The healthiest way to slow down speed-eating is to start chewing - a long-forgotten activity in the repertoire of most moderns, adults as well as children. If for no other reason, the prevention of death by choking should serve to motivate us to start masticating. There's a saying, Drink your solids and chew your liquids." To "drink" your solids means to chew them so well that they pass like liquids down your throat. To "chew" your liquids means to enjoy the sensation of them throughout your mouth. Good advice for the gulpers among us.

Besides the physical effect (the aid to digestion through the breakdown of complex carbohydrates by the enzymes in saliva), the advantages of chewing include a ready outlet for stress, a strengthening of the will, and patience and peace enhanced by conscious eating.

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