First of all, I learned that it’s REALLY HARD to chew every mouthful 100 times.  Not because it’s physically hard, but because whenever there is another human in front of me, my body tenses slightly out of a desire to connect, and it becomes more difficult to achieve the relaxation and saliva for thorough mastication. 

That being said, because I committed to the best of my ability, I did chew most of the time.  Which amounted to much, much more chewing than I do in my regular life.  I felt:  completely in the moment, drama-free, and after a few days, very light in my body.  Chewing actually gave me a real appetite for the next thing going on in my life.  It propelled me forward, and left little or no resistance.  I really, really liked that.  I felt my feelings deeply and was tapped in to my creative source for the first time in a while.  I felt good physical energy, had unwavering attention and just started to really "chew" on the rest of life.  That was cool.  It made me want to go on Dancing with the Stars!!

Others reported that the experiment really changed their awareness of food.  Not knowing how powerful just a simple bowl of food is, and how much energy can be taken from it, they were amazed when lunch became a torpedo.  And of course, there were reports of less farting and easier pooing.  Always a blessing.  

I’ve come away with a renewed respect for chewing.  Isn’t it funny that the simplest things in life are the most powerful, and they never seem to change?  We slap our foreheads and say: I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER WHEN I GET ENOUGH SLEEP!! or YOGA IS THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING!  or CHEWING MAKES ME STUPID HAPPY!!

And it does.  Please re-read the latest blog posts about chewing; I know I will.  They include the history, the science behind it, the benefits and the chewing video.  Please read Lino Stanchich’s book, The Power Eating Program, for more inspiration.  And here’s a tip I think will help us all:  Wolf the first 1/3, enjoy the second 1/3 and chew the third 1/3.  If we eat every meal like this, we will get the benefits of chewing all-year round without becoming monks.  It also works nicely with your digestive enzymes.  Don’t wait for the next CHEW-A-THON to begin.

Thanks to all of your who chewed during the CHEW-A-THON.  And even to those who just thought about it. Go forth and masticate!

Jessica

P.S. Just wanted to add that I didn’t blog the last two days of the CHEW-A-THON because, upon arriving in Toronto, my hard drive decided to die.  Second hard drive in two years.  Between screaming and yelling and chewing and crying tears of joy when I heard that it’s still under warranty, I couldn’t write.  Computer was in the shop getting a re-hab and Canada doesn’t have the internet yet!!

P.P.S. Canadian readers: don’t get mad.  It’s a joke.  Come out of the igloo and laugh a little!

P.P.P.S. That was a joke too.  Maybe if you stopped eating all that maple syrup, you’d understand!

P.P.P.P.S. Okay, another joke, but admittedly really bad.  I’m Canadian, so I’m allowed to make jokes about Canada.  Even bad ones.  xoxo

Dear Hip Chicks and Chucks,

Well, well, well.  Our parents complained we never closed our mouths while we ate… the world keeps yelling ‘SWALLOW!!’ … and even deep within our own beings came the little voice that said "this is gross"…

AND YET WE DID IT. 

WE CHEWED!!!

I just want to officially thank and congratulate all the chewers who did their best to get to 30, 50 or even 100 chews per mouthful last week, during the Annual International Celebrity Charity CHEW-A-THON.  People in Austria, Italy, America and even Prince Edward Island who masticated without shame!  Individuals who put swallowing aside for a brief moment to experience the meaning of "gnashing of teeth".

You are all heroes.

More on what we learned… tomorrow.  My battery’s running out.

Jessica

When I realize this screw-up at the Air Canada desk at LAX, I curse.  I know exactly what this means.  There’s no talking my way out of this one, no “can I use my license?” because the rules changed a few years back and the rules are the rules are the rules and I—as a half Canadian—should know that.

It meant a pretty big hassle, and because I’ve been chewing for the last few days, I was totally present for the hassle.   I was present for the tears I shed in my car driving back home. Tears that cleaned me out of deeper, older stuff than I’d gathered just today. But I was also present for the denoument, the passing of chaos, and the wonderful nap I took at my apartment after three hours of stress. 

I’m at the airport again, only this time I’ve made it past check-in.  I’m $200 poorer, but I had a great day.  I took myself to the beach, where every single sensation, from the sand rolling beneath my feet as I walked, to the salty water in my mouth, to the ridiculously strong push of a wave all… took me.  I was theirs.  It was beautiful.  I went to dinner with a friend, where I chewed while he talked, and vice versa. 

And now I’m flying to Toronto, to make it a truly International Chew-a-thon.  And considering the Toronto film festival is going on right now, who knows how many celebs I’ll get signed up for the Big Chew? 

Be well.
Jessica

P.S. Just discovered that the CHEW-A-THON is making the news!! 
 

I felt so balanced in my body today–like I was ten years old or something.  I was walking on a path outside my house, and it’s got little bits of gravel strewn on it.  Without thinking, my feet stepped only on the gravel free bits.  There were no "ouch!"es or "s*#&"s because me feet had Supreme intelligence. 

Then in the Chew Chat Room, someone mentioned that they were experiencing less gas.  Which makes perfect sense.  You see, of the half liter of gas you pass each day (and if you think you don’t fart, you’re doing it at night), most of it is swallowed air!  That’s right, from wolfing down food, chewing gum, and even talking, we swallow air and some of it get trapped… way down there. 

By chewing thoroughly, not only is there less air in the mouth, but we chomp the heck out of the bits of air in the food!  When it is swallowed as well-chewed liquid, food produces much less gas.  Yes, even beans.  The CHEW-A-THON is proving it!

So who’s gonna make the T-Shirt "CHEW MORE, FART LESS"  or maybe "MY CHEWING MIGHT BE ANNOYING YOU BUT AT LEAST I’M NOT FARTING" or, the classic:  "I’M WITH CHEWPID"

Omigod.  I’m so funny I have to go to bed.

CHEW ON COMRADES!

Jessica

Hi there,

So, hanging out in the Chew Chat Room this morning, I chatted with some people from the Czech Republic.  Later on in the day, Canadians and Americans alike celebrated the benefits of the Big Chew.  It was wonderful.

I felt today like I was completely in my body, and therefore in my feelings.  Moment after moment, life just happened through me.  No biggie.  No drama.  Just being.  Truth be told, I am very acquainted with the little dramas that my mind creates and, at certain moments, I missed them.  Clear consciousness, when not enjoyed, can be a little… boring?!  But that’s cool.  Moments cascade into moments and everything changes.

Then I cheated.  At a party… veggie chips get passed… THOSE DAMN VEGGIE CHIPS!  And I was, frankly, too embarrassed to stop and chew mid-conversation, as in: "Yeah, I’ve lived in L.A. for, like… (chew one hundred times)… a year now!"  It just wasn’t going to happen.

But I’m back on the wagon.

By the way, I learned a couple of great things to today.  First, there’s a group on Facebook for macrobiotic parents!  Second, a woman named Sarah logged into the chat room from Prince Edward Island, Canada (home of Anne of Green Gables) and she runs a great website called Macromom.ca.  Although in Canada, it’s probably pronounced Macro Mum!  Check them out!

Off to bed,

Jessica 

But seriously, chatting in the Chew Room this morning were chewers from Italy, Switzerland, and Austria.  Later in the afternoon, while the Europeans slept, chewers from Maine, Chewcago and The Berkshires joined to support each other.  I swear to God this chat room is the center of the Chewniverse!!!

Please, someone stop me.

But seriously (seriously), today was great.  I chewed and chewed, and felt present and peaceful.  I also had a big insight into chewing:  I realized that so many people who have difficulties with chewing–who only get to 30 or so chews–may need to hear this: at a certain  point, chewing is not about tasting, or enjoyment, or any type of eating you are familiar with.  Chewing is simply the brutal stomping of the food to get the most energy from it.  Like someone stepping on grapes to make wine.  So after those 30 chews, don’t seek to recognize the experience.  Just keep mashing the stuff in your mouth so that the microscopic bits–floating in saliva–give up their goodies.  As your chew-count increases, you will feel that you are creating high-octane fuel in your mouth!

Going to bed now as I pass the torch to the Europeans…

Chew on,

Jessica

There’s real science to this chewing business; in his wonderful book, The Power Eating Program: You are how You Eat, Lino Stanchich talks about the enzyme ptylin which is released in the saliva after some vigorous chewing.  This enzyme, critical to the breakdown of carbohydrates, is released only in the mouth and without it, all the other digestive enzymes–which are secreted at different points in the G.I. tract–don’t work so well.  So when it comes to eating carbohydrates–grains, vegetables, beans, fruits, bread, noodles–if you ain’t chewing, you ain’t really eating! 

When a complex carb is broken down in the mouth with ptylin, it converts to glucose–right there in your mouth! This glucose is then absorbed easily into the bloodstream to become blood sugar.  "Big deal" you say and, well, it is a big deal.  You see, your brain uses more sugar than any other organ in the body.  Because your brain is totally bathed in blood, the quality of that blood is vital to your mental health.  When your blood is low in sugar, your brain is like "I hate my life… what’s on TV?" and when your brain is bathed in good-quality blood sugar, it’s like "WHAT’S NEXT, BABY?" and gets all excited to play ball with life.  Low blood sugar has been associated with moodiness, depression, fatigue–even dizziness and the shakes. 

Even cravings for sweets–or food in general–are caused by low blood sugar because your brain is constantly yelling "FEED ME!!!!"  When you chew your food one hundreds times per moutful, and those carbs become glucose, and your blood sugar rises and the brains gets bathed in the sweet, sweet stuff it says "AHH… I love you".  All nice like that.  And the cravings disappear. 

Well-chewed saliva is alkaline, and therefore reduces the acidity of any food you are eating.  That’s unbelievably cool because if acidity isn’t buffered in the mouth, it gets buffered by minerals in the blood and bones.  This can lead to weak blood and even bone loss.  HEY, WHERE’S YOUR FEMUR?

