Yowza! This hurts!

[slimmap 1]

Okay, I have done a really stupid thing. I ate too much tonight. I ate waaay too much tonight. And now it hurts like crazy. I ate a big bowl of rice and then I had another. What can I do to relieve the pain until it stops. Could I cause a slip by doing this? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[RestlessMonkey 7]

When were you banded? Depending on when you were banded yes it might cause a slip if you aren't well healed. Otherwise all you can do is 1. WAIT for the food to go through and 2. REMEMBER to listen to your body. If you overeat on foods that aren't sliders, you're going to pay for it.

[Jachut 487]

No, you cant make the pain go away. That's your penance for having overeaten. You have to wait until your stomach empties a bit.

Overeating is FAR more painful than being stuck in my view. And often all it takes is that last bite on your plate that is sooooo tempting (we all like to clear our plates!). Its so easy to do and so painful when you do it. I hate it and am lots lots better at not doing it because to me, the pain is just not worth it.

[melmarlem 0]

I haven't been banded yet, but my dietician said no rice allowed!! Has anyone else been told this too? :biggrin:

[willowcat 93]

my dietician said that brown rice was ok

[RestlessMonkey 7]

I was told well-cooked rice and Pasta are ok. They both can continue to absorb liquid and swell, so she said to make sure they are pretty well done before eating them.

[keithf 2]

"Instant pain, just add water"?

I was told to eat my Proteins first. When I had all my Proteins, then I could consider nutritious vegetation (such as broccoli). Starch is not particularly nutritious, and considering my energy needs are already supplied (hence the weight loss), and my nutrition needs otherwise met by a combination of (zero-calorie) Vitamin pills and food Protein, there's pretty much no call to waste my calorie budget on what is, effectively, not doing me any good.

I just tend to remember -- despite all the fabulous dishes you can make with it (ah! chicken biryani...) -- rice (and beer) is still central to getting sumo wrestlers to their rather prodigious state.

[elcee 3,341]

Carbs are not the evil monster a lot of people believe them to be. They do actually form an important part of a healthy diet.

In fact reading a lot of the posts on this board it seems like a lot of bandsters are on the "Atkins diet" or at least a modified form thereof.

I have not been told to stay away from carbs nor have I been told to eat Protein first.What my surgeon aims for is a balanced diet.

Having said all that though I have been warned that rice can cause problems which means that I am not likely to try eating it in any kind of quantity. I think it is better if you choose the kind that doesn't stick together in clumps when cooked and also mix it with your mince or whatever you are eating with it.

[ParrotheadCathy 0]

Mel, white rice is just one of those foods that commonly cause bandsters problems. That doesn't mean it will cause every one of us problems. The only white rice I've eaten was in sushi and I didn't have a problem with it. Soft bread, however, doesn't work for me -- it's on the same list but a lot of people eat sandwiches without a problem; NOT me. Asparagus, celery, well you've probably heard the whole list. I can safely say that what doesn't work for me will likely not cause you a problem ... and what does work for me may not work for you. It's just the way this thing works.

[bambam 0]

Like Restless Monkey my doctor said to be cautious of Pasta and rice as they continue to absorb and can swell in the stomach once eaten. He advised making sure they are well cooked (having it at home versus when eating out so you have control over this). I try to limit them as much as possible due to the nutritional value.

[luluc 6]

Carbs are not the evil monster a lot of people believe them to be. They do actually form an important part of a healthy diet.

In fact reading a lot of the posts on this board it seems like a lot of bandsters are on the "Atkins diet" or at least a modified form thereof.

I have not been told to stay away from carbs nor have I been told to eat Protein first.What my surgeon aims for is a balanced diet..

agreed~

my surgeon encourages all foods (minus white carbs) & i think whole grains are quite important.

the OP doesn't mention what "kind" of rice - but 2 bowls is alot & likely the cause of the pain.

that's something you just have to ride out & make mental note of what caused the discomfort.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Carbs are not the evil monster a lot of people believe them to be. They do actually form an important part of a healthy diet.

In fact reading a lot of the posts on this board it seems like a lot of bandsters are on the "Atkins diet" or at least a modified form thereof.

I have not been told to stay away from carbs nor have I been told to eat Protein first.What my surgeon aims for is a balanced diet.

