Gum chewing habits.

Yes, I chew the gum,very often. Chewing gum, ching-um, rubbery juicy thing. Anything you call it, I love it. You can say, I need gum to think, to write, to see performances/movies, to travel, to study, during mid-night strolls, while listening to music, while waiting, etc etc. In short, every activity that needs me to talk less. [Ha ha, not that i have not mastered the technique of talking while chewing the gum.]
It helps me de-stress, postpone hunger till real meals, refreshes me, helps me concentrate, makes me feel better...

Barring very few places, I turn up anywhere chewing like a ruminant. Given a chance to chew, I pounce on it. Everyday, while traveling, chewing is a must. You will always find a juicy fruit pack or orbit strip or big bubble or boomer or various new catchy brands like bubbaloo [:-], in my bag, always. I chew 2 strips at a time, if in mood, blow blow, blow all over the place :-P. Currently chewing 'juicy fruit' as I type this. If I am giving a presentation, i need it right before and after it. I even went to dates, chewing :-P [not that I have had too many, still..]

Well, the places you will never find me chewing gum would be,
*~*while eating, for obvious reasons.
*~*in lectures, never. Its like you are insulting the professor.
*~*while sleeping. No, on second thoughts, u might catch me chewing gum, yea, possible.
*~*while on phone. Not that I have not tried, people can't make out what I say.
*~*in debates. You have to speak most and speak fast to make your point, he he..
*~*in front of mum, she hates it, gum.

According to my mother's glorious theory, when we chew, stomach releases gastric juices to digest the food. This helps in good digestion, thus the purpose of chewing every morsel 25 times. Well, in case of chewing gum, we chew so much, but no food reaches the stomach. so?
So, leads to acidity, burrpp!
As a kid, I used to argue, "can't it be stored and used when we eat food later?" Well, now as a biochemistry and food science student, this argument sounds so stupid. No, it cant, pH of gastric juice is 1. store? body cannot tolerate it. Degrades the stomach lining cells. Yea, does...
Moreover, chewing too much spoils dentition, not that mine needs any more spoiling....

Why am I typing all this here? Coz even when I know its wrong, cant give it up! What to do, I love to chew! [rhymes :-P] Yea, yea, call me a cow from the previous life [courtesy mum]. And then, I feel guilty :-(

Do old bad habits never die?
Did you guys give up something you have been doing all your life? Are you still trying?
Or do I have to try really hard?
But do I wanna give it up?

Darn! I am confused.......