5 reasons to eat your food while it's still hot

They would rather have their meals at room temperature rather than giving it some heat. If you are in this category, here are five reasons to help you change your mind.

- Hot meals aids proper digestion

One major reason to heat up your meals before eating is that it helps with better digestion. Research has shown that the digestive system can be affected by temperature and it reacts better with foods that are at a warmer temperature compared to a colder one.

This basically means warmer food is less stressful to digest compared to cold ones which make your gut work overtime. In addition to this, it takes some people longer a time to finish a hot meal as compared to a cold one.

This means, the hot meal enters the body slowly and there is enough time for nutrients to be absorbed.

- Can help with weight loss

Another reason to eat your food when it's hot is that it can help with weight loss. It is said that when the body is exposed to heat, appetite can be suppressed and a good way to do this is eating warm food. In addition, increasing the body's temperature can also help with better metabolism.

- Hot meals trend to be more hygienic

The process of heating kills a lot of harmful microorganisms in food. Cold food on the other hand could serve as the perfect medium for harmful bacteria to grow. This means, you have a lesser chance of getting a food infection when you consume hot meals.

- It tastes way better

Most cooked foods taste better when hot or at least, warm. Some studies even say this is because there is a taste receptor in our bodies that tells the brain when a food tastes sweet or bitter and this receptor works better when the food in question is warm.

- Contain higher nutritional content

For some foods, such as tomatoes, their nutritional content increases when it is cooked. Basically, when you heat up or cook some plant-based foods, the cell wall is broken down to release more nutrients that can be absorbed by the body.

While the above might be correct for some foods, there are however others such as vegetables that are best served cold as heating them up can actually reduce the nutritional content.