Having said all that though I have been warned that rice can cause problems which means that I am not likely to try eating it in any kind of quantity. I think it is better if you choose the kind that doesn't stick together in clumps when cooked and also mix it with your mince or whatever you are eating with it.

I think a modified Atkins is perfect for weight loss and maintenance. Sure, there are good carbs but there are also verrrry bad carbs. I eat unlimited good carbs and no white carbs. Your body really does not need sugar or flour. As for rice and potatoes the calorie content vs. nutritional value is just not worth it. We didn't get fat eating broccoli, we got fat eating white carbs.

[slimmap 1]

You are right about the modified Atkins. That is what I try to follow. Fresh strawberries go in my Unjury Protein Shake, a small lettuce salad with my turkey, stuff like that. But last night I ate a lot of bad ol' white rice. I had my lap band one year ago and found that white rice doesn't usually bother me...bread does, go figure. Anyway, I shouldn't have even made it for my family and expected myself not to eat it. I thought I had more willpower than that, but obviously I still do not. It tasted so good with all that butter in it. It was a very poor decision. But I just felt like my stomach was going to explode about an hour after I ate. I got a little scared. I didn't even think about it expanding in my stomach...but it seems like it did. I guess it was stress eating. I have been doing dumb stuff like that since the 4th of July. Does anybody have any suggestions how they fight stress eating and just plain old mindless eating? Thanks everybody!

[keithf 2]

Carbs are not the evil monster a lot of people believe them to be. They do actually form an important part of a healthy diet.

Of course carbohydrates aren't evil. They're one of the fundamental sources of energy available in food. We're just not equipped to withstand the rediculous amount that our culture (with no small help from industry lobbyists) believes we should injest. We're humans, not hummingbirds, and didn't develop eating sugar or cultivated foods: agriculture is only a couple thousand years old. The "gatherer" side of "hunter-gatherer" meant opportunistic berries and herbs, not corn and rice, and even hunter-gatherer was a later invention to replace nomadic scavenger.

External carbohydrates are necessary? Even Karo Syrup was lobbied as "healthy" for inclusion in every child's meal, and I'm sure some of you remember the Nutella-at-schools debacle of recent memory. Both are wonderfully dense sources of easy-to-metabolize carbohydrates. But perhaps that isn't what you had in mind.

So while we're at it, let's distinguish between carbohydrates (the biochemical construct by which life on this planet stores energy, as well as the primary constituent of the cellulose that forms dietary Fiber, both of which are called out on the nutrition information label), and the food products in which we find them (vegetable matter, including among other things grains, starchy roots, and saps/juices), which happen to also contain other things which actually have some value (carrots and carotene, broccoli and broccolene.. err.. Vitamin C).

Now most people don't understand Atkins or low-carb in general, which was developed for diabetics, and later refined for overweight patients. Such people often focus on the "zero carb == zero veggies" myth, never realizing that Atkins, and most other low carb diets, encourage (nigh require) a good sized salad each day, so long as non-fiber carbohydrate intake is generally only around 1/5 or less of the total calorie intake. The books are available for people to read, but people almost never bother, trusting instead in the rumor mill. I suggest borrowing copies of the various different diet manuals out there and reading them. I'm late for lunch and distracted, and I'm sure you'll thank me for deleting the brief chemistry lecture I'd started to type :smile2:

But, if you understand (at least conceptually) the biochemistry involved, then it becomes fairly straightforward why many WLS patients are in fact told to switch to a low-carb lifestyles regardless of whether it's labelled "Atkins" or "South Beach" or "Zone" or "The Frobnoz Special" or simply "eat all your Protein first, then consider your vegetables" (and note the word "vegetables", not "carbs" was used): priorities.

- We require sleep. 8-10 hours, no matter what your grandfather said about "four's plenty for me, so it's plenty for you".

- We must consume a large quantity of Water *at minimum* to maintain healthy levels of hydration. This is the first thing, consumption-wise, that could kill us for any number of reasons.

- That, in conjuction with the pouch-centric admonition against mixing food and Water, limits how much time each day we can spend eating solid food.

- We must get Protein from food (at least, I know of no other available source). At least about 60-70g of it. We require this to maintain cellular structures among other things.

