Anyone else struggle with chewing?

I don't mean I have problems while chewing, just that I'm a fast eater and I assume that doesn't help my GI system when it gets something half chewed that it has to manhandle so it can finish it off. I've always been a fast eater like my dad.

Some things I don't even seem to chew barely sometimes if I don't watch it: Mac and cheese, speghetti-O's, some soups, some pasta's...all get like one big clamp from my teeth and down the hatch they go...I have to be aware of this and be careful, as I can totally see how this can make symptoms/gas/bloating/cramping worse.

Perhaps should explain partly why food passes through me more recognizable than it should....

I have the same problem... chomp, chomp, swallow. properly chewing is supposed to be much better, so when things went bad again, i really tried to make an effort to really chew (although the last i chewed was nearly a month ago). But, i don't like how the food feels in my mouth that way, and most of the time it's a lost cause.. it's down before you know it.

Well, don't beat yourselves up over it. Not chewing enuff is a difficult habit to break... If you want to limit, or perhaps a better phrase is 'focus'.. work on foods that are harder to digest. Hi residue foods, hi fibre, anything with animal protein that is hard on the GI tract. If you force yourselves into the habit with these, then you should see some improvement as far as your digestive system is concerned. And once you've successfully applied this technique to the 'hard' foods; AND have seen results (even tho they may not be earth shattering) you have established both a method and a reward... which may make incorporting it into the rest of your eating habits less a challenge. Like any big, hard task, all you have to do is break it down into simple steps. Just my two cents, OK?

Food processor is your answer.

AbstractDonut said:

Food processor is your answer.

Click to expand...

EWW...Blended chicken. I tend to be a fast eater also. What I have started again is eating at the table with the tv off. I find when I eat in front of the tv I devour my meal without thinking. My hubby and I have actual conversations now, instead of staring blankly at the tv. :lol:

And pureed pizza.... Think I'll stick with the chewing. It's more environmentally friendly..... AND, BONUS.. it keeps me from talking

hahahaha...funny. I was told to blend too on this low residue diet... but the thought of pureed meats and stuff? eeyew. I remember too well feeding my brood that stuff as little ones just a couple of years ago and that grossed me out. Like all parents I tasted it, but bleah, pooey. Slow chewing....yup. that's the ticket.

God bless 'breast' feeding... even us 'grown-ups' can enjoy it.

Just think of making everything into a soup.

I'm really bad with this! If I have food or drink in front of me I eat it obsessively until it's gone. I have to really concentrate to slow down, and I usually don't even think of it until it's almost gone. I think two years of tube feedings messed with my dietary habits.