I wasn't brought up to drink with my food, so I rarely ever bothered until recently. Sometimes when I swallowed too much pasta, rice or bread too quickly it would get stuck halfway down, causing bare discomfort - sometimes I'd have to run to the bathroom and cough it up!
Sounds pretty stupid eh. Now that I've started making the effort to have water with a meal, and I find that it definitely helps the food go down easier, and afterwards it feels less like a brick in my stomach.
Of course it is easier to digest something if it's moist. Dry bread for example, would absorb a lot of gastric juice, so it's easy to imagine how eating a load of dry bread would cause slow digestion and even dehydration.
And of course it is best not to drink too much water with a meal, as that would dilute the gastric juices, and also take up valuable space that could be occupied by carbs and protein...
What are your drinking habits at mealtimes? Do you drink before, or during, or after, or all three? Do you know of any decent scientific studies on the matter?
I can't imagine doing otherwise, particularly if I'm eating anything slightly salty. It also helps to "cleanse the palate" between different things you're eating, in my opinion. Not drinking water reminds me of times I've had to ration water while backpacking in the desert--not pleasant.
