It’s not what you eat, but how you eat it
It’s time to swap the dodgy diets and pricey powdered supplements for a nutritional approach that boosts health and costs nothing, says Anna Hart
We’ve never been more obsessed with what we put in our mouths. It is estimated that 8.5 million people in the UK have gone gluten-free, and regimes such as the paleo diet (a meat heavy, grain-free diet) and the keto diet (a fatrich, low-carb diet) are commonplace “dietary requirements” rather than brief crash diets. The number of vegans in the UK is expected to rise by a further 327 per cent this year, according to research by comparison site Finder, bringing their numbers up to 2.9million by 2020. And the flourishing British nutritional supplement market is expected to grow 6 per cent to reach £12.3billion by 2023, with protein supplements taking the highest market revenue.
The modern consumer is bombarded – increasingly via social media – with giddy promises about the new superfood (adaptogenic mushrooms!), health hack (turmeric lattes!) or protein powder (vegan paleo!) that will magically fix us. Consume the powdered supergreens blend or cacao elixir, we’re told, and we’ll be rewarded with gleaming skin, a sharp mind, and the healthy body of our dreams.
Amid all this noise, however, there is a quiet but persistent voice emerging from a handful of health clinics across Austria, arguing that we’re obsessing
to an unhealthy (and expensive) degree about what we eat, but forgetting to think about how we eat.
Dr Sepp Fegerl is head physician at the VivaMayr Clinic in Altaussee, Austria, one of a smattering of clinics that adhere to the health principles of the late Dr Franz Xaver Mayr. We’re all familiar with the concept of “mindful eating” and know how easy it is to mindlessly chomp through an entire bag of Kettle Chips if we’re sitting, stressed-out, at a computer. But the Mayr thesis goes much further than warning us against blindly consuming excess calories when we’re distracted.
“For the intestines to be able to function correctly, they need the right support: eating slowly, chewing thoroughly, paying attention to when we actually feel full, not eating too often or too late, eating when we are not stressed or in a hurry, reducing our consumption of carbohydrates and avoiding raw foods in the evenings,” says Dr Fegerl.
“If the digestive system is burdened, digestive disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, food intolerances, and metabolic disorders are a very common outcome, as well as joint and back problems, sleep disturbances and a general reduction in well-being and performance.”
The Mayr thesis might not be the sexiest and most sellable of wellness movements, but it’s a compelling argument: we might be eating all the right foods, but if we practise poor dining habits, we’re not getting the benefits of any of it. In fact, if we overload our system – even with salad, smoothies and fresh fruit – we’re doing more harm than good.
“The intestines regulate and control the supply of nutrients to the body,” says Dr Fegerl. “But this organ is often neglected. We might think we’re consuming a healthy diet, but we frequently eat too quickly, too much, at the wrong times, too often and when we’re too tired.”
Ironically enough, one of the main drivers of the UK’s runaway health supplements industry is the idea of “convenience”, that we can gulp a protein-powder superfood smoothie as we dash from the office to a client meeting; that we can scoff an energy bar en route to the gym. “Few people realise just how imperative relaxing and taking time over a meal truly is,” says Dr Fegerl. “Spending half an hour eating isn’t a luxury. It’s very much a necessity.”
As he explains, our bodies cannot simultaneously digest food and deal with stress. Our autonomic nervous system controls our involuntary and unconscious body functions, and there are two distinct branches: the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS). Our SNS is outward-focused, assessing threats and providing the energy to thwart danger. Our PSNS, on the other hand, is our default setting when we’re not in danger, taking care of the business of being human: rest and digestion.
“These systems cannot operate at the same time, so we cannot digest and deal with stressful, demanding or physical scenarios at the same time,” says Dr Fegerl. When we try to scoff a meal while firing off stressful work emails, we end up feeling both dissatisfied nutritionally and with a nagging sense that we haven’t been our sharpest. When we try to juggle eating and performing tasks, we fail on both counts, getting the worst of both worlds.
Nutritionist Alexandra Schmidt sees a lot of clients who believe that they’re intolerant to gluten, because they’re experiencing digestive issues like IBS, when the truth is that they’re quite naturally struggling to digest a barely chewed sandwich that they inhaled running from one meeting to the next.
“We know we should eat a diet rich in vegetables, lower in carbs and animal proteins, and lower in sugar,” says Schmidt. “But we also need to think about and we eat. Give yourself four hours between each meal to digest fully. Regular mealtimes are important; try to eat breakfast between 7am and 9am each morning, and eat dinner early enough that you have four hours to digest before you go to sleep.”
As Dr Fegerl and Schmidt and other Mayr acolytes see it, the single biggest thing we can do for our health is to start thinking about how and when, as well as what, we eat. And this starts with taking half an hour for each mealtime.
For many modern health-seekers, this is a lot less appealing than popping a pricey probiotic and feeling like we’ve done our bit for our own gut health. But there’s lots to love about the Mayr method: it’s free, it’s simple and it’s refreshingly un-faddish.
In essence, the Mayr method means eating more like our grandparents did. Moderate portions and simple meals, eaten slowly with our attention focused on the plate in front of us. Admittedly this is no Instagram-friendly health fad, like photogenic turmeric lattes and spirulina smoothies. But, as it turns out, the best thing you can do for your health is free.
‘We eat too quickly, too much, at the wrong times, too often and when we’re too tired’