Substitute For Gum

[Kelli70]

Hello!  I am getting ready to start Whole 30 on May 1.  I am excited and have got the pantry and fridge ready to start.  The one area where I'm struggling to change is gum.  I am a gum chewer! I use it to help with heartburn and nausea. It also helps me prevent from snacking and helps deter my sugar cravings.  I have looked up alternatives and some I am not willing to try and others I have tried, but do not work for me.  Any suggestions?

[laura_juggles]

If you don't tell us what you're not willing to try and what you already know doesn't work, it's hard to offer additional suggestions that you haven't already considered. 

[ladyshanny]

Chewing on mint leaves or fennel seed, drinking water, mint teas, brushing teeth etc are all what we would normally suggest. Some people also find that starting to do oil pulling on a daily basis helps overall.

[Jihanna]

During W30, I learned that I could ditch peppermints by keeping a cup of ice close at hand (crushed or small enough cubes so I can suck on them easily, keeping my mouth from drying out without constantly drinking) and using mint or ginger tea to help with stomach issues (generally mint for nausea and ginger for indigestion). Granted, that doesn't give the same "chewing" action unless you're going to crunch on the ice (which I don't recommend, for the sake of your enamel), but maybe it'll help.

I will say that my W30 intake drastically decreased my occurrences of nausea and other stomach issues (from nearly daily to maybe once per week, and with new-found knowledge of certain foods that almost always cause it), so I'll hope you experience something similar!

[Kelli70]

Thank you! I have been reading up on some items to use. However, I am not a fan of apple-cider vinegar unless it's used with other ingredients to highly offset the taste. I have tried the baking soda, and it did not go well. I am not a huge fan of ginger.  I will try the mint leaves and fennel seeds next. 

I am hoping that the changes in my diet will alleviate the heartburn and nausea.  I do suffer from migraines so the main reason for the nausea is due to the migraine medicine.  I am putting high hopes that there is some miracle food issue that once removed from my diet will take care of the migraines. (Wishful thinking, I know!)

[ladyshanny]

Interestingly, the gum chewing could be contributing to both heartburn and nausea and possibly to the headaches (not sure if you have actual migraine or are just using it as a common term for severe headache).

Gum creates a constant chewing motion which can aggravate facial, skull and neck muscles causing headaches. Also when you chew gum, you send the signal to your digestive system that food is coming so it turns on the stomach acids etc and then no food comes. Most gum also includes artificial sweeteners which can also upset the stomach and cause headaches with overuse.

May be very interesting for you to see what happens over the 30 days!

[Kelli70]

23 hours ago, ladyshanny said:

Interestingly, the gum chewing could be contributing to both heartburn and nausea and possibly to the headaches (not sure if you have actual migraine or are just using it as a common term for severe headache).

Gum creates a constant chewing motion which can aggravate facial, skull and neck muscles causing headaches. Also when you chew gum, you send the signal to your digestive system that food is coming so it turns on the stomach acids etc and then no food comes. Most gum also includes artificial sweeteners which can also upset the stomach and cause headaches with overuse.

May be very interesting for you to see what happens over the 30 days!

Well after reading this, I threw out my whole pack of gum.  Funny no doctor could tell me this. Will be interesting to see how the month goes.  Thank you for this!