Chew your food

Earlier this week I had part 1 of some dental work done.  To cut a long and boring story short, part 2 cannot take place for another 10 days, and I am left with a temporary filling or “soft filling material” in one of my teeth, so I have to chew on one side of my mouth for the next little bit.  I am finding it totally inconvenient, it takes me forever (or at least twice as long as everyone else) to finish my meals, I look stupid because I tilt my head to one side when I chew to prevent any food from getting stuck in that tooth/material, I can’t chew gum (I am a major gum chewer) and I am missing out on some of my favourite foods because they are hard to chew with one side of my mouth (seaweed is very hard to chew with limited teeth).

So this morning I was complaining to my class about how it was taking me so long to chew my food, and because of my impatience I have not been eating as much as I usually do (and really, who wants a second helping when everyone at the table is dying for you to put your utensils down so that they can leave the table) and thought that I would lose weight (for the record I don’t want to lose weight) because of it.  It sparked several comments and snickers that I have incomplete mastication; oh how they laughed although they assured me that it wasn’t premature (they are sooooo bad).  There was even a comment that I would gain weight (although I don’t want to lose weight, I certainly don’t want to gain it) because of my incomplete mastication.  So I decided that this warranted further investigation.

As digestion starts in your mouth, it only makes sense to chew your food into tiny pieces to make the process easier, not to mention the digestive enzymes that are contained in saliva, also choking is not fun.  So how many times should you chew your food before swallowing? According to many advocates (advocates for chewing, that’s funny) 25-50 times, or use the rule of thumb if you can tell what kind of food you are eating from the texture of the food in your mouth (not the taste), then you haven’t chewed it enough.  I had to know, do I have incomplete mastication…I counted how many times I chewed my toast before I swallowed it, 35 and I could not tell what I was eating from the gooey texture in my mouth, so Betty Blisters, I do not have incomplete mastication!

As for the weight gain issue, thoroughly chewing your food (like I do thank you very much, even if it is on one side of my mouth) reduces the risk of overeating as it allows time for your receptors to send a message to your brain saying that you are full.  So there it is, I am not going to gain or lose; life will go on as I know it and I am counting the days until I am able to chew gum again.