5. Chew Gum
Chewing gum is something that many people consider to be an unhealthy or even unpleasant habit! We’ve also all heard about the various different health problems that it can allegedly cause, from increasing your stomach acid production when you aren’t eating (which burns the stomach lining) to getting stuck in the digestive system if you should accidentally swallow it (there’s some truth to this but the ‘7 years’ myth is just that).
What you might not realize though is that chewing gum can be beneficial when it comes to your digestion if you do it before you start eating. That’s because – as we’ve already seen – it stimulates the production of stomach acids. This in turn means that the food is more likely to get dissolved once it ends up in the stomach.
At the same time, chewing gum can also help to improve the production of saliva. Therefore, by chewing gum just prior to eating, you can actually ‘prime’ the stomach and the entire digestive tract ready for food and thereby prevent a number of potential issues.