this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2024
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Most people dont chew more than 2-3 times so its kinda expected that stuff goes down unchewed
I compulsively chew at least 11 times in a vain attempt to diminish my obesity. My lack of a sizable beer gut(versus most of my peers) shows promise, nevermind that I basically don't drink, but I assure you, the corn does not care.
Disclaimer, I have dysphagia, so this isn't meant to be the average person's experience, but... I was eating when I read this and counted how many times I chewed when I took a bite until I felt comfortable swallowing and it was 47. You're telling me normal people can chew as low as 2 times? Astounding.
I'm in the zero to ten camp for most foods, but right there with you at 47 for fatty meat of any kind. It feels disgusting in my mouth and to swallow it without gagging I need to basically cut it up with my incisors into smaller and smaller pieces until the texture disappears.
There's a Calvin & Hobbes strip that would apply perfectly here, but I can't find it. It features them discussing how many times it's appropriate to chew food and the punch line is "maybe marshmallows are the exception." Unfortunately, I couldn't find that, so here's the closest I could:
I mean it depends on what you eat ofcourse. Its just a linear change between soup(0) and crackers(idk maybe 10).
Like a mouthful Spaghetti doesnt need too much like maybe 4-5 times for me, but i have seen plenty of people who almost swallow pasta unchewed. Something like meat or carrots or whatever needs some more to get it to a small enough size to swallow and it just keeps going up with size, hardness and dryness.
i think i generally chew maybe.. 6-10 times? but depending on the food i can either chew a lot more or a lot less, soft foods like well-boiled spaghetti just don't really make sense to our brains and so we don't chew properly.
Is this bad? Maybe I have it because I'm similar.
Fortunately, I think you'd probably notice if you did. Makes it hella hard to swallow stuff unless you pulverize it to a paste. In my case, some days I can't even swallow things as simple as applesauce and have to just drink high calorie liquids.
Edit: After seeing the rest of your comments in this thread... Yeah, sounds like dysphagia. Dysphagia is a symptom though, not the condition itself. If you've got it, something deeper is wrong. In my case it's likely nerve damage and allergies together.
Is this true? I chew for a few minutes before swallowing normally, find it difficult to swallow otherwise.
A few minutes per bite?!?
Bros gonna starve in the middle of eating
I eat slow.
I don't even know how you keep the food in your mouth chewing that long. After a minute most of it has managed to make it's way to my throat without any effort by me to get it there.
Yeah, I never really actively swallow, it's too painful, I just wait for the food to slide down.
You should ask about getting a swallowing study done to find out what's going on because that isn't normal. It might be an esophageal stricture or spasm that can be fixed.
It's probably just that I have a small mouth and throat.
that should only result in smaller bites, definitely not pain unless you're trying to swallow whole chestnuts
Maybe uncomfortability is a better word?
still shouldn't happen if you're chewing food properly
If they are proportional to each other, you shouldn't really be able to get more in your mouth than your esophagus can handle. There are some conditions that make the esophagus tense up wrong instead of making peristalsis.
That sounds concerning... are you alright?
I think so.
Its said to be healthy and improve digestion to chew more and eat slowly so there isnt really any reason to stop.
afaik its more based on time than number of chews, food generally spends about 10-20 seconds in your mouth if you aren't in a rush but it depends on the food and individual