Digestion: Begins with Chewing

Chewing Your Food: Just Like Mama Said

The physical process of digestion starts in your mouth. If things do not begin correctly here, there will be trouble all the rest of the way down your digestive system. If you are not chewing your food completely – chewing it to liquid – this is where the problems start.

This may sound basic; in fact I’m guessing at some point your mother made a big point about you chewing your food. Most of them do. Even so, I would see the effects of the lack of proper chewing repeatedly in my practice.

Your teeth and jaws are powerful scissors that tear, rip and crush food. The saliva glands secrete enzymes that not only begin the digestion of the food being chewed, but also alert further sections of the tube as to what’s on its way.

Your tongue stirs the food, and helps move it toward the back of the mouth. And taste, which is connected to the function of smell, gives you the motivation and desire to eat (as well as any warnings about “iffy” foods, as previously mentioned).

You Don't Have to Chew What You Don't Eat

Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “Your stomach doesn’t have teeth.” If not, you have now. For this reason, it’s important to chew your food a minimum of 40-to-50 chews.  

If you only have two minutes to eat a one-hour meal, you are better off chewing two bites for 60 seconds each and saving (if possible) the remainder for later.

Warning: Do not under any circumstances eat a one-hour meal in two minutes.

Food that isn’t chewed is toxic waste. It has a long way to go (26 to 38 feet) before the body can get rid of it. You must stop yourself from putting chunks of un-chewed food into your digestive tube in the first place.

As a test, when you take a typical bite of your next meal, concentrate on chewing this bite so completely that it melts down the back of your throat without even swallowing. When I do this with some bites, it can take more than 100 chews.

Many patients don’t like the idea of chewing 40 or 50 bites, much less 100.

The key is awareness.

Can you concentrate while you chew just one bite of food? Will you swallow halfway through just by habit without even thinking about it? Believe me, this can be a challenge.

Brain Management for Stage 2 of Digestion: Chewing

You must ask yourself if you are what I call a “bolter”–someone who eats too fast and doesn’t chew food properlyif at all. Here are two ways to know if you are not chewingenough: 

Public Opinion

If everyone you know has told you all your lifethat you eat too fast, this is usually aclear indication. This can be parents, spouses, children, or friends. If more than threepeople have told you that you eat toofast, take the next test for the final determination. If you are always the first personin a group to finish a meal, this alonequalifies you. This is something I call the Pollard Chew Test.

The Pollard Chew Test

If you would like to know if you are (or another person) chewing enough, perform thePollard Chew Test. I developed this test so that you can discoverfor yourself, if you are chewing your foodproperly. No embarrassing queries, no witness for the prosecution. This test also brings the element of conscious awarenessto your eating style, which is the underlying premiseof the Digestive Awareness Diet.

If you determine foryourself that you are not chewing properly, only then will youtake the necessary steps to change this behavior.  

Here’s How

Take a normal bite of food and then sit on both hands.  If you can sit comfortably and finish chewing your bite completelyinto liquid without moving your hands, you pass withflying colors.

If, instead, you find yourself ripping yourarms out of their sockets to shove another bite intoyour mouth, or you are putting your mouth to your plate, or you are getting up to answer the phone, or tryingto take a drink, guess what? You fail the Pollard ChewTest, and you are what I call a “bolter.”  

There are many ways not to chew; you might even haveinvented some new ways I haven’t seen yet.  The beauty of sitting on your hands is that you’ve got nopractical way to unconsciously put more food or liquidinto your mouth. Blocking your usual pattern by sittingon your hands is usually enough to alert you to thefact that you aren’t chewing properly.

I tell you sincerely, that many patients insisted vociferously that they always chewed their food religiously, until they tried the Pollard Chew Test. You’ve been warned.