In This ArticleView AllIn This ArticleWhy the Consistency of Your Food MattersChewing and Brain Health: What’s the Link?How to Feel Your Chewing Anatomy WorkingHow to Exercise Your Jaw Muscles with FoodThe Bottom Line
In This ArticleView All
View All
In This Article
Why the Consistency of Your Food Matters
Chewing and Brain Health: What’s the Link?
How to Feel Your Chewing Anatomy Working
How to Exercise Your Jaw Muscles with Food
The Bottom Line
Close
When choosing what to eat, most people consider the compounds within their food: the calories, fiber, vitamins and minerals, for instance. But there is something else you might want to consider when filling your plate: how much you’ll chew. It’s not only your arms, legs and abs that need exercise—you have essential body parts in your head and neck that need regular movement too.
And, as it turns out, there’s some pretty compelling research pointing to the impressive benefits that come with exercising your head and neck muscles via chewing, from helping you feel fuller for longer toimproving your cognitive functionand potentially protecting you from neurodegenerative diseases that cause cognitive impairment, like Alzheimer’s disease.
Most of us chew daily, be it noshing on a granola bar between meetings or chomping down on chicken come dinnertime—which should be enough to keep those muscles strong … right? Read on to learn more about why considering the consistency of your food is more important than you think, the connection between chewing and cognitive benefits, plus the tweaks you can make to your diet to work these muscles even more.
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Throughout history, humans have used their entire bodies to gather, grow and prepare food. But the amount of labor most people put into their food has been steadily decreasing over time, and this goes for the movements used to chew our food as well. While the mortar, pestle and mill have been around for a long time, the number of items that mechanically break down food, so you don’t have to, have significantly grown. From blenders, grinders, knives, food processors and graters to even the heat from your stove, all break down food for you. Consequently, your jaw muscles have so little to do.
Modern diets have become softer, and even diets made up of “whole” foods have become more processed—not chemically, but mechanically.
When you chew your food, you use many body parts, including your tongue, teeth, jaw bones, skull bones and muscles. And did you know that two of your body’s strongest muscles are the ones that move the jaw, called the masseters? Although these muscles are relatively small, they can exert the most pressure of all the skeletal muscles.
The forces created when you chew play a role in how your body works: chewing, ripping, tearing and swallowing stimulate your face and throat muscles and help develop optimal anatomy and function of your jaws, vocal cords … and even your brain. How does chewing support brain function? Likely multiple ways.
Maybe you’re going out of your way to eatbrain-healthy foods, like omega-3-rich ones, but how often and how hard does your jaw work daily? Your chewing muscles might be doing the equivalent of sitting in a chair all day! Make sure you’re not missing other opportunities to feed your brain while eating.
How much muscle use can you feel? Try again, now, with something chewy—jerky, cheese or dried apricots—and again with something crunchy that you have to grind. Can you feel the difference?
Of course, there are times when soft food is warranted—eating with braces, fresh dental work or oral injury. Outside of these times, though, you can approach meal preparation not only to receive the recommended daily allowance of vitamins and minerals but for your recommended amount of daily movement.
Let your daily meals cross-train your mouth. Certainly, smoothies are handy and full of dietary nutrients, but what about mechanical nutrients?
You sure want to get the most out of your food—the most flavor, the most nutrition, the best value. Chewing, grinding, tearing and all the other movements that come with eating foods that haven’t been mechanically processed for you are yet another way to think about not only eating but eating well. Start working out your chewing muscles today!
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