Soft Foods - Riddle Me This??

[Skylacker]

Hi to everyone,

I am in the post-op liquid stages of food, including soup and yogurt, and I am obviously dreaming about eating from some more solid recipies.

I found myself analyzing the soft food/solid food issue and I am posing the following question:

From what I understand, after getting on to the "solid food" stage, it is important to NOT eat soft foods like grits, mash potatoes and cream of wheat etc. My comprehension of this was because the "soft foods" would go through the band too easily and defeat the purpose of reaching satiety. What I do not understand is that if we are to chew our "solid food" to an applesauce consistency, what is the difference? Would this not be the same as the "soft foods"?

I guess you all can see know that I have had nothing better to do with my time than to think about things like this. :-)

I appreciate any feedback that can be given.

Good Luck to Everyone on their bandster journey!!

John

banded 9-05-06

320/290/200

[mommyrkr]

That is a great question, and one that I had wondered about. I hope someone has an answer. From what I have read, it sounds like people do oatmeal, cream of wheat and cereal and consider it solid food. I am curious what Dr. Ortiz thinks about this. I would love to eat those things, but thought they would be too soft.

Becki

[6Jewels]

That is a great question, and one that I had wondered about. I hope someone has an answer. From what I have read, it sounds like people do oatmeal, cream of wheat and cereal and consider it solid food. I am curious what Dr. Ortiz thinks about this. I would love to eat those things, but thought they would be too soft.

Becki

Hi Becki, I was banded on 08/31/06, I ask Dr. Miranda the same questions you are asking the day I was there for my surgery. She told me the difference of eating a solid food to mush, and eating a food that was already mush, is that in the chewing process we release different things in our saliva that aide in digestion, which in turn helps in weight loss, and food processing. I hope that helps.

Good luck on your journey.

Catherine

[tombourn]

I do not disagree with that answer Dr. Miranda gave, but then does the saliva fill us up ( make us feel full) or does the food being in the small pouch make us feel full ... Paid a lot for the surgery, if saliva was the key to weight loss.

We want food to stay in the small pouch, but we chew to goo so it will not get stuck.. There is a dichotomy here. Who really knows???

Tom

[LoriBecky]

OK... i'm no expert on the saliva thing! But, the mushy foods you mentioned are all carbs... which is the last thing that should be on our plate, not the first thing. Protein first, then veggies, then fruit, then carbs.

I know it doesn't make sense... chew to goo but don't eat goo hahahaha - but it does make a difference, the scientific evidence of it, I don't know how to answer that. But i've tried soft/mushy food even cereal, etc and i'm hungry much sooner than if I eat, say a piece of chicken, or an egg.

[Littleroo27]

Okay, I'm going to give my 2 cents just based on personal experience.

If I eat 1/2 cup of applesauce, it requires no chewing. It's like drinking really yummy water. It goes straight through and there is no "full" feeling or restriction.

If I eat a grilled chicken sandwich (which is often my lunch as I am pre-band) and don't drink anything with it, I can feel the bread sticking in my chest if I don't drink anything. I feel full faster because if I eat another bite, something is coming back up!

To me oatmeal is kind of middle of the road; you don't really need to chew it, but it has a definite solidity to it (especially if you don't add too much water) that can make it stick around.

So, let's go back to that "chew to goo vs. applesauce" issue. Even if you chew your piece of chicken until it resembles a blender accident, it is still not going to have any more liquid added then what comes from your saliva naturally. It is still going to be a fairly "solid" consistency, even though it's now in very small pieces.

If you're still not sure - try taking a handful of grahm crackers (I like the chocolate stick ones myself) and eat them without drinking anything. Even if you chew them into nothing, you will still feel them sticking around a lot more then something with a high liquid content.

[Rid]

I think this is a great question. Here's how it is for me. When I "eat" applesauce, yogurt, pudding, or anything else really soft, I have no restriction at all. I can eat a bunch of it. I think that when you chew solid food to mush, it still is not as soft as "soft" food. I think there is a middle ground between applesauce and chicken sandwich.

I also know that taking really small bites of solid food and chewing up really small is very satisfying. I think there is a mental element in it. Plus, I eat a lot less food when I chew up solids rather than sucking down soft foods.

I think there's a lot involved in this between the saliva, the mental aspect, and the solid-ness of the food. Don't know if that makes sense, but that's how it works for me.