If you are addicted to chewing gum or just chomp on it a lot, try this healthier alternative that won’t use up valuable digestive enzymes and wreck your teeth long term.
When I was a kid, I loved to chew bubble gum. I remember becoming quite proficient at blowing very large bubbles at summer camp one year. From then on, chewing bubble gum became a favorite childhood pastime of mine.
While chewing gum once in a while is certainly not a cause for concern, chewing gum every single day as a habit definitely can be detrimental to health. As I covered in detail in a previous post about chewing gum, habitual gum chewing wastes valuable digestive enzymes and can contribute over time to TMJ and other jaw problems among other issues.
Fortunately, there is a very healthy chewing gum alternative to brands laced with aspartame or GMO sugar.
Even xylitol gum should be avoided on a regular basis as xylitol is produced by the heavily industrial process called sugar hydrogenation, the long term health effects of which are unknown. Xylitol also contributes to gut imbalance/candida problems, exacerbates acid reflux, and can trigger seizures in susceptible individuals.
In addition, oral surgeons at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas contend that too much gum chewing causes jaw stress. Dr. Sinn, a UT Southwestern oral surgeon, warns that jaw soreness, jaw “clicking” or pain in the jaw, head, or neck can be signs of TMJ syndrome and that gum chewing should be discontinued should such symptoms emerge.
Given that gum chewing is commonly used to relieve stress, Dr. Sinn suggests other methods for reducing tension such as squeezing a ball, relaxation techniques or regular exercise to avoid the risk of chronic jaw problems.
Probably the most important reason to abstain from chewing commercially made gum is that it releases mercury from dental amalgam fillings. A Swedish study found that people with silver fillings who chew gum for 5 hours or more each day had significantly higher levels of mercury in their blood and urine than those people with silver fillings who chewed gum infrequently.
Mercury levels in the blood, urine, and breath at exhalation increased in proportion to the number of silver fillings each study participant had.
So what to chew?
In this video, I show you a healthy chewing gum alternative that we use in our home when we just want something sweet and tasty to chomp on – honeycomb!
Have you tried chewing honeycomb before? If not, check out the honeycomb we like to chew as I describe the benefits you get from enjoying this age old practice. Chewing a piece of honeycomb is not only healthy, but it is good for you too because the chewing doesn’t last too long, it adds enzymes to the digestion rather than removing them and is safe for those with amalgams.
I love this post! When I was young growing up in Quebec, my father was collecting fir tree sap from my grand-father’s farm. And we loved chewing on the resin, it was also very good for a soar throat.
I chew an Xylitol gum, I had a few dental issues that it’s helping me reverse.
Perfect timing! My son just asked me yesterday if it was okay to chew honeycomb. He hates gum, by the way, but my other son loves gum. I do remember chewing it as a girl since we kept bees. I’ll have to find a beekeeper, I guess, and ask if he/she would save it for me. Where do you get yours?
Several years ago I bought comb honey at a farmer’s market, really looking foward to chewing the comb. Imagine my horror when I bit into it and tasted paraffin! Many beekeepers do not allow the bees to make their own comb, instead they give them combs made with a mix of beeswax and paraffin. And of course many keepers will be dosing their hives with antibiotics. So be careful and know your source!
Wow, good to know!
I imagine you get a good dose of sucrose & fructose with the honey that comes attached to the comb. Not so good for folks with insulin resistance, NAFL, weightt issues. Seems like it would fuel the sugar cravings. I like to chew fennel seeds, typically something done by people from India. They often have a sugary coating on it but just plain old fennel seeds work just as well. They take a while to chew, clean out your mouth and breath.
Is this ‘allowed’ on GAPS? My husband LOVED chewing gum before he started GAPS, and misses it a lot-it always helped with his food cravings. He would be thrilled to have another option!
With a new new 6-wk-old baby and a toddler at home, I recently found myself chewing gum as a stress reliever!!? (Really don’t know how that came about cause i’m not a smoker!!!) The flavor of the orange ‘5’ gum just calms me; and Everytime I pop one in my mouth, I think about how ba this is for my stomach…but I do it anyway out of frustration! :/
My Mom used to buy this for us when we were young, and I loved it so. Didn’t realize that you could actually swallow it after the honey was all chewed out. I think I’ll be trying this again!
This is also a good idea if you feel the need to snack in front of the tv.
What a great idea! And so simple!! Now I’ve got to buy some honey with the comb intact!!!
Thanks for the great idea.