Water and Food Together? (Specific Question)

[Beck90 189]

Yes.. I know you're not supposed to drink while you're eating.

Yesterday I had a bit of a schedule mismatch because I got so busy that until 6:30 pm I drank a lot but forgot to eat anything but 4 oz of cottage cheese all day. Yes. I am aware this isn't good for my body.. it was an accident. I'm only 4 weeks out so I'm still getting used to "scheduling" meals (especially when I'm busy) because my body doesn't tell me to eat anymore and I'm sooo not used to that - before my stomach would never let me skip a meal.. So I don't have it down to a perfect science yet.

So basically let me prefix this with.. I don't need scolding or warning that that wasn't wise.. It was a mistake based on still being new to this..

Anyway - because I ate so little.. I thought I would try drinking a little Water with my supper so I could try to fit in a little more food because.. I did need it.. I had been told drinking while eating was a bad idea because it lets food go through your stomach faster so you can eat more.

But it seemed like the opposite happened to me.. It seemed like because I drank I had even LESS room in my stomach to put food in there and got full twice as fast as I normally would. Can anyone explain why my experience was so different than what I'd heard about?

[Valentina 2,642]

Water (any fluid) takes up space that your Protein needs.

I don't feel hunger and I'm 5yrs out. What I do if I know I'm going to be out and about is to set the alarm on my cell phone. When it goes off, I eat.

It also helps with Head Hunger. If I think I'm hunger, but I notice that it is not time for me to eat, then I know it is only head hunger.

I hope this helps a wee bit.

Good luck on your journey. Make it joyful.

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

@@Beck90

Fluids don't take up any space for me or really anyone unless you have a stricture. Fluids move right through your body, as you can see on a live swallow test. The valve at the bottom of the stomach opens basically all the time to let things pass through. Like I said you can see this on a live swallow test, and some Drs like Matthew Weiner talk about this.

The reason at 4 weeks you don't have room is because you are still swollen and healing. Drinking while eating that early out is basically allowing you to exceed what should be your natural capacity, and by the time you are feeling that you are too full it is basically too late. This is because of the swelling and you are still healing. The nerves are not all reconnected so by the time you are "feeling" full, you have already over filled your sleeve.

Once your sleeve is totally healed at around 6 months, this won't be the case and drinking while eating will allow you to just push food through quickly.

Edited June 26, 2016 by OutsideMatchInside

[Djmohr 6,965]

I cannot speak regarding sleeve patients but from a bypass perspective it is critical that you do not eat and drink at the same time.

The reason for this is because you can accidentally push larger amount of food through the stoma causing it to stretch over time. Once that stretches, you lose the value of the surgery because food makes its way through faster causing you to need to eat more often. If you happen to be someone like me who probably does NOT chew enough even now, that can be a big problem for you. Never eat and drink at the same time.

I read an article about this and followed up by asking my doctor. She confirmed this is true. The article led me to believe that it is true for sleeve patients as well but I am not positive about that nor did I confirm that portion. Maybe someone else knows for sure.

The stoma is the part of our surgeries that can get stretched by not following the no drink rule. There are many myths about the stomach stretching when it is in fact the stoma that opens to the small intestine.