For the love of ALL THINGS HOLY, chew your food SLOOOOOWLY!!!!!!

[SleeveToBypass2023 1,814]

OMG, ok here's what happened. So last night, for the first time in a year and a half, I was finally in the mood for some ham (lost my liking of pork for a long time). So hubby made a hickory smoked, spiral cut ham. OMG it was AMAZING. I took a tentative bite and it was like a FLAVOR EXPLOSION in my mouth. So delicious!!! I was so excited to actually like it again that I scarfed it down. Like, I ate all 3 ounces of ham in under a minute. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT do that. Ever. Once you have your surgery (especially if it's the bypass) DO NOT EVER EVER EVER scarf your food. Even if you want to. Even if it's the greatest food in the history of all food ever. Do NOT eat it quickly. Go slow and chew it. Pretend you're a train and CHEW CHEW it. About 5 minutes after I finished eating, I was in hell. OMG. The pain, the stuck feeling, the "omg my stomach is gonna burst" feeling, the nausea, the praying to ALL the deities and making bargains and deals and swearing to never do it again...it all started. I was MISERABLE all night. And I DO mean all night. So learn from me, people. NOTHING tastes good enough to make that TERRIBLE behavior even remotely worth it. Be very mindful about what you eat, how fast you eat it, and how much of it you eat. This concludes my TED talk.

[Sigh 192]

Thank you for that timely PSA. I recently had similar experience- like omg, I am hungry for X and im gonna enjoy this dinner. Eating it quickly— then, oh no, what have i done feeling descends… so not fun throwing that back up.

SLOW and well chewed … no joke.

Glad to have this tool to remind me to slow down and watch what im doing.

[BigSue 1,320]

I used to get that stuck-on-the-way-down experience fairly often when I first reintroduced meat after surgery, but I have learned to chew my food really well to the point that it has become automatic and I rarely have that problem anymore. But last week, I went to a restaurant and got some really delicious snapper, and it was so good that I ate too much, too fast and regretted it. Fortunately, the feeling passed after about an hour, but it was not a pleasant hour and like your ham experience, it was a good reminder that I still have to eat slowly and chew well.

[Arabesque 6,478]

Oh yeah, we have to remember not to strain our tiny tummies though it is easy to forget sometimes … until our tummy reminds us quite strongly.

I’ll add to also keep to small bites. Less likely to have side effects if you are chewing large mouthfuls & swallow too much or too quickly. Plus it means you taking longer to eat.

Hope you are feeling better today.

[NCL04321 151]

Sorry you were so sick!! Even with the sleeve, we have to remember not to eat too fast! Ive done this and regretted it for about an hour as someone else mentioned above. No matter what surgery, when we eat something so delicious, we all have to remember to eat slooooowwwwllllly! I suppose we should look at it with the idea that we should savor that food that tastes so good rather than scarf it down.

[NettyD 93]

Wow thanks for the heads up this illustration actually scared me. I go in for my surgery tomorrow 🙏🏾🙏🏾

[SleeveToBypass2023 1,814]

30 minutes ago, NettyD said:

Wow thanks for the heads up this illustration actually scared me. I go in for my surgery tomorrow 🙏🏾🙏🏾

Congratulations and good luck!!! See you on the other side

[Clueless_girl 16]

On 9/24/2023 at 2:02 PM, SleeveToBypass2023 said:

OMG, ok here's what happened. So last night, for the first time in a year and a half, I was finally in the mood for some ham (lost my liking of pork for a long time). So hubby made a hickory smoked, spiral cut ham. OMG it was AMAZING. I took a tentative bite and it was like a FLAVOR EXPLOSION in my mouth. So delicious!!! I was so excited to actually like it again that I scarfed it down. Like, I ate all 3 ounces of ham in under a minute. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT do that. Ever. Once you have your surgery (especially if it's the bypass) DO NOT EVER EVER EVER scarf your food. Even if you want to. Even if it's the greatest food in the history of all food ever. Do NOT eat it quickly. Go slow and chew it. Pretend you're a train and CHEW CHEW it. About 5 minutes after I finished eating, I was in hell. OMG. The pain, the stuck feeling, the "omg my stomach is gonna burst" feeling, the nausea, the praying to ALL the deities and making bargains and deals and swearing to never do it again...it all started. I was MISERABLE all night. And I DO mean all night. So learn from me, people. NOTHING tastes good enough to make that TERRIBLE behavior even remotely worth it. Be very mindful about what you eat, how fast you eat it, and how much of it you eat. This concludes my TED talk.

Can you describe what the pain was like and where it was? I have had problems with abdominal pain forever and I had really bad pain after my surgery and recovery. I have always taken small bites and I'm a slow eater in general. The doctors said to take 30 minutes to eat and no more, which I have been doing, but I have had pain after eating and even before (not to mention nausea). But today I took about an hour to eat some chicken and I think, fingers crossed, I am okay. Maybe my bites are too small though?

[NCL04321 151]

On 1/21/2024 at 11:57 PM, Clueless_girl said:

Can you describe what the pain was like and where it was? I have had problems with abdominal pain forever and I had really bad pain after my surgery and recovery. I have always taken small bites and I'm a slow eater in general. The doctors said to take 30 minutes to eat and no more, which I have been doing, but I have had pain after eating and even before (not to mention nausea). But today I took about an hour to eat some chicken and I think, fingers crossed, I am okay. Maybe my bites are too small though?

I had the sleeve and if i eat too fast or take too big of bites it feels like it is stuck in my esophagus. probably because it doesnt all fit in your stomach so it continues up your esophagus. May be an error but you stated your dr said to take 30 minutes to eat and no more. Did you mean no less? Ive never heard about taking longer than a half hour to eat your portioned out food to be bad for us. I usually dont take more than 30 min anyway, im more like 20 min to finish my meal.

[Arabesque 6,478]

I still can take up to an hour to eat though usually 30-45 minutes. It depends on what I’m eating. I stick to my appropriate portion size & stop if I don’t need any more. I don’t eat more. 4.75 years out & I lost all my weight & more & have maintained it. I can have a slow full signal so going slowly ensures I don’t accidentally eat past me being full & then only getting the signal at the oh my God I’m going to burst stage. It’s why I tend to eat until I’ve had enough & need no more & not rely on the full signal.

However, the don’t eat for more than 20 or 30 minutes isn’t uncommon. I think it’s to stop you eating more than you need/too much. But surgeons have their own reasons for their requirements as we know.

[Clueless_girl 16]

On 1/24/2024 at 9:34 AM, NCL04321 said:

I had the sleeve and if i eat too fast or take too big of bites it feels like it is stuck in my esophagus. probably because it doesnt all fit in your stomach so it continues up your esophagus. May be an error but you stated your dr said to take 30 minutes to eat and no more. Did you mean no less? Ive never heard about taking longer than a half hour to eat your portioned out food to be bad for us. I usually dont take more than 30 min anyway, im more like 20 min to finish my meal.

I had the modified ds and it said pretty much stop eating after 30 mins or you're grazing? But it feels like 30 mins is too fast for me bc i get that feeling you're describing happens even if I've had maybe less than .5oz of anything. I'm 6 wks out from surgery too. Idk if I have gotten the "full" signal yet, just pain or nausea..