Is eating while standing bad for your health?

Gone are the days, when we had all the time to sit back and relish every meal, but with our fast paced-lives and hectic schedules, we are hardly left with the time to relax and enjoy every bit of life! But have you ever wondered, how this habit of gobbling up on-the-go or eating while standing effects your health?

Well, to stay abreast with the fast-moving world, we often ignore some basics of staying healthy, and “how to eat happens” to be one of them! Most of us end up gulping down food or eat

while standing or walking, but is this a healthy way of eating?

This might sound strange to many, but your posture too plays an important role in your digestion. Many binge-eaters would agree that they love enjoying their food while lying down, it might be soul satiating, but it certainly affects digestion as it leads to bloating and discomfort. As per a research conducted on a group of women, it was found that people who had food while partially lying down experienced discomfort later, and the process of digestion in their body was slow as compared to people who sat down and had their meals.

As per another research, it was observed that standing and walking right after eating helped in quick digestion as compared to eating while lying down or sitting. However, the worst among all three postures was lying down and eating. It was observed that walking after eating makes slight difference and leads to burning as good as around 50 calories. However, it isn’t that effective over a long period of time as weight loss also depends a lot on “what you eat” and not entirely “how you eat”.

Now, this might make most of you happy that eating while standing up can help you burn calories, but is it a healthy practice to follow just to lose weight? Well, the answer is “NO”, as eating while standing increases your speed of eating and makes you eat more! In fact, the consumption of extra food is not compensated even if you stand and eat.

Yes, you might find it interesting to lose weight effortlessly, but does it make you feel hungry. Eating while standing up may not make you to feel hungry rather walking after eating accelerates the process of digestion. Thereby, makes you feel hungry as compared to sitting while eating or eating while lying down.

Standing while eating can be helpful for people suffering from issues of heartburn and acid reflux. In fact, it is often advised by experts that standing upright helps in speeding up the process of digestion and reduces the chances of acid reflux. However, it can lead to bloating in some cases, it also varies from person to person.

In a nutshell, it can be concluded that standing while eating can help you burn calories, but it isn’t a healthy practice over a long period of time. As over a period of time it can lead to overeating and make you feel bloated. Despite the fact that in some cases it is believed to reduce heartburn and acid reflux, but it certainly isn’t a mindful way of eating. Thus, it is always advised to sit, relax and eat, this helps you eat mindfully and helps your body to absorb all essential nutrients from the food you eat and promotes digestion.