I’m 4 weeks post op and am struggling with getting food wet enough to swallow without feeling stuck.

If I start with something that is moist, like tuna with mayo, by the time I have chewed it, all the mayo seems to be gone and I’m left with very dry chewed up tuna that is hard to swallow.

Lately I have been eating food in a bit of cream soup, like a soft boiled egg in a tbsp of cream soup or broth. Then when I’m ready to swallow, I add a wee bit of the soup to hep it go down. Not sure if this is cheating or not.

If I chew less it doesn’t get as dry but it’s too chunky for me.

Do I need to go back to chewing school? ?

I think you are doing the right thing by adapting but you should discuss with your dietitian.

I see them tomorrow and will ask about it. ?

I mostly wasn’t sure if I’m weird or if other people have trouble with this too.

I totally get what you mean ClareLynn! I feel the exact same about tuna, and I think that’s why it didn’t (and still doesn’t at 4 months po) sit well in my stomach.
I‘ve tried mixing it with avocado and a little bit of mayo instead of just mayo and that did help a little in keeping it more moist, but not enough for me to want to keep eating it, so I’m not sure that’ll help.
But at least now you know you’re not alone! ?

There are certain foods that end up chewing to a dry lump of dry lump stuff.

I know must all of us have been told "the rules," one of which is "don't drink with meals" and another is "Don't drink for 30 minutes before or after eating."

Honestly the rules are not written in stone. Virtually every rule my Doc and I have had reason to adjust to fit a situation in which I found myself. One was this precise situation being discussed. I was told that if I have a dry mouth full of food it's OK to take a sip to moisten it so it can be swallowed safely. Better that than trying to swallow a dry blob that would (for me) likely block my stoma for a time.

I would guess that at about 4-6 months I learned I didn't need to over chew as I did earlier and the problem went away, except when I encounter very dry foods when I still sip if necessary.

Good luck,

Tek

Edited December 23, 20214 yr by The Greater Fool
30 what Tek? Minutes is the answer.

I also have this problem; no you're not alone! I find it happens especially with lean proteins. I agree with @TheGreaterFool. My surgery center said we could have a tiny bit of liquid to moisten our mouth with. I haven't been doing that, but it might help you. I don't see how having a tiny bit of cream soup with your meat is any different than having mayo or sauce.

I did find that with tuna I have to use a LOT of light Miracle Whip (don't judge; I grew up with Miracle Whip!). I'm 3.5 months out and I still need to do that. I also find if my food has cheese on it it's better. But maybe I just love cheese?

Oh this makes me feel sooo much better! ❤️

An addition:

This is where understanding the "why" of our rules is necessary.

The "why" of "Don't drink for 30 (or whatever) minutes before and/or after meals" is to prevent our meal from being washed through to quickly may cause us to get hungry quicker between meals. A sip is not going to wash anything anywhere, it's no different than the moisture already in the food. Sip not gulp, just to be clear.

Knowing the "why" of the rules will help us make good choices when we find ourselves in an unusual situation for which we were unprepared.

Good luck,

Tek

An addition:

This is where understanding the "why" of our rules is necessary.

The "why" of "Don't drink for 30 (or whatever) minutes before and/or after meals" is to prevent our meal from being washed through to quickly may cause us to get hungry quicker between meals. A sip is not going to wash anything anywhere, it's no different than the moisture already in the food. Sip not gulp, just to be clear.

Knowing the "why" of the rules will help us make good choices when we find ourselves in an unusual situation for which we were unprepared.

Good luck,

Tek

I was showed this in my pre- op classes and it explained it best for me. I'm a visual learner. [emoji18]

https://youtube.com/shorts/oNdeGkkwqlw?feature=share

Nannette

My dietician totally did not understand it today when I tried to explain it. She just kept repeating that I should use a tsp of non-fat mayo mixed with a 2oz serving of tuna.

I think that this dietician isn’t going to be very helpful to me long term and I should consider finding someone who “gets” WLS people better.

She was mostly interested in telling me to eat as low fat as physically possible, quibbling over 2g extra per serving. I don’t think it’s a very maintainable way to look at things.

Also there were a few contradictions between what my surgeon and the hospital told me and what she said. It was mostly confusing and reinforced my distrust of dieticians…

15 hours ago, TRAVELRN said:

I was showed this in my pre- op classes and it explained it best for me. I'm a visual learner.

https://youtube.com/shorts/oNdeGkkwqlw?feature=share

Nannette

That's a reasonable illustration of drinking with meals and why we should not drink during meals.

But, to ensure folks understand what they are seeing...

The video food is something that looks like applesauce or something with a consistency of applesauce. When one adds fluid to applesauce one is adding fluid to a food that already has plenty of fluid, causing the week sauce to flow through the funnel.

Imagine the same exercise with a ball of bread dough (aka, a dry lump of lumpiness). Ouch.

Good luck,

Tek

15 hours ago, ClareLynn said:

My dietician totally did not understand it today when I tried to explain it. She just kept repeating that I should use a tsp of non-fat mayo mixed with a 2oz serving of tuna.

I think that this dietician isn’t going to be very helpful to me long term and I should consider finding someone who “gets” WLS people better.

She was mostly interested in telling me to eat as low fat as physically possible, quibbling over 2g extra per serving. I don’t think it’s a very maintainable way to look at things.

Also there were a few contradictions between what my surgeon and the hospital told me and what she said. It was mostly confusing and reinforced my distrust of dieticians…

Our surgery center dieticians were also focused on low-fat everything, but I am not about to eat diet cheese. When I asked why low fat was necessary, and what it had to do with weight loss surgery, she just said it was because low-fat was generally healthier, especially low saturated fat. Well, there's much debate about that, so I told her I was going to continue to eat cheese, because my life would be sad without cheese. As you said, it has to be sustainable. Plus... if the mayo is fat free, why does it only have to be 1 tsp?

One thing I did learn later is that if you have a lot of fat intake as you are losing weight rapidly, it can increase your chances of having gallbladder issues. I'm trying to keep low fat where I can, but still eat CHEESE!

Did your surgery center not have a dietician of their own? If not, I'd ask them for a recommendation for a dietician familiar with WLS patients. Not that you will necessarily have a better outcome, but maybe!

My surgeon works out of this hospital and the dietician is the hospital dietician. I’ll call them after Christmas and see if they can recccomend another.

It’s not like I am not trying to eat low fat most of the time. It’s just that I don’t want someone jumping all over the little stuff like when I eat regular cottage cheese when that’s what was available and not helping me with the bigger picture.

So this may be very specific to me and my messed up palate and teeth but I found a way to chew that doesn’t dry out my food.

I keep my chin down and look at the floor. Then I use my tongue to keep pushing my food with each chew back towards the front so that I don’t accidentally swallow juices while chewing.

Really weird, I assume I don’t chew correctly, I could only ever chew on one side anyway so it’s probably a bad habit I picked up to deal with bad teeth.

Now that I’m doing this, it takes a lot of concentration(!) the food is staying moist. Though I still need sips occasionally too.

Thanks for letting me now little sips to help food go down is okay!