First off, what is a taboo? This is defined as:

“A social or religious custom prohibiting or forbidding discussion of a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing.”

Culture creates taboos from almost anything these days. So what are some of the major issues with chewing gum? A quick search finds people are appalled at gum chewers in private settings. This can be anything from a workplace environment to a funeral. There are certain situations where it is just rude to chew gum, and I would believe a funeral is top of the list. Who wants to listen to someone smacking lips and loud chew noises in a time of grief. I think the same thing goes for a wedding ceremony, it is a private, quiet time.

If you are like many people, candy is a large part of life. Everyone is aware of the health issues involved, but we keep eating it! So what are a few tips and tricks you can use to wean off of candy?

First step: Ease of access

If candy is prevalent around the home or office, it is going to be eaten. No simple way around this, you need to remove the candy and replace it with sugar free gum (or sugar free candy). The best way is to put the gum in easy to find places - right on top of the counter. Have some in the desk drawer of on top of your desk at work. If there is that lady who has a ton of candy on her desk at the office, see if she is willing to swap it out. A good first step might even be sugar free candy (not the chocolate that many people use). Explain to this person that you are trying to improve your health and their candy bowl is a large trigger so would they like to help you out? Most people are not going to say no. Typically they brought it in for other people so their family doesn’t eat it. A little selfish but that’s life.

Treating ourselves to a piece of bubble gum or a candy bar is one of the things we do mindlessly to satisfy our craving for something with a sweet taste. We do this while carrying out our daily activities, anywhere and anytime.

However, the myth surrounding bubble gum and candy bars is that if it’s too sweet, then it’s no good for your health. Surprisingly, this is not truly the case, because they have been found to have so many positive effects on health and general well-being. Being a connoisseur of chewing bubble gum, I can testify to some of the health benefits that can be derived from pleasing my sweet tooth.

Even with a slow down in global sales, gum products are still going strong. Here are the top products for 2017!

The latest in a trend for delicious and healthy is First Orbit White soft chew:

This is one of the first gums trying to be healthy (in that it cleans your teeth) and be easy to chew. They are still hard to find, but slowly rolling out to stores.

If you have been to a grocery store in 2017, you can see that gum is still the main stay of the checkout aisle (but protein bars are starting to push it out). What does it mean to be the Top Gum (not Top Gun that’s an entirely different blog). Well in our opinion it’s the top seller and the one more people are using. We tend to conduct random polls of passer-bys and online reviews.

This may seem counter-intuitive to talk about things that are alternatives to this blog, but we want to cover all aspects of “treats”. What other things can you use as a reward instead of candy or chewing gum?

Well turns out there are tons of things!

Here are some of my favorites:

• Have a glass of wine!
• Eat an apple or other fruit that you enjoy
• Don’t forget about vegetables - carrots are a great snack and pretty much calorie free
• Dried fruit is also a great snack option that is healthy too
• Do some “retail therapy” and do some window shopping (only buy something if you need it of course)
• Have a nice cup of Coffee
• Can eat some nuts or other salty treats

Many people chew gum to help with their bad breath, but does it actually change anything or just mask it?

We have all had them, the boss or co-worker that has coffee breath and it’s just painful. Constantly offering them gum doesn’t seem to do the trick. But would it help anyways?

The trick lies in your spit, which is what’s responsible for cleaning your mouth out and keeping things tidy. It also has the benefit of washing bacteria away. So if you have a lack of spit, then you have more bacteria. Gums that have a strong scent are able to cover up the odor, but what they do is help you create more saliva. The more saliva you have, the more ability you have to wash away the smell creating bacteria.

Do you see a future in bubble gum, or candy in general? As children, candy and gum is one of our main life fulfillment’s. We constantly strive to find candy. Kids in this day and age seem to want more complex candy (bars, etc) than the simple one piece items. This many be a huge reason the in store candy vending machines are a thing of the past. How many of those have you seen in the last few years?

First on the list from child-hood is Beechies gum. This stuff has been around for a very long time (at least the 1940’s):

One of the most memorable gums from the past is candy cigarettes. You felt so cool pretending to smoke these (which we all know is horrible but your kids):

We can’t forget about bubble gum cigars! Bring these out for those special events. The 80’s were full of these and they can still be fun, especially if you are not a smoker:

There is a growing trend to get chemicals out of gum and most candies. This is great for any of us that are health conscious. Who knows what the long term effects are of that stuff. So here is a list of “organic” gum’s that look pretty clean:

Chicza Organic Rainforest Gum:

Sounds pretty interesting, they only have a few ingredients: