‘Tid-bits’ of Health Students Take Charge No. 14
In article No. 13, I introduced the students' chewing research assignment. Now, let's join the students around their Thanksgiving Dinner table and watch them conduct their research.
STUDENT: I observed my seven year old brother chewing roasted ham. He chewed somewhere around 20-25 times per bite. I think the number is high since he is smaller. He has smaller teeth to chew (baby teeth) and smaller mouth compared to grown-ups. I normally chewed my bite of roasted ham about 15 times. Then, I tried to chew the same amount he did and it felt very mushy and watery going down my throat. This didn't feel right, especially because of the texture. My thirty-five year old mother chewed turkey breast somewhere around 15-18 times per bite. Her number is around the same as mine since we both have the second set of molars. This allows us to chew up food faster. This feeling was more to my liking compared to my little brother's.
STUDENT: I observed three different people. The first is my 12 year old female cousin. The second person is my 16 year old male cousin. The third person is my 21 year old uncle. For dinner we ate tacos that everyone ironically ate in three bites. I counted all the chews in these three bites. First Person chewed 30, 25, and 27.
Second Person chewed 14, 14, and 16. Third Person chewed 27, 25, and 26. Recreating the chews of the first person felt juicy going down my throat. She chewed more than I normally do. I had to get used to the food turning into almost full juice. After recreating the chews of the second person, I had to force the food down my throat. While observing him, I saw that he was also having difficulty swallowing. I could see him swallow hard. This recreation was the one I hated the most. I had to swallow hard in all 3 bites. Finally, after recreating the chews of the third person, I like this one the most. It felt normal to me and wasn't completely juice. This experiment was fun to observe and recreate.
STUDENT: I have chosen to do this research assignment on my boyfriend David. He is a 17-year-old male, 200 pounds, and is 6 foot tall. I am a 5-3, 176 pound 16-year-old girl. We are eating lasagna. I looked for the size of David's bite and took the same amount. David gives a small bite 11 chews, a normal bite 17 Chews and a big bite 23 chews. I normally give a small bite 15 chews, a normal bite 23 chews and a big bite 28 chews. David takes fewer chews than me for any size bite. I think this is because I have a smaller mouth than him. From this research, I did not like the way the food felt as I chewed it for the number of times that he did. It felt too big going down my throat. I personally needed to chew it more. I told him about the experiment and asked him to chew for the amount that I chewed. His point of view was that I chew the food way too much. He liked his food chunkier. This is definitely a fun experiment to try out with people.
TEACHER: Imagine thinking beyond your mouth, tongue, timeclock and busyness. What if you went down to your stomach, intestines, liver, brain, heart, belly and thighs and asked them what they think of chunky versus liquid. The stomach says it has no teeth to finish the chewing. The intestine says it can't absorb the nutrients stuck inside the chunks. The liver says it can't make properfunctioning cell parts out of nutrient deficient materials. The heart and brain have difficulty thinking, remembering and beating efficiently. The rule down there is “Any food that is not completely digested at every stage becomes a poison in the body.” Poisons must be removed, and it takes nutrients to do it. If the nutrients are not there, poisons will be thrown in jail cells. This keeps them from running around and causing problems. Jail cells in the body are called “fat cells.” Jelly in the belly and size in the thighs tell us of the toxic burdens they're bearing to keep us from poisoning ourselves. Everybody down there definitely prefers to have food chewed to liquid in the mouth. When any of them malfunction, it doesn't feel right. We go searching for something to make them feel better. Really, now, is a bottle of chemical pills going to bring back those chunks and extract the needed nutrients?
Until then … TAKE CHARGE! … Sylvia