When a friend returned from Lanserhof, one of Europe’s hottest wellness retreats, I made her tell me everything over a gourmet vegan repast at abcV. She told of gorgeous hikes through ancient towns and meditative sauna sessions—and one rather surprising habit she had brought home as a souvenir: chewing every individual bite of food more than 30 times. She applied this practice throughout our meal, chewing, chewing, chewing every mouthful of lettuce cups, turmeric cauliflower, and market beets. It made for a lengthy dinner.
If you think Lanserhof’s mastication rule seems extreme, look to science. There are studies behind the super-chewing rule: Overprocessing your food orally, a.k.a. chewing a lot, breaks down the food both physically and chemically (your saliva has enzymes that start the process before it reaches your stomach) and leads to better digestion, a stronger oral immune system, reduced food intake, and higher satisfaction with your meal in the long run. In Ayurveda, it’s referred to as complete chewing, the practice of wholly digesting food from mouth to stomach.
Out of curiosity, I immediately started counting my own chews per bite. A kosher pickle: two. The Mediterranean chicken bowl from Springbone: three to five. Spinach salad: again two. Annie’s Gluten-Free Mac and Cheese: zero. (Wait, did I just swallow that pasta whole? Yes, I did.) I tracked that when multitasking during a meal—watching a movie, scrolling through Instagram, answering emails—chewing, or simply noticing the flavors of the meal, wasn’t on the menu. Instead, I ate like a snake, swallowing everything on my plate in as few bites as possible.
During our weekly staff meeting, I brought up these observations and mentioned that I was contemplating an overhaul to my slapdash eating style. Mark Guiducci, Vogue’s creative editorial director and the genius behind Vogue World, mentioned that he too had visited Lanserhof and learned something about himself while counting his chews.
“The practice made me much more aware of what I was consuming, maybe even more grateful for it,” he told me. “I am certainly more conscious that a meal is actually about eating—strange as that is to say—rather than just a time for conversation or to read the news.”
Manhattan dentist Michael J. Wei, DDS, not only agrees with Lanserhof’s advice, he even one-ups it. “The recommended amount of chewing for optimal digestion and oral health is 30 to 50 times per bite, depending on the type and texture of the food,” he says. The thicker or tougher the food (i.e., a steak or something more fibrous), the more time it should spend in your mouth. Though, Wei adds, proper technique is key to protecting your teeth. “Doing it incorrectly can cause teeth to wear down, create jaw pain and tension, impact our face muscles, and even lead to digestive issues.”
I never thought I would need lessons on how to properly chew in my 30s. But, just in case, I listened keenly to Wei’s advice: Chew slowly and evenly, using your back teeth in a gentle side-to-side motion.
Dinner time suddenly left me a lot of time to think. My first thought: Wow, my kitchen chairs actually weren’t that comfortable. Next up: Would all of this chewing start to bulk up my masseter muscle? For the last three years, I’ve been going to David Shafer, MD, FACS, for off-label Botox injections into my jowls. The neurotoxin’s benefit is twofold: It both stops me from clenching and slims the bulked-up muscle to give my face a more heart-shaped appearance. Would all this chewing offset the ‘tox? “Yes, more chewing means a larger masseter muscle,” Shafer replied to my scared text. Okay, something in the chewing cons list.
Guiducci confessed during our conversation that he gave up Lanserhof’s mastication mandate “the minute I stepped on the plane.” I certainly won’t be spending my Thanksgiving meal chewing each bite of turkey and stuffing 30-plus times each—if anything, 15 times feels like a reasonable middle ground—though, even better, I’ll just be more attuned to what I’m putting in my mouth. That seems better than obsessing about technique or focusing on a number.
This story first appeared on vogue.com
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