Fletcher puts a great deal of emphasis on eating being a time when both the food and the company should be enjoyed. I totally agree! However, sometimes I just can’t wait until I’ve chewed my food 32 times to swallow and then say something, the moment would be completely lost!  I  just have to swallow and speak. I timed myself chewing 32 times, if the action is performed at a rate that allows me to enjoy the food and not behave like a  cartoon character demolishing corn-on-the-cob, each mouthful takes about 20 seconds to eat.  I’m sure that there are quite a few of my past audiences who think that I should keep on chewing indefinitely and would be quite happy with the solo sound of their own voices at the table. To those I offer my sincerest apologies and suggest that they find somewhere else to sit.

Many years ago, I went out with an entrepreneur who did a lot of business related entertaining. To be honest he was one of those who enjoyed the sound of his own opinions, and our relationship didn’t last very long, but he was also very successful at what he did and a lot of his advice was worth taking.   He told me that when he was conducting business over a meal he always choose dishes from the menu that didn’t require a lot of chewing – omelets, fish, soup; and avoided the food that was either complicated to eat or couldn’t be swallowed quickly and easily -  steak, oysters, chops.  This enabled him to control the conversation by responding quickly and moving it on when he felt that he had made his point and considered the subject concluded.  It is a strategy that works well, but can also take much of the pleasure of eating good food. 

 

The reason the Chew-Chew diet works is simple. You eat less than your body needs to fuel itself and you therefore burn stored fat.  If food that can be chewed and swallowed quickly is regularly chosen, then a higher number of calories will be eaten and you will miss out on some of the tastes and textures afforded by a variety of different dishes.  One of my main reasons for embarking on the Chew-Chew diet was because I enjoy food and constantly measuring how much I ate and counting units: a) took the pleasure out of it ; and b) is too time consuming.  Eating too quickly does not allow enough time for the message that you have had enough and that your stomach is full to get to your brain.  My Grandmother always used to say that you should stop eating while you are still a little bit hungry.  I am beginning to appreciate this bit of wisdom much more now.  Whether you look at it as being just a little bit hungry still or the feeling of hunger beginning to subside, it is the same thing.  

 

It takes 20 minutes for your brain to register that your stomach is full, so by gobbling pappy food, you are not going to get that message before you have consumed too many calories.

 

I do not eat with other people all the time but when I do, I am now trying to take much smaller mouthfuls which can be thoroughly chewed more quickly and I can join in the conversation more easily. I am aware that I take a lot longer to finish my food, but I generally stop when I have had enough which is usually about the same time as those who don’t chew-chew.  I am often asked if there was a problem with the food, but an explanation that I have had enough is usually sufficient for most polite people.  Fortunately I live with a man who never seems to put on weight and will happily take responsibility for any tasty morsels left on my plate, so any childish guilt about leaving anything on my plate is quickly resolved if the food was good.

Just as an after thought,  the Edwardian followers in the of the Chew-Chew diet at the begining of the 20th century kept a bowl on the table into which they would spit any unliquified and therefore unswallowed food after 32 chews.  It’s a solution but I don’t think I would be invited to eat with many of my friends again if I did that today!