Long time mouth breather, first time poster to ELI5.
I’m in my late 30s, and I realise l’ve been chewing and swallowing food wrong my whole life, and am bugging the heck out of my loved ones with questions… but I still need answers, so please take a moment to help me out.
When you chew food, do you use both sides of your mouth equally?
Do you swallow an entire mouthful’s worth of food in one go? Or does it slide down your throat bit by bit as you are chewing?
Where does your tongue go while you’re chewing?
Do you chew up and down or kind of grindy side to side?
I know I sound like an alien or an Al but I’m just an undiagnosed tongue tie kid with a weirdly high palate whose tongue has been hanging about the bottom of my mouth like a slug for the last few decades.
In: Biology
dude this is wild but also super relatable. i think using both sides is key so you dont tire out one side. you gotta chew until its mushy but dont rush the swallow. i guess the tongue helps push food dowm but it’s like a sneak attack. and yeah don’t forget to enjoy your food like a chill alien munching on snacks
The correct way to chew food is the way that gets you to 30 years old.
As long as you
a) remain nourished
and
b) survive the chewing process
Then you’re doing great.
1. For a small piece of food, I’ll chew on one side and then switch to the other side. For a large bite of cereal, I might chew on both sides at once around my molars but not in the middle. I prefer smaller bites of food
2. I swallow a partial mouthful or a full mouthful in one go. It will depend on how much food is in my mouth. I don’t understand how someone could let food slide down their throat bit by bit? It would make me gag if food entered my throat without me consciously letting it.
3. I use my tongue to move food to different parts of the mouth and to swallow. I’m not sure where my tongue is when when I’m not moving food and not swallowing, but probably it’s positioned in a way that minimizes the chance that food will accidentally go down my throat. By the way, I breath through my nose when I eat.
4. Both up and down and side to side. Not usually one or the other, but I believe I favor up and down more than side to side.
I usually favor my left side, my tongue acts like a damn and keeps my food over there on one side unless I take too big of a bite, in which case, both sides may work on the food until it’s small enough I can shift it back to one side. I always swallow that bite before I put more food in my mouth. And absolutely keep your mouth closed when you’re eating. No one wants to hear you chomping or slurping.
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