How Chewing Impacts Your Digestion, Breathing, and Bone Development
You know the scene: It’s approaching noon and your stomach is rumbling. But you just have one more thing to do before you take a break for lunch. That one thing turns into five things and suddenly it’s way past meal time and you’re scrounging around the break room or the fridge (or your smartphone delivery app) for something to eat. Anything to eat. And once you find that something, you haul it back to your desk to mindlessly eat it while you check your email, scroll through social media, or start a new project. Sound familiar?
We’re not great at taking the time we should to pay attention both to the foods we prepare and the way we eat. No judgement—we’ve all been there. But the truth is that connecting to our food is actually a key part of our mental and physical health. That’s why we’re diving into specifics about how to eat more mindfully, and reap the benefits of connecting to your food. And we’re starting with how you chew.
When we’re in a state of distraction, like eating at our desks or snacking while driving, we can’t fully pay attention to the action of eating—chewing. And chewing is about more than breaking up food enough to not choke as we swallow. Chewing well can actually support digestion, help you absorb nutrients, and aid in facial bone development. Here’s five reasons to stop and chew every time you eat.
More Chewing = More Nutrients
The most obvious benefit of chewing more is that it breaks down the foods we’re eating. It’s a key part of the digestion process because breaking down each bite actually makes the nutrients in our food more available. There are chemicals in our mouths that help to activate and release certain vitamins and minerals that will disappear in the acidic environment of your stomach. So, starting the digestion process with chewing allows us to access more nutrients in our food than when we swallow things whole (or partially chewed).
Chewing More Helps Simplify Digestion
Once we’ve chewed up our food enough to swallow and allow it to make its way to our stomaches, the smaller pieces are easier to digest. Chewing breaks down larger chunks of food into smaller pieces and presents more surface area for the digestive chemicals of our stomaches to act on. That means our digestive tract has to do less work in the stomach, since the food is already small enough to digest. Plus, chewing further activates digestive enzymes in the rest of the gut, again contributing to digestive ease (which can lead to fewer digestive issues, including bloating, cramps, and gas).
Chewing Promotes Mindful Eating
Mindful eating is a much-talked-about trend right now—but it should be elevated to a foundational mindset when we’re talking about digestion. Not only does mindful eating connect you to your food and how your body feels while you’re eating, but it also allows time between bites of food. Chewing more and slower promotes this, and gives your body time to register when you’ve had enough food to satisfy your needs. This can prevent overeating, bloating, and weight gain.
Chewing Crunchy Foods Promotes Bone Development
Most people think of bone as a static frame onto which living tissues like muscles and organs attach. But, your bones are actually dynamic, living tissues. Like muscles, they change shape, size, and density to meet the demands placed on them. When we use our joints and put pressure on our bones, the mechanical stimulation causes living bone cells to produce bigger, denser, stronger bone. This is known as Wolff’s law.
In the case of facial bones, using our jaws to chew makes our mouths, noses, and sinuses bigger and more capable of accommodating all of our teeth without crowding, and breathing without obstruction. In fact, it’s believed that our soft, processed diet (and subsequent lack of need to chew and stimulate bone development) is contributing to an overall decrease in the size of our mouths—which could lead to the western world’s reliance on braces and the frequent need to pull teeth out in order to prevent dental crowding. Think about that next time you give your kids soft bananas and easy-to-chew Cheerios to snack on instead of a crunchy carrot or chewy piece of jerky. Crunchy, chewy foods could save you thousands on orthodontist bills.
Good Chewing Habits Help You Breathe Better
Another benefit to how chewing helps open up our mouths, noses, and sinuses is that the extra space can help you breathe better. Chewing motions develop the muscles and bones of the face, allowing for more room in your nasal cavities, sinuses, and pharynx. That room can help with sinus issues, and even breathing disorders. There’s a current prevailing theory that our softer, more processed diets have contributed to higher rates of sleep apnea, asthma, and sinus infections because we’ve developed smaller mouths and facial bones. But, since bones are not stagnant, we can change that by ensuring good chewing habits.
What You Can Do Today to Chew (And Digest) Better
Adding chewing to your routine for better digestion and bone development isn’t hard. Start by chewing every bite of food 20 times before swallowing. Yep, 20 chews. Obviously, this is trickier if you’re eating mostly soft foods like oatmeal, bread, rice, and processed meats. Make sure you’ve got more chewable foods at each meal, like raw or fibrous veggies and whole (not ground) pieces of meat.
If your bone or jaw structure is off, it could negatively impact your chewing—and your health. Having jaw pain when you chew? Feeling tight in your neck, head, and jaw? We can help.