Help me resolve a discussion with husband.... Does chewing our food 20 times before swallowing make a difference or is it just an old wives' tale?

[loveyouradvice]

Like many in lockdown I'm getting keen to boost my health and immune system. I'm fascinated to learn that 70% of our immune system is based in our gut. So we are looking at our digestion at the moment....

Having seen a couple of rather convincing articles on health websites, I'd proposed we started chewing our food 20 times before swallowing and eating a bit more slowly.

He's told me it's an old wives' tale and doesn't make a difference at all.... I'm not sure I believe him.

What do you think?

What do you do?

I wolf my food down and always have. Not sure how I would tell if it makes a difference - what sort of effect are you expecting?

I don't think it makes difference to digestion. Gut bacteria and exercise does. It does make you eat less because it's boring as fuck

I have always understood that it takes a few minutes for the message 'I'm full, you can stop eating now' to get from your tummy to your brain. So after eating a meal, resist the urge to have seconds or order an enormous pud in a restaurant for five minutes or so... If you're still hungry then, go for it. Chewing slowly would also have the effect of giving your stomach time to pass the message up to your brain I imagine.

If you had a stoma, or scar tissue in your digestive system, or similar issues, it would make a difference. Although it wouldn't be about counting how much you chew but chewing until the food was complete mush.

Eating more slowly does mean you have time to register that you're satisfied so you're less likely to overeat than if you're rushing and eating more and more because your hunger hasn't faded as quickly as you're guzzling food!

Yes, chewing your food well makes a difference. Chewing is the first part of the digestive system and saliva is a key part of the process. If you don't chew much, it takes the stomach longer to break down the food. However there is only so much chewing that is a benefit

I didn't mean in terms of your immune system, but in terms of your body's ability to digest what you're eating.

I eat slowly because I just can't eat quickly.
It hasn't saved me from becoming overweight as my eyes overrule my stomach on the full thing!
But I had a suspected ulcer years ago and the doctor told me to eat watery food slowly as it would be gentler on my stomach.
So soup, stew, casserole , yoghurt etc.
I didn't have an ulcer but I always drink a glass of water before eating now, to try mimic that effect.
So I don't think you would have to be rigid about 20 times but maybe more broken down food is helpful?

There was a programme years ago about old fashioned weight loss regimes, oossi ly presented by Giles Coren and Sue Perkins. One of the diets was the Edwardian "chew-chew" diet where the people could eat what they wanted but had to chew everything 32 times!! They lost the most weight and actually ate less as it stimulates all the enzymes in your mouth and stomach before the food actually goes down. It was very convincing.

Is it up there with must brush hair 100 times before bed?

Could it be bad for your teeth? Not sure how but just a thought!

It makes a difference in two different ways:

1. if you’re chewing your food that thoroughly, your stomach and gut has less work to do, so you’re less likely to get indigestion

2. it slows you down, so you eat less as it takes longer to get to that point where your stomach is telling you that actually you’re full!

I should do this actually. I eat so quickly.

Hair brushing @Santaisironingwrappingpaper - you have to put this in the perspective of a person who would have to wash her waist length hair in a bucket with caustic soaps, and have no way of drying it other than sitting by the fire. Brushing 100 times brushes out any debris and distributes the natural oils of the hair/scalp to make the hair look more healthy. For us in the modern era, it doesn’t make much difference.

I think I read it a long time ago and I was interested in doing it because I was anorexic and would try anything that I thought would help weight loss.
It was only years afterwards that my DH said it was really annoying and I sounded like a washing machine!

I always think, that if you eat meat, as in a beef steak etc, that you should chew it for some time,as it takes longer for it to break down in your digestive system, and maybe stops indigestion problems. Also, I witnessed at least three people almost choking to death with wolfing down a too large piece of steak, and they all had to be helped by someone,to dislodge the meat from their throat.

Yes, you should chew your food. Saliva contains enzymes which starts the digestion process. Don't know re the exact number of chews but bolting it down is less healthy.

There is also a link between the action of chewing to the 'hunger centre in your brain.
More you chew, more you're registering you're eating and feel satiated earlier. For example, if you eat soup, you're not sending the message that you're filling up. That's why you can feel quickly full but yet not satisfied.

However, hunger messages are also mainly sent from the stomach, which acts like a mixer, pureeing (sp?) everything before sending it to your guts for absorption. If food is purreed, it doesn't need to stay too long in your stomach, and then you're hungry quicker.
It doesn't make any difference in terms or immune, more for weight control. Variety of fresh vegs is the best to build a various microbiote (bacteria populations in your guts)

Saliva contains amylase to breakdown complex carbohydrates (it's why bread tastes sweet if you chew it longer) and lipase to break down fats.
No idea whether it will help your immune system though, healthy diet and exercise would be better.

Are your names Keith and Candice-Marie?

Eating more slowly is better for you - that isn't an old wives' tale, it's better for your digestion and you feel fuller faster, so you don't eat as much.

However, I eat really fast, because I don't like my food to go cold, so I don't practice what I preach. I routinely have to wait 5 mins at the end of a meal for DH to finish.

Love that you know it but don't do it Cologne!

It’s supposed to give your brain a chance to tell you it’s full before you’ve stuffed yourself, hence you eat less and lose weight.

I tend to cut my food into small pieces (had a couple choking incidents when my throat seized when I was eating). I honest could not chew my food twenty times. I would be chewing air.

@Hollyhocksarenotmessy YES I clicked on this thread hoping for a Nuts in May reference

[quote Username2ElectricBoogaloo]@Hollyhocksarenotmessy YES I clicked on this thread hoping for a Nuts in May reference [/quote]
Everyone else politely ignored it, probably thought I was on the wrong thread.

On the TV programme with the chew chew diet they were supposed to chew the food for ages and then spit it out, so it was no wonder they lost weight. It is burned onto my memory as it was so disgusting.

Sounds really grim. Not sure I could chew some foods for that long, surely they would just disintegrate and the noise would drive me nuts....

Misses the point entirely