- Pretty much everything else we can (as noted before) get from a non-food source if we have to. It is notable that many of us entered into this with at least some severe Vitamin or mineral deficiency despite eating large quantities of varied, supposedly "healthy" foods.

- Our ultimate priority: consume the existing fat on our bodies and, when done, don't store new fat. If you want the biochemistry involved, read the literature. It's fairly well documented by this point, and it is those metabolic pathways which low carb diets in particular to target.

Now, if you want more "extreme" low-carb diets without the "Atkins" label, you can try variations of Paleo, where the qualification for vegetable matter is indeed what was available to our pre-agriculture era ancestors, that does get more exclusionary than most people have patience for. I have to admit, the food is quite good, if a bit repetitive compared to contemporary cuisine. But bison steak and roasted nuts is a good combination.

Now, given that the band, and indeed all weight loss surgeries, give us a lot of seperate targets to meet:

- water intake (required for life)

- rate of solid food intake (mandated individually by the surgery itself)

- protein intake (since this isn't easily supplemented)

- nutritional profile (often made up by supplementation)

- calorie reduction (otherwise what's the point)

.. it seems foolish to pack in raw, non-fiber carbs, which is what starch is, when there are more nutrient- (and fiber-) rich food sources, often with fewer calories. You could do worse, of course -- adding sugar in its myriad forms when sugar supplies nothing but a chance for the body to use that source *immediately* (raising insulin levels sharply, eventually causing the storage of everything else from the food for a later use which never arrives).

Don't get me wrong: I'm addicted to mashed potatoes, and have been known to put them on lefse. But I also have spent a couple years on various different types of diets, except for raw food and things in Oprah and the Star. I know how my body reacted, and I *know* my brain didn't need rice to run. It actually did run better after I cut most of that stuff out and stuck to meat and greens, and I didn't gain weight during that time, either.

Now, I know that we would *love* to eat like a "normal person", but that presumes "normal people" eat properly. In the United States, "normal" is increasingly overweight. So, given the decades over which this has happenned (let's call it the past 4-5), and noting the rise in conjuction with the "OMG eat all rice no fat!" reaction that started in recent (and increasingly obese) history, and noting the variety of people who actually do respond well when they go contrary to what the anti-low-carb groups state, why again would I trust "normal people" and agriculturalists on this matter? They certainly didn't help me when I *was* at a healthy adult weight and, looking back, eating many fewer carbs, and probably as much protein and more fat and alcohol, than I was going into pre-op.

[Note to self: Feline chemistry and human chemistry are at odds in a very particular and potentially fatal way with regard to weight loss. If a cat starts feeding off its fat stores at any significant pace, it will *cause* fatty liver disease. In a human, it would cure it. Don't let a cat get away with not eating for a couple days. There is cruel irony in having to force-feed a cat with more calories than I'm suppose to have to treat the same liver disease.]

[keithf 2]

Does anybody have any suggestions how they fight stress eating and just plain old mindless eating? Thanks everybody!

Reduce stress at the source? Be mindful? I know it sounds trite and terribly unuseful, but every possible answer is going to be some variation of being mindful and reducing stress.

What got me through pre-op was knowing that there was an end-result I was going for that wasn't some far-off, abstract thing. I had to: improve my liver panel (for myself, not my surgeon), reduce my liver size (for both), reduce my weight by some amount (I set myself 40#, and met it almost to the ounce). I took great, detailed interest in how my body reacted to variations in caloric intake, as I'm sure my partner could roll his eyes at.

It also helped, significantly, that I kept my friends and family appraised of my progress, and that they were all very supportive. I didn't directly involve any of them beyond that (except for my partner, for obvious reasons, and two of my coworkers at witnesses on my advance directive), but it did build a sort of accountability in the back of my mind. "Do this for yourself" will apply when I get plastic surgery. "Do this for others" is more motivating.

Additionally, the good results I was able to maintain fed (sic) on themselves. Hope is tremendously motivational, but direct evidence goes much farther in convincing me that I need to keep up what I'm doing.

So.. do you have access to someone who'll help cheer you on, and who'll act as good cop to help police your food choices while you progress? It's hard for anyone *here* to do that: by the time you tell us, it's already done. It's probably more effective to have someone in your household, especially if they're willing to share your cuisine (even if they eat twice as much).