...It's Hard to Chew

While it may seem like a nonchalant task, the act of chewing is actually an intense muscular activity.  While noshing on softer foods (such as bananas, jello, marshmallow peeps, pudding, vegetable puree) doesn't require as much energy, consuming hard to chew foods (such as taffy, overcooked sirloin, old I-found-it-in-my-pocket tootsie rolls,  buffalo jerky, and frozen snicker bars) can turn the seemingly easy task into an arduous one.

As you can see in the diagram above, there are several facial muscles involved when masticating.  There is the main jaw muscle, the cheek muscle, the upper lip muscle, and yes, even the muscle by your temple is involved.  Also, if you are an intense chewer, your eye, chin, and nose muscles could come in to play. Now, while they don't burn many calories on their own, when used in conjunction with each other, the calorie expenditure increases exponentially.  So the next time you decide to have a Snicker's bar, just pop it in the freezer for a few minutes to cancel out any potential calorie gains.

Trust me.  I'm a doctor*.

*In theory.