September 27, 2017 · Written by Foodtolive Team
Surprising Benefits of Using Chopsticks in Your Kitchen
Benefits of chopsticks include more effective weight loss, coordination training, lowering of food glycemic index, and many others. This traditional Asian alternative to silverware can be a great help for your entire family and they are fun to use.
Important Health Benefits of Using Chopsticks
1. Weight Loss Help
One of the main reasons for gaining excessive weight is overeating. Note that it can occur not only when you are gorging yourself on delicious treats during holidays. The issue here is the stomach gets full before your brain releases the signal for ‘stop eating’. Therefore, the majority of people overeat all the time to some extent. Chopsticks will help you avoid this as eating with this utensil forces you to portion your meal. When you eat slowly and only get small bites of food, your stomach gets time to ‘understand’ exactly when it gets full. Thus, you’ll be able to stop before you go from sating hunger to stuffing yourself.
2. Lowering the Glycemic Index (GI) of Food
There are some foods, like apples and nuts, that can help control your blood sugar. However, you can’t eat only them all the time. One of the main health benefits of using chopsticks is that this utensil actually helps lower meal GI by default.
A study published in the Physiology & Behavior shows that eating rice with chopsticks invokes a lower glycemic response. This simple action reduces the meal GI to 68 as opposed to 81 when eating with a spoon.
The effect is caused by smaller portions and better chewing of the food. It’s safe to assume that this principle will remain the same for all foods. However, one must understand that a fractional lowering of GI won’t help you if you eat products that cause glycemic spikes. For example, the size of portions can’t mitigate refined sugar effects on the body. Therefore, eating candy with chopsticks won’t make any difference.
3. Coordination Training
Benefits of using chopsticks extend beyond the perks you get from portioning your meals. The very act of wielding this utensil is an important training for your body and brain. Chopsticks help you develop and improve coordination and precision of movement.
This utensil turns every meal into an exercise that literally makes your brain work. This type of training is most beneficial for kids, who still learn to use their limbs, and people who suffered some type of neurological trauma. In the latter case, you’ll have to discuss the benefits of using chopsticks with your doctor.
4. Reduced Risk of Choking
It might seem silly, but biting more than you can chew is an actual issue that has led to many accidents. When eating with chopsticks, you can be 100% sure that the ‘bite’ won’t be too big for you to swallow.
Non-Health-Related Benefits of Using Chopsticks
It’s not only your body that benefits from using this traditional Asian utensil. The planet does as well, because the majority of chopsticks are made from eco-friendly materials. Disposable pieces, in particular, are made from 100% biodegradable bamboo, which is much safer for the environment than plastic forks and spoons.
In addition to this, chopsticks look cool and can be used in many non-food-related activities. For example, you can use them in arts and crafts or as an emergency self-defense weapon.
All in all, chopsticks are great and you definitely should learn how to use them.