Finally, when you chew your food, your body doesn’t have to work so hard.  It isn’t sitting around processing big rocks and chunks of food.  Chewing is like mainlining food, and that makes for a very smooth ride.  I find that my thinking, my emotional life and even my general consciousness becomes very clear and un-neurotic when I chew.  Life gets simple.  So-called "problems" (usually just created in my mind) go "poof"!

So Fletcher was onto something.  As is Lino Stanchich.  If you don’t like the idea of counting your chews, please order Lino’s chewing tape/CD which plays pleasant music with a little ‘ding’ every sixty seconds, telling you to swallow.  Also, you gotta read his book: amazing stories of him surviving a POW camp by chewing! Chewing literally saved his life.

Western medicine has even gotten on the chew-chew train; here’s an article (thanks to Kevin Oshiro!) about how gum-chewers recovered faster from colon surgery.

But… don’t chew gum.  Chew food.

Have a great weekend,

Chewssica

For more info on the CHEW-A-THON, click here.

Chewssica

This guywas King of the Hardcore Chewers.  Named Horace Fletcher, he was known as
"The Great Masticator".  Ahem.   Born in 1849, Fletcher was one the early American food faddists and he believed that chewing was the absolute bomb.  By chewing, or "fletcherizing" your food (32 times a mouthful or about 100 times a minute) he claimed that one could get more energy from the food, while eating less of it.  It seemed to work for him; at 58 years old, Fletcher challenged student athletes at Yale to physical endurance tests and he outperformed them all. 

Horace counted among his fletcherizing friends Henry James, Mark Twain, Upton Sinclair and John D. Rockefeller.  Fletcherizing was actually quite popular for a while until its spotlight was stolen by the next big thing: calorie-counting. 

Practice Fletcherizing today.  It’s your patriotic duty.  Go for 50 to 100 chews per mouthful.  Start with grains and vegetables; they’re the easiest to chew.  Get your friends, macro and un-macro, to join the CHEW-A-THON starting September 8th.

I fretted and freaked until I struck a remarkable deal with myself.  This simple contract cast a blinding light on a chaotic, fearful situation: I could eat anything and everything I wanted in Peru, but I had to chew every single bite of it thoroughly.  Like, one hundred times.  EVERY single bite.

Now that might sound insane, and maybe it was, but it was also one of the best decisions I have ever made.  Upon arriving in Peru, my mission began.  At first, it was embarrassing and a pain in the butt.  I explained myself by saying I had to chew really well because of some problem with my teeth.  Ahh, white lies–So helpful!  My body, used to having food-bricks launched into it, had to re-train itself to absorb liquid food, and my mouth–the lazy bastard–had to go to the gym.  I sat out entire conversations, or just participated between bites… but I tell ya, I really, really tasted that food.  And it was a smart decision because it took us a couple of days in Lima to get our bearings and find the one vegetarian restaurant in our guidebooks.  It quickly became clear that we weren’t gonna find brown rice, let alone seaweed anytime soon.  In fact, I found the picarone cart on the second day and chewed the heck out of an amazing Peruvian donut!

We even took a trip to a tributary of the Amazon.  It required two days on a bus negotiating fatally skinny switchbacks, and then four days in canoe-ish type things, camping in the jungle.  I had NO control over the food… white pasta, Oreo cookies and tuna fish were staples.  I chewed and I chewed and I chewed.  Instead of experiencing headaches and depression and fatigue, I chuckled as the monkeys threw things at us from the tree tops.  I lay in my tent, eyes closed and listening to a mind-blowing symphony of buzzing insects in the jungle.  At night, I saw the phosphoresent glow of weird Amazonian bugs and plants on the river.  I may have been eating Oreos but I was totally awake and experiencing every single mind-blowing moment of my life. 

More benefits of chewing; sparkly eyes, great physical energy and co-ordination, a total in-the-moment absorbtion and enjoyment of people, places and things.  An overall good mood.  I started losing weight and my skin looked gorgeous.  Meanwhile, Howard–who was speaking great Spanish but wasn’t chewing quite as religiously–would experience dips in energy, moodswings and all the infamous South American digestion problems.  I had none.  Honest to God, because I kept my contract with myself, it was one of the most seamless, enjoyable, and conscious experiences of my life.  All six weeks of it.  Chewing is amazing. 

So I’d like to start a week-long CHEW-A-THON  with all the readers of this blog.  I’d like to suggest that we chew each bite 50 to 100 times each.  Every bite.  For one week.  I think we will all be amazed.  You can post your experiences on my blog and I will write and tweet every day that week, supporting us all to experience what our lives are like, thoroughly chewed.  I will talk about the bio-mechanics of it, the spiritual dimension of it, and give practical tips, including a chewing video!!!!

The CHEW-A-THON begins on the Tuesday after Labor Day, September 8th and goes through September 14th.  And remember: You don’t have to be macro to do this, so invite your friends of all culinary paths to try chewing on for size…

You might want to practice a little before then, sitting down, focusing and really masticating.  Keep the back of your mouth closed and DON’T SWALLOW until you’ve reached your 50, or your 100.  That’s the key.  You can do it!  YAHOO!!!