Does Chewing Gum & Drinking Water Help with Binge Eating?
September 24, 2026
The first time I Googled “how to stop binge eating”, I came across dozens of articles and reddit threads that kept suggesting the same exact strategies.
2 of the most common ones were chewing gum and drinking water.
So today we’re talking about…
What happens when you chew gum frequently or drink lots of water
Do these strategies actually work?
What worked for me instead to actually stop binge eating for good
Does Chewing Gum Help with Binge Eating?
Chewing gum can temporarily reduce your desire to eat, especially if you're craving something sweet. Research has found that chewing gum may reduce hunger, the desire to eat, and the desire for a sweet snack. However, the effects on cravings for salty or fatty foods, food preoccupation, fullness, energy intake, and weight loss are not conclusive.
And this makes sense from personal experience. You might chew a piece of fruity or minty gum and feel satisfied for a few minutes. But if what you really want is a salty or fatty snack, the gum may not make that craving go away.
You can still be thinking about food even while you're chewing.
Can chewing gum help you stop eating?
Gum may help you get through an urge temporarily, but it doesn't address the reason the binge urge is happening in the first place.
Amber explains that chewing is one of the signals your body uses to prepare for food. Your brain expects calories and nutrients to arrive after you've started chewing, but gum doesn't provide them. This can create a temporary feeling of satisfaction before the urge comes back stronger.
This is why Amber describes gum as a temporary strategy rather than a long-term solution. The research she discusses also found that chewing gum did not have an effect on overall energy intake or weight loss.
Is gum a good substitute for snacking?
If you're genuinely hungry, gum isn't a substitute for food.
And if you're using gum every night to try to prevent yourself from eating, you may be trying to manage the symptom rather than addressing the underlying binge eating habit.
Amber also points out that chewing gum can cause bloating and gas from swallowing air. Depending on how much gum you're having, artificial sweeteners can also cause digestive discomfort for some people.
One piece of gum occasionally isn't necessarily the issue. The bigger concern is repeatedly relying on gum to suppress your urges.
How to Stop Chewing So Much Gum
If you find yourself constantly chewing gum because you're afraid to eat, it's worth getting curious about what is actually happening underneath the urge.
Are you physically hungry? Are you restricting? Has the urge become a habit? Or are you trying to avoid eating because you're afraid of what might happen if you do?
Instead of continually trying to trick your body into feeling satisfied, the goal is to address the binge eating habit itself.
Amber explains that binge urges can come from biological restriction or from a learned habit. The long-term solution isn't simply finding another way to distract yourself from food.
Can Drinking Water Stop a Binge?
Drinking water can absolutely be helpful if you're dehydrated. Amber recommends making sure you're getting enough water throughout the day, since thirst can sometimes contribute to cravings.
But drinking water becomes a different strategy when you're using it specifically to make yourself feel full so you won't eat.
Amber shares that she used to drink large amounts of water, along with things like tea, broth, and diet soda, to create a feeling of fullness while she was binge eating. But she found that she could still binge afterward.
Water can temporarily create a stretched or full sensation in your stomach, but that isn't the same thing as true satisfaction.
Your binge urges aren't happening because you forgot to drink enough water or didn't chew enough gum.
They are happening because of biological restriction or because binge eating has become a habit.
What Actually Helps Stop Binge Eating?
Instead of trying to trick your body with gum, water, tea, or other zero-calorie strategies, the goal is to address the root of the binge eating habit.
Amber explains that the urge becomes quieter when you teach your brain that you're safe, you're not restricting, you're getting enough calories and nutrients, and you're managing your emotions rather than continually triggering the alarm.
If you need something to use when an urge is happening right now, download my free guided audio designed to help address the brain pathways behind the binge eating habit.
Get Support Inside the Confident Eater Program
If you're tired of trying to escape binge urges for five minutes only to have them come back, this is the work Amber teaches inside the Confident Eater Program.
The goal isn't to spend the rest of your life chewing gum, drinking water, or using other tricks to avoid eating. It's to rewire your brain so you can actually stop binge eating for good.
