Chewing - how well do you do it?
Today I had an interesting revelation about myself: I'm almost incapable of chewing my food.
Let me explain: For as long as I can remember, chewing was not my strong-suit. People keep asking me why I'm always the first to finish my food. Chewing just seemed like something you'd either do or don't and I like to be efficiant with my time so I basically chew 1-2 times and then swallow food (sometimes a little longer but you get the gist).
Since my latest flare-up (of what I pressume to be SIBO by now) 2 months ago, I've been looking for things to improve further until my doctors can fully check and diagnose me - there's currently a real shortage of doctors in my area and all of them are overrun (which is why my gastroscopy and colonoscopy will have to wait until june/july propably).
I integrated a very throrough meal-spacing regiment (4-5 hours between meals)/ go for short walks 20 minutes after a meal to help digestion/ do some careful belly massages and meditation.
Something that still irks and makes me wonder is how fast after eating I get burping (which persits even after every bigger swallow of water 2+ hours after a meal). So I have to wonder whether my problem truely lies soley with gas in my small intestines because of SIBO or if it's also a result of low acid levels in my stomach (which is linked to SIBO). Now I've been ordering digestive bitters to help with my digestion because eventhough my pancreas seems to produce enough enzymes, I still see A LOT of undigested food in my stool BUT this can't be coincidence. And today it hit me: Maybe my unwillingness to REALLY chew food until it's liquified has been one of the reasons for my IBS-problems all along. Simply by eating fast before work/walking/not tasting but mindlessly swallowing my meals, not letting my body produce enough acid/spit and enzymes in the process.
So today at dinner I sat there and tried my best to chew my typical 2 spelt bread rolls/2 walnuts and slices of cucumber as best as I could ... and let me tell you, it was HARD! The urge to swallow it looooong before the bites were liquified was real. I had to concentrate and really dig into it, adding roughly 12+ minutes to my dinner.
Now I know this won't cure me but I do have to wonder if I will see any results if I chew slowly and thoroughly for the next 30 days (+ take my bitters before meals when they arrive to further promote acid/enzyme production). Experts claim normal bites should be chewed around 30 times and hard ones even up to 40 until you only present your stomach with mush.
So what might happen? Hopefully less gas? Maybe even less burping? I don't even dare to hope but I have to admit that I'm a little excited by how crazy obvious this behavioral error of mine is and by how dangerous this habit is for someone like me with IBS.
What about you? I also wonder if anyone else here might suffer from this inability to really savor their meals?
I never had the same thing. I always chewed -lots! For me it was a lifelong embarrassment that I was always the last to finish even if my meal was not as big as everyone else's. All I knew was I couldn't help it and couldn't understand why everyone finished before me AND were all talking at the same time. As a result I much preferred eating alone at home where I could do what I liked. I guess now I'm old I don't care any more. If people are waiting for me that's too bad. I always say "leave the table/eat dessert if you like. Don't wait for me I prefer to eat slowly."
I love the tastes of my food even if I was ravenously hungry.
I guess I ate "perfectly" for good digestion but that wasn't the plan. It was just the way I felt happier to eat. To eat my main meal usually takes me around 25 minutes
But it didn't stop IBS and all its woes.
Neither did doing everything else "right" -getting 8 hours good sleep every night, getting excellent daily exercise (walking twice a day ), eating a wonderful healthy diet. Having no stress in my life as I was retired and okay when I developed IBS. , and not being on any medication for anything.IBS is a complete mystery to me.
Anyway, yes, try to slow down a bit and you'll probably see much less undigested food in your stool. That will be good because you'll be absorbing more nutrients. It's a great idea to start the stomach bitters if you suspect low stomach acid. Good luck with that herbal course.
Be a bit watchful as some bitters contain Senna, which obviously acts as a laxative, and can cause griping with some people. Unless you make your own in which case you don't have to include Senna if you don't want it.
Thanks for the reply 😀 That was very insightful!
IBS can be a mystery indeed and if it was something like bacteria that started things for you (just as a point), you could have gotten that from anywhere.
For me - just as you made the point with nutrition-absorption - it can't at least harm me, trying to eat much more slowly.
Best of luck/health to you.
I took my first 10 drops (they recommend 20 so I thought I'd start careful) with my dinner today and boy oh boy was it a strange experience.
First off: Yes, it was bitter - but midly (and deliciously). Haven't tasted something really bitter in a while and leaving it there on my tongue felt oddly satisfying. Second: My mouth was full of saliva for a while long after which was very pleasend.
Third (and most important): Everything tasted really strong (in a good way). Also: If you'd have offered me the most amazing sweets after (or even now), I'd decline. This effect is claimed but not scientifically proven but I can see how people can lose their craving for sugar taking those bitters.
I'll take them some more days and tell you what happens.
As a sidenote: It seems to be possible to just spit them out afterwards (in case they prove to be too much for my stomach).Oh, your first herbal bitters experience was interesting. And it's a good idea to go slow at first, and observe the reactions your body has. Then maybe swallow small amounts at first, and gradually see how you respond. In herbalism, there is such a thing as the healing power of the "bitter principle", and sometimes all that is needed is the actual taste of bitterness on the tongue, and reactions to that in the brain and system. Apparently, that has a healing power on its own, even if hardly any is ingested.
Sometimes I do that myself. I will pick a Dandelion flower (there are millions of them in the fields near my home) and will dab the "milk" that oozes from the stem onto my tongue. The bitterness is quite intense. It has a very enlivening and refreshing effect on me, and often will help if I am tired from lack of sleep.
That is really interesting 😀
One downside to my experiment is that the bitter tastes seem to stick on my tongue for quite a while. I had to brush my tongue before going to bed because 4 hours later the taste still persisted.
Maybe the bitter taste hangs around because it is a new stimulus? It is a whole different change? Your brain has suddenly noticed something new that you might not have experienced or embraced before, and so it's making a strong impression? Is there any effect on the tummy yet?
Brushing your tongue every day is a good idea anyway. I always do, twice a day. It just freshens up the mouth doesn't it?
You will probably get used to that bitter flavour the more you experience it, and I hope it helps your tummy.
So far it helps with salvia production but seemed to irritate my gut (a little) with 10-15 drops per meal (20 is what the packaging says)- my gut is irritated at the moment and I totally see how it just can't handle even that amount.
That's why I'll just put 3 drops on a small spoon now and place it right in the mouth where bitter can be tasted. I hope that this way I'll get the results (salvia/stomach acid production) without the irritation by just providing the taste with a minimum of liquid.
But yeah, I love the bitter taste. I'd love to keep this as a stimulant from time to time.
