, but I do know that the human body is designed to do what we were doing when we were designed.

Ah but that logic excuses the Blood Group Diet (which I wanted to smack out of my Mum's hands - thank goodness she'd only borrowed it not bought it).

I know medical opinion evolves over the years, but if qualified GPs and dieticians aren't pushing this view, chances are it's not good science. My info was from a dietician - not being snotty, I asked her precisely because it sounded logical. She reassured me that logic doesn't necessarily apply when it comes to the human body. Water and digestive juices really aren't the same type of liquid. End of. I'll drink your digestive juices at any time in future that it is proved this is wrong and drinking water really dilutes them.

Cars are designed to run on gasoline, therefore they don't perform well when you put kerosene in the tank.

The human body is also designed to run on certain things. I guarantee that it will not run well if you put different things in it.

Yeah, like brussels sprouts.

I'm not denying the health benefits of a back-to-basics diet - cutting out processed food, eating raw fruit & veg, low sugar, low salt, plenty of whole grains etc.

But just because our ancestors didn't drink at the same time they ate does NOT mean it is harmful. It's apples and oranges.

And just because your doctor said so doesn't mean it's NOT harmful. I propose that the answer is not as simple as we think. For starters, given that digestive juices and water don't "mix" . . . if the stomach has a finite amount of space in it, and X amount of space is occupied by food, and X amount of space is occupied by water, can the digestive juices contact enough of the surface area of the food to do their job effectively? Can the water alter the function of the digestive juices without "mixing" with them at all? For example. It's "apples and oranges" because you disagree, because your doctor said so? Doctors sure as hell don't know everything.

My stepkids (both of them) do the weirdest thing. They take huge bites of food, really cram it in there, and then after chewing for awhile they will take a drink--and swallow the liquid while keeping the food in their mouth, then continue chewing. It is the grossest thing in the world to watch.

ew. ick. can't you break them of that?