Why We Shouldn't Chew Our Food and Then Spit It Out

I just posted this in the thread from yesterday about this but I believe it is so important that I feel it deserves it's own thread.  Please, especially newcomers but anyone who may think this is a good idea, read this so you can learn why it isn't a good idea.

I hear so many people on OH asking if "chewing and spitting" is alright. Basically, instead of actually eating bad food, they want to know if they can chew it up to get the taste of it, then spit it out so it doesn't go into the stomach pouch. 


There was a recent thread on OH with this question and I posted an answer. Since I'm lazy and don't like to type stuff over and over again, I figured I'd post it here too. 


There are two issues with this. 


First, this behavior is the first steps of bulemia and getting into the habit of chewing food and spitting it out can lead to a very serious eating disorder. After WLS we are already dealing with changing the way we relate to food, so we want to instill good habits all along the way and avoid the bad ones as much as possible. 


Second, there's a biological reason not to do this too. Let me see if I can explain it as well as someone else who I originally read it from...When you smell food and when it enters your mouth and you begin to chew, the body goes into Prep Mode to receive food. Your salivary glands produce saliva, your pancreas produces insulin, your liver produces gastric acid and your brain begins to calculate how much nutrition you're about to receive from the food you eat so it can keep track of it's daily needs/calories --- the body is a well tuned machine and it knows how to deal with food when it knows it's coming. But then you spit out the food. Your body still has excess saliva, insulin, gastric acid and it can't figure out why it didn't get the nutrition it thought it was going to get so the brain accountants go nuts. 


Excess insulin in your body causes your appetite to increase so you'll eat more food to soak up all that extra hormone. Excess gastric acid in the stomach -- now released at the Y of your common channel -- can cause indigestion or heartburn or ulcers. And those brain accountants are now doing some creative math to recalculate the nutritional value of food because it thought it was going to get a certain number of calories, but none came, so next time you try to eat that same food the brain thinks you need twice as much to get the same nutrition as it thought it should have gotten last time. 


So not only is the whole "chew and spit" habit a training ground for bulemia, it's also a way to tease your body into thinking it's getting food when it really isn't. Bulemia is a very serious illness and not something you want to play around with. My cousin Teresa died from heart failure brought on by her illness of bulemia. I don't ever want a family to live through what we had to in losing a loved one so young to a disease that can be treated. 


 Please be careful. Be kind to yourself. 
http://pamtremble.blogspot.com/2008/10/chew-and-spit-habit-y ou-dont-want-to.html

 IT would be considered Anorexia not bulimia.  Just needed to correct that. Unless you are swallowing it and physically vomiting or using a laxative to Remove it from your body its not considered bulimia. Long story short i was Anorexic for many years. its something i had to go to rehab for. That's how it started with me. i would chew food then spit it out, it eventually got to the point where i no longer needed the taste of food to stop the hunger pains in my stomach. But you are correct it is not healthy mentally or physically. 

 

I am going to ***** again in a self righteous way…so hate me. WLS is not just a way to lose weight. We are supposed to be using this time to learn how to eat in a healthy way that will sustain our lives for the rest of our lives. Weight loss is a byproduct of that effort. Eating a Twinkie and spitting it out tells me you do not have the guts to be successful and you are going to be a fat ass for the rest of your life. Get a spine folks. If you even think this is a good idea and have not had WLS forget about it. Everyone has an occasional cheat, or laps, but to do this in a premeditated way, is unacceptable.   

I wish there was some way to make people see how incredibly UNHEALTHY (psychologically) this stupid "chew and spit" thing is... And how important itis to be willing to make the changes needed to have a HEALTHY relationship with food I order to be successful at keeping the weight off and being happy.

Lora

 i agree if you cant take control of your life do not get the surgery. 

I am glad you made this post, and it every much echo's what my dr said. I had a similar thing happen to me. When I was about 3 months post op, I would try a small bite of solid food, with the intention of swallowing it, but in the last seconds, I would panic, and think it would hurt to swallow it and spit it out. I realized this was becoming a problem, and asked my dr if there really was something wrong with my new pouch that was causing pain, or was this all in my head. There was nothing wrong with my pouch, it was a fear that I developed and now, 6 months out, still have to work on. For me, it was never about just wanting the flavour, I had full intentions of eating my meal, but developed an overwhelming fear of swallowing more solid type foods, that I physically could not make myself swallow, and would have to spit out. My Doctor explained pretty much the same thing you said above, about how the body prepares for food, and when it doesn't come, how your body then makes new ideas about how it receives food. He told me, to keep working on tiny bites, so swallow and if I feel I can't swallow enough to account for a meal to fall back on soups (which is all I was comfortable with eating at that time) That it was better that I eat the soup enriched with protein powder or skim milk powder then to leave my body hanging with the chew and spit. I realize we should not be mixing liquids with solids ever.... but in this case, if I was only able to swallow one TINY bite, rather then chewing and spitting out at the last second he wanted me to immediately eat soup, or apple sauce, or anything soft that I had no fears over to give my body the calories and food to digest, rather then leaving it think what the heck, I thought we were eating right now? I see my dr again this coming Monday to go over my lab results, and for my 6 month post op check up, and I feel embarrassed that I will have to admit that I am still having issues with the fear of swallowing. I don't know if I am the only person that has had this happen to them or not, and I do feel ashamed to even write about it, but I do think it is important to share, just in case someone else is having the same issue and too shy to talk to their dr about it. So again, thank you so much for making this post, and explaining why we should not chew and spit and trick our bodies.... no matter if you are just doing it for the flavour, or if you developed a mind fear (disorder) like I did. Do not chew and spit ever!

Just clarifying, I didn't write this, Pam Tremble did.  I should have made that clearer.  I just wanted to bring it forward because she made such good points.

I would also add that disorders like this are extremely insidious... They "sneak up" on people and then are incredibly difficult to break even with therapy.  I wish I knew some way to convey to people what a dangerous thing this is to even start doing... and what a dark place it can lead to.

Lora

I did want to point out that occasionally you might be eating something as a postop, and realize by the texture of the food (for me this is always only true of a meat).... you realize "my pouch is going to HATE this)

I've spit out a "first bite" of a meat or rarely some accompanying food item once I realize it's not going to be good. But NEVER have I put something in my mouth that I didn't intend to swallow in the first place.

I don't like to be un-lady-like so having to spit is one of the things I dislike to even contemplate, but yeah I've had to spit on occasion.

Absolutely.  I have done that as well on occasion, especially when I started trying beef and pork... but the original intention was to swallow it.  Very different than planning to spit it out before it even goes into your mouth.

Lora