Could something as simple as how you chew your food be influencing your health in ways you've never considered?
Digestion doesn't begin in the stomach. It begins in the mouth, and the simple act of chewing plays a much bigger role in how the body processes food than most people realize. When you chew, you're doing more than breaking food into smaller pieces. You're mixing it with saliva, initiating the breakdown of carbohydrates, and preparing nutrients for digestion and absorption.
Research supports this connection. A systematic review examining 71 studies found that nearly 65% supported a relationship between chewing function and aspects of digestion, swallowing, and nutrition.
Another study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that the size of food particles after chewing influenced how readily fats could be released from almonds during digestion.
In other words, how you eat can influence how your body accesses the nutrients in what you eat.
And yet, chewing is probably one of the most overlooked aspects of health.
When Did Eating Become Another Task to Check Off?
Think about how dramatically eating habits have changed over the past several decades. Long, leisurely meals around the dinner table have increasingly given way to eating whenever and wherever time allows.
Breakfast is a protein bar and coffee in the car. Lunch is something consumed between emails and Zoom meetings. Dinner is whatever can be grabbed on the way to the next activity.
Sound familiar?
I've certainly been guilty of treating meals as something to squeeze into an already packed schedule. But here's what I find particularly interesting: It's not just the speed at which people eat. It's the state of their nervous systems while they're eating.
When the mind is racing through the day's responsibilities, anticipating the next meeting, or mentally rehearsing tomorrow's to-do list, the body is experiencing an entirely different environment than it would during a relaxed meal. Stress can influence gastrointestinal motility, digestive sensations, and the communication between the brain and gut. And when someone is rushing through a meal, chewing often becomes an afterthought.
Food gets swallowed before it's been thoroughly broken down, leaving the digestive system to handle larger particles. While the stomach is designed to process food, particle size can influence how certain nutrients become available during digestion.
This is where something seemingly insignificant starts to become much more interesting.
What If Poor Chewing Has Implications Beyond Digestion?
Most people associate inadequate chewing with digestive complaints.
Bloating. Indigestion. Feeling overly full after eating.
And while those symptoms can have many causes, chewing habits are one factor worth considering. But through my work, I've become interested in whether the patterns I observe around eating habits might have connections to other aspects of well-being.
Two recent client cases brought this question into focus. One involved persistent puffiness around the eyes, and the other involved recurring symptoms associated with a virus.
And in both cases, insufficient chewing emerged as an area of interest during my sessions.
Poorly chewed food wasn’t just having a negative impact on their nutrient absorption. It was actually triggering an inflammatory response in their bodies.
Client Case #1: Puffy Eyes and the Unexpected Connection to Eating Habits
One client came to me experiencing persistent puffiness around the eyes.
During my session, I used muscle testing to explore potential contributors to the imbalance I was perceiving.
The session repeatedly brought my attention to stress involving the kidneys and right adrenal gland. As I explored further, the pattern appeared to connect with what I describe as dense food—food that hadn't been adequately broken down through chewing.
When I discussed this possibility with my client, it immediately resonated. She recognized that she routinely ate quickly, often without giving much thought to chewing.
From my perspective, it was an interesting example of how a seemingly unrelated lifestyle habit could emerge during an energy session.
Client Case #2: Recurring Viral Symptoms and Another Surprising Pattern
Another client came to me experiencing swollen legs and a recurring cold sore on her lower lip.
During my session, I explored several different root causes using my muscle-testing methodology - one of which was a virus, which I assisted her body in healing energetically.
In the following days, my client reported temporary symptom relief, but the symptoms returned several days later.
Naturally, I wanted to understand why the pattern seemed to be repeating. As I continued exploring through my protocol, insufficient chewing emerged as one of the key factors of her stubborn symptoms. My research showed that these larger, difficult to digest food particles created neurons which acidified, triggering the virus host to proliferate and the virus to spread.
Again, my client wasn't particularly surprised. She acknowledged that she was a fast eater and had intuitively suspected her eating habits weren't serving her well.
What fascinated me was the way this seemingly simple behavior kept coming into focus during my work.
Sometimes the Most Valuable Insight Is the Simplest
One of my clients summed up the experience beautifully:
"I am such a speed eater, and intuitively I have sensed my eating habits are not great – but this session confirmed it and offered insight that I’ve really needed. But who knew it would be connected to this issue? Thank you for steering me in the right direction!"
I love this feedback because it speaks to something I emphasize in my work.
So often, people are searching for complicated answers to their health concerns. Another supplement. Another restrictive diet. Another elaborate wellness protocol.
Meanwhile, some of the most accessible opportunities to support well-being are hiding in everyday habits. Something as basic as slowing down long enough to properly chew a meal can help to move the needle.
The Nervous System Deserves a Seat at the Table, Too
There's another element of this conversation that I find particularly important: the relationship between stress and digestion.
The autonomic nervous system helps regulate digestive functions, including gastrointestinal movement and secretion. Stress can alter these processes and influence how the gut feels and functions.
This is one reason I encourage clients to become more conscious of their emotional and mental state when eating. Are you rushing? Are you scrolling through stressful news? Are you responding to emails while barely noticing what's on your plate? Or are you actually present with your food?
I don't believe every meal needs to become a mindfulness ceremony. Life is busy, and sometimes lunch really does happen between appointments.
But even a small shift in awareness can make eating a more intentional experience.
Something to Chew On
The next time you sit down for a meal, I encourage you to consider three simple questions:
Am I in a relatively relaxed state? Or am I mentally racing through everything I need to do next?
Am I actually chewing my food? Or am I swallowing bites before I've adequately broken them down?
Can something else wait ten minutes? Maybe the email, the phone, or the next task doesn't need my attention quite yet.
I often remind clients that improving health doesn't necessarily require adding more things to an already overwhelming routine.
Sometimes it's about doing the things you're already doing with greater awareness.
And chewing is a perfect example. It's free. It's accessible. And it plays a genuine physiological role in digestion and our overall health.
Research & References
1. Kumar et al. (2022). Chewing and its influence on swallowing, gastrointestinal and nutrition-related factors: a systematic review. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. Examines 71 studies on chewing and digestive or nutritional outcomes.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35837677/
2. Grundy et al. (2015). Effect of mastication on lipid bioaccessibility of almonds in a randomized human study and its implications for digestion kinetics, metabolizable energy, and postprandial lipemia. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Investigates how chewing and food particle size influence nutrient release.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25527747/
3. Creedon et al. (2023). Particle Size Distribution and Predicted Lipid Bioaccessibility of Almonds and the Effect of Almond Processing: A Randomised Mastication Study in Healthy Adults. Nutrients. Further examines the relationship between food particle size and nutrient availability.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36771196/
Disclaimer: The client experiences described in this article reflect observations from my wellness practice. Client outcomes can differ depending on the person and individual circumstances. Persistent, recurrent, or concerning symptoms should be evaluated by a licensed healthcare professional.
