Do You Chew?

When you are eating a meal, how many times do you actually chew each bite? I remember watching my brother eat... shoveling food into his mouth without taking a break to finish chewing the food that's already there... I would be mesmerized... seriously, how does that work?
I know it's a known fact that taking your time while eating, and chewing your food more is a good thing, but now research has come out with specifics on how much it helps! According to Health Magazine, October 2011, Chewing each bite 40 times (usually we chew around 15 times) may help you eat around 12 calories less per meal. Chewing more is also found to prevent hunger by lowering the hormone ghrelin (an appetite-stimulating hormone) and increasing cholecystokinin (an appetite-reducing hormone).

Think about how quickly those calories add up just by slowing down and chewing more! I am absolutely going to keep this in mind, and chew a little extra before swallowing that bite!