The beneficial way to eat food.

There is an age old  practice of  eating with hands in India, especially South India, and eating on banana leaves rather than using cutlery. And of course storing water in earthen pots. Over time with a shift towards western culture, we began to use cutlery, water filters, refrigerators for cool water and much more. We needn't adopt the "newest" or " western" ways just because everyone is using them nor must we depend heavily on our ancient practices as some of them may not match our fast paced lives in the present. We need to understand why we are doing it. 

Not all ancient practices are " superstitious" and " no science". Get that out of your head. As Einstein once said, if you can't understand something that doesn't mean it's senseless, it means we haven't evolved enough to explain the process.

 The best position to have food is to sit on the floor with your legs crossed, back straight. This position gives you a good posture throughout your life or atleast most of your life. You must have seen your grandparents or the elderly in villages who make it a point to eat on the floor even now too at the age of seventy or eighty odd. It will be pretty difficult for us to sit straight  at the age of sixty. 

It improves Digestion     Sitting down while eating is an action that stimulates a signal to your brain to prepare your body for digestion. When you sit in this position, you bend forward to eat and then go back to the starting position to swallow your food. The constant back and forth movement activates your abdominal muscles and prepares it for better digestion. One must not slouch or droop their shoulders.

It prevents over eating     The vagus nerve sends our brain the signal that our stomach is satiated. But this doesn't work properly when we sit on a chair. We can end up over eating.  Very slight weight loss can also be noticed.

Blood Circulation    The most important requirements of your stomach for digestion is proper blood circulation. Sitting on the floor is the way to go for this. Sitting on a chair and eating makes blood circulation going in the opposite direction.

It increases your life expectancy! According to a study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, people who sit in the cross-legged position and are able to get up without any support are more likely to live longer. This is because getting up without any support also takes a good deal of strength and flexibility.

Many consider eating with hands as rude and mannerless. When you already have better tools in your body that is more beneficial then why use spoons or forks?

Eating your food with your hand has several benefits too, provided that you wash your hands well before eating.

According to Ayurveda, eating is supposed to be a sensory experience and it is said to evoke emotion and passion.

 According to the Vedas, hands are the most precious organs of action. The scriptures reveal how every finger is an extension of the five elements.

Thumb finger connects to Agni (Fire).

Index finger connects to Varun (Air).

Middle finger connects to Akash (Space).

Ring finger connects to Prithvi (Earth).

Little finger connects to Jal (Water).

Hence, eating with one's fingers stimulates these five elements and helps in bringing forth digestive juices in the stomach.
The nerve endings on our fingertips are known to stimulate digestion. Feeling your food becomes a way of signalling the stomach that you are about to eat. You become more conscious of the taste, textures and aromas.

Improves Digestion

An  article in Tribune talks about how we have a bacteria, known as normal flora found on the palm and fingers of the hand. It is not harmful to humans, it, in fact, protects us from many damaging microbes in the environment. When you eat with your hands, the flora in the fingers is swallowed. It is beneficial for health and for various body parts such as the mouth, throat, and intestine, and it promotes healthy digestion in the gut.

As mentioned above handling food with your fingers releases digestive juices and enzymes. Also, millions of nerve endings in your fingers relay the message that you're about to eat, including the temperature of the food, level of spiciness and texture of food, thereby prepping the stomach for digestion.

Helps to prevent Type 2 Diabetes

A new study published in the journal Clinical Nutrition found that people with type 2 diabetes were more likely to be fast eaters that used cutlery to eat, as compared to people without the condition. Eating with forks and spoons correlates with faster eating, which has been linked to blood-sugar imbalances in the body — contributing to the development of type 2 diabetes.

Food is not limited to what we eat. But expresses the universe's entire body and all that manifests inside her. Likewise we eat food not only to sustain the body but also to assimilate the energies of the universe into our physical body nourishing our soul.

Personally I feel that eating with our hands improves the taste of the food by a great extent than by using spoons. 

Moreover food is an energy that is transferred to your body. When the cook is happy, and filled with positive energy, it is transferred to the food too! Just like a person who is positive and joyous  spread happiness. It seems slightly impossible but it's true.  That is why our grandmothers chanted  the famous Gayatri Mantra or sang bhajans while cooking. It made them cook faster and the food delicious :)

Eating on Banana leaf is very common in South India. Not because of lack of cutlery but because of abundance of knowledge of our own body. But do make sure to wash it  with water before eating on it.

Anti-oxidant Rich  Banana leaves contain large amounts of polyphenols that are natural antioxidants. These are found in many plant-based foods and green tea. Food served on the banana leaves absorbs the polyphenols which are said to prevent many lifestyle diseases. They are also said to have anti-bacterial properties that can possibly kill the germs in food.

More Hygienic  It is always a good idea to eat on banana leaves as it is certainly more hygienic when compared to other utensils. Normal utensils have to be washed using soap and there are chances that traces of soap may still remain on the utensils even after washing. Those traces might end up contaminating your food. Banana leaves have a wax-like coating that prevents dirt and dust from sticking on the surface of leaves. It also adds subtle and earthy flavours to the dishes that are served on the leaves.

It is highly economical and eco friendly too! That is what we all are trying to do, use eco friendly methods.

Before we label such practices as backward and ignorant, we need to try to see reason to either prove or disprove it.  Just because it hasn't been proved officially, we can't dismiss it without disproving it. 

**Comment below and let me know if you have already done it and found benefits or you will start doing them.Try to do one of these practices, if you cant sit cross legged on the floor, sit cross legged on a chair which doesnt have handles. Experiment eating your food on a clean banana leaf.
 Have a great day.