Everyone chews gum right...

Hi all!

Here's the lowdown on gum chewing: You just finished a medium to large meal and you feel stuffed. Your instant gut reaction thought is, "Time to pop in a piece of gum so I can be skinny!" But wait, does gum actually promote weight loss? I used to chew gum all the time; it was the Status Quo you might say. However, once I decided to stop chewing gum on a regular basis, I did not miss anything. I actually felt less stressed out. I used to chew gum before my ballet performances, thinking it would help get me hyped up. However, that was definitely not the case. I have a recollection of every time I chewed gum backstage; I would get dry mouth so quickly and would feel tired even before the show started! Not the best results for preparing a festive and adrenaline inducing Nutcracker. performance. That was when I realized, gum is not only useless, it can be harmful in that it made me tired! So, aside from taking exams and popping a piece of gum every few months or so to get my brain overly stimulated, gum to me is now just another nervous habit that can initially be seen as innocuous yet clearly contains some hidden menacing factors behind it's colorfully exhibited facade.

• Chewing gum on a regular basis can become a nervous habit, like smoking! Chewing consistently creates unnecessary wear and tear of your cartilage in your jaw. These joints become weak over time and can therefore be easily damaged and cause aches as well as discomfort.
• We think chewing gum helps to reduce our food cravings and thus in turn our food intake. This would logically make us skinnier, sounds perfect, right? Well, not exactly.  On the contrary, chewing gum begins stimulating certain salivary glands in the mouth. Every time we chew, we are stimulating unneeded saliva to be consistently present (this is bad for our digestion). This is a waste of energy and makes our bodies overwork for no good reason!
• Consistent chewing of gum creates nervous tendencies. Chewing gum creates a tightness on our muscles that are in our mouth, through our temples, and even our head. This is why we can get headaches after chewing for a long time. This pressure can even lead to chronic headaches which nobody needs from chewing gum!
• Gum is packed with aspartame or sugar, both of which rot your teeth. Enough said :)
  

So, once the cards are spread out on the table, you can see that chewing gum is one of those unhealthy habits that we Americans claim to be cool, common, and chic. The best form of weight loss or teeth cleaning would be to consider changing your lifestyle, a day at a time. Reduce your intake of sugar and processed foods and right away your dental and weight loss problems should be hindered a bit. Remember to always brush your teeth (a great toothpaste is coconut oil and baking soda*), floss daily, and you are on the right track! Your digestion, nerves, and teeth will thank you!