I'm curious...what is the difference between eating foods that are pureed in a blender before you put them in your mouth - vs. - soft foods that you put in your mouth and puree by chewing before swallowing?

I'm wondering because I began purees yesterday and some things I'd like to eat pureed are just difficult or time consuming to take the time to puree. Plus, it's difficult to visually accept how some things look pureed. However, as long as I'm chewing it down to puree before I swallow, what harm would I actually be doing? I can't see the difference here. I ate 2 scrambled eggs and a small single pancake today to try it out at lunchtime. I chewed and chewed and took a very long time eating. I did a great job making sure I didn't swallow until it was pureed in my mouth first and I personally don't understand what is wrong with that. I knew I was full when I began to feel gassy and did some small burping.

Any advice from experienced bandsters? :tt1:

The difference is that with puree the food is liquid before it goes in your mouth and therefore places no stress on the stomach which is vital to healing.

Regardless of how well one chews small bits of food are going to remain. The stomach will work harder to digest those bits that didn't get chewed to liquid. Eating this type of food too soon can hurt the healing which is why we get instructions from our docs on the progression of liquids to mushies to solids.

I know right now you're probably feeling great and are wanting to eat solids as quickly as possible, but it really is important to follow our doctors instructions to ensure we have the band for life.

Good luck,

I agree. The puree is to give the healing process time and let your body focus where it needs to.

Further, though its a bother and somewhat visually unappealing to do the puree thing, accept this step in your process! If you are going to fight your band from day one, push the "rules", you may find you don't get to have the ideal relationship with it you've been dreaming of!

Absolutely agree with those above.

Also, the longer you are chewing and chewing, your stomach is churning and churning and producing acid and enzymes in anticipation of the food that is in your mouth. Okay, so it's not like your stomach is doing a 440, but it is working and moving in preparation of food coming down. (Notice how your mouth waters when you smell something yummy?) Any extra movement you don't have to have in the early stages of healing is good to avoid. The band is held in place on the front with sutures, but the back has to scar into place, the scars take longer to heal with the more the stomach moves.

I'm curious...what is the difference between eating foods that are pureed in a blender before you put them in your mouth - vs. - soft foods that you put in your mouth and puree by chewing before swallowing?

No non-pureed pieces accidentally making their way down, which DOES happen. There's no such thing as "pureed" in your mouth. You can tell yourself that, but it isn't going to happen.

Okay...I understand where you all are coming from. Makes a little more sense. I guess I was more concerned about being somewhere where pureeing isn't going to be possible. I know Soups, oatmeal and mashed potatoes are always an option, so I'll just learn to stick with those for the next 12 days if I have to eat away from home.

I'm not trying to break rules. I don't want to appear like "one of those" band people who just don't wanna follow doc's rules. I'm following very well...I just thought there wasn't much difference when pureeing in your mouth to the point of disintegration. Like what I had seemed not-so-bad. It's all a learning process! I'm happy to follow the rules as I'm not usually one to break them. I'll stay away from the scrambled eggs until I have a blender handy next time. :tt1: