Hello all

What i don't understand is if we chew chew and chew so the food is like soft food and the pouch will become empty as we eat, i understood that the band stops us from eating as much because our pouch became full as we eat, so why do we want to eat slow so the food empties? why do we want to make the food pass the pouch? because we will not feel full then, will we?

I'm sorry i just don't get it,i have read and read but can't find anything that tells me how this it meant to work or works to the point that we are not emptying our pouch as we eat slow

many thanks

Cherie

I am pre-band but i thought we had to eat slow and chew well to make sure the food gets past the band but please someone correct me if i am wrong.

It's also for digestion. This is how the nutritionist explained it to me. The whole stomach contains acids which break down the foods before they pass on to the intestines. Since our stomachs are now divided, the upper portion (or pouch) has only a small amount of acids in it which come up through the banded area from the lower stomach. Therefore, the foods don't get broken down as much as we are used to before they move along. I don't think our food passed through the banded area prior to this process with the stomach acids, so even though we chew, chew, chew this does not mean the food will just pass right on by leaving the pouch empty in no time at all. If that were the case, there would be little point in telling us not to drink with our meals. I hope this helped.

It's also for digestion. This is how the nutritionist explained it to me. The whole stomach contains acids which break down the foods before they pass on to the intestines. Since our stomachs are now divided, the upper portion (or pouch) has only a small amount of acids in it which come up through the banded area from the lower stomach. Therefore, the foods don't get broken down as much as we are used to before they move along. I don't think our food passed through the banded area prior to this process with the stomach acids, so even though we chew, chew, chew this does not mean the food will just pass right on by leaving the pouch empty in no time at all. If that were the case, there would be little point in telling us not to drink with our meals. I hope this helped.

was it hard getting use to not eating with your meal, or having to wait 30 min after?

I don't think our food passed through the banded area prior to this process with the stomach acids, so even though we chew, chew, chew this does not mean the food will just pass right on by leaving the pouch empty in no time at all. If that were the case, there would be little point in telling us not to drink with our meals.

I can agree with some of this!

With my pouch I can feel the food sit there for some time, even an hour later. If I don't chew well, lets say chicken, I can sure feel the pain of it tring to pass down through the band. It's like a lump in my chest. Chewy is the name of my band, cause I hate that feeling like something is stuck then finaly go's down.

It is literally like sand in an hourglass. Anything bigger than sand would get stuck - but even sand can't all run out at once.

You get full - but the food can still pass on to where it needs to go to be digested.

Make sense? The band has turned your stomache into a biological hourglass.

:]

When and if I drink wirh a meal it almost always ends with me throwing up. Plus they say not to drink because it washes the food through faster. You will not like the pain of the big chunks of food stuck and will not want to do that again. So with out chew, chew, chew I also will throw up from something getting stuck. Monday I had apples and pretty soon they had to come out.

Lori

I've been banded a year and a half. Here's my best synopsis. If I don't chew my food really well I eat too fast. If I eat too fast, by the time my band is able to tell me it's full it' already too late. The slower I eat, the better I'm able to recognize the sensation of being "band full". I stop eating and just sit for several minutes during evey meal. People look at me strange, but I'm waiting for my food to get far enough down so I know when to stop eating. Sounds weird, hope it makes sense. :mad: