I'm 8 1/2 weeks out. My Nut has instructed to make my 4 oz meal last 30 minutes. If I don't over eat, and it doesn't hurt to eat fast, what is the purpose of eating slow. I read that it makes you stay fuller longer but that doesn't matter to me because I just eat when I'm supposed to and I stay within my range of where I'm supposed to be.

For me, if I eat too fast the food gets stuck in my stoma and then nothing will pass into my stomach. It is a horrible feeling. The only way I can get to feel better is to get the stuck food back up. It happens when I eat too fast of take too big of a bite of food. My meals usually take around 20 minutes. There is no way I can make such a small meal last 30 minutes!

i've learned that if i eat too fast, the food will come back up, so i eat slow and chew everything at least 20-25 times to avoid any issues

Brown eyed gal,

I believe if you chew your food slowly and eat slowly, you won't overfill the stomach. Also drinking 30 mins before or after is so you have room for your protein and absorb the nutrients. Otherwise the liquid will take up too much room in your pouch. Hope that helps a little.

It was explained to me that the digestive process starts in the mouth. Our saliva contains enzymes that help break down our food before it digests and eating quickly is a poor habit that many obese people have developed. Also, food won't get stuck because it's easier to swallow when it's mostly broken down already and our new pouches can tolerate it better. In addition, I was told the longer it takes to eat my food, the more I get to savor each morsel, and perhaps ward off the desire to overeat (or to avert "head hunger".)

I know I gained the majority of my weight during the last 13 years when the meal period at my work went from an hour to a half hour. I learned to eat fast so I could eat all of my lunch and still visit. Unfortunately, that sense of urgency to make it back to my shift on time carried over into my other meal times. I ate my food and didn't get the satiety that I got when I took my time to eat.

I've been taking this (six month) period of time before my surgery to get used to eating smaller bites and chew my food well. I figure the sooner I develop these habits, the easier it will be for me after my surgery. I'm on a liquid diet with one meal per day, and all the (select) veggies I can eat. I definitely savor every teensy bite!

To annoy you to death I'm sure! Lol.

It was explained to me at the doc's that to get the full feeling that will train your head to not feel hunger for the 4 - 5 hours until the next meal you have to take that 25 to 30 minutes to eat your meal. Apparently it takes time for your stomach to talk to your head. A snail mail issue, I believe. Another way of putting it a 10 minute meal will keep hunger at bay for 2 hours, a 15 minute, 3 hours and so forth. Obviously the small bites and chewing everything to death is to allow proper digestion given our new stomachs.

It is a known fact that obesity and eating fast go hand and hand. Given what I know now, I wish I had taken to heart what nutritionists had told me in the past before WLS. You have to eat slowly.

Thanks to all of you. I can eat fast with no problem, which may be a problem. I'm going to make a real effort to s l o w down.

Your stoma is about the diameter of a pencil. If you do not chew your food well enough, the food may not be able to pass thru. That is also why my nut said no thick soft chewy bread (one of my favorites), because it turns into a dough ball and just sits there. What does not go thru, must come out another way. I don't know about you, but I hate puking. Chewing well is so much easier.