So, for a week, I tried dry dining. My usual day involves fasting until 11am, after which, I constantly sip ’n’ chew, so I was surprised to find that not having a drink with my food had no impact on thirst or mouth dryness. When food was a little too warm or spicy, I tried to take a break rather than relying on water to cool things down.

In the evening, I found that avoiding water led to a slight improvement in fullness and bloating post-dinner. For once, I didn’t feel uncomfortably full. And crucially, I haven’t choked since the experiment started.

Now, it’s important to flag that when you make a health intervention, it often causes a ripple effect on other habits. By taking out the glass of water, I’ve been slightly more mindful about how I’m eating – slowing down, chewing more thoroughly – and that fact probably helped the situation. But I do think not having lots of fluids at the same time as food has helped to avoid anything going down the wrong way.

“I reduced post-dinner bloating and reflux by giving dry dining a go – here’s how it works”