I know it is really bad to chew up food and spit it out for the flavor. I never do that. I am wondering about things that I eat that I find I cannot chew enough to swallow safely. The other day, I tried some pineapple and found I could not chew it enough to get it to a consistency to swallow it without getting it stuck, so I spit it out. I will not be eating pineapple again. I love grapes, but I cannot chew the skin enough. The skin seems to ball up, so I spit it out, which is strange because I do not have a problem with apple skin. I can only eat about 5 grapes before I am full. I also love hamburgers on a lettuce bun. Sometimes I run into a piece of fat that I do not want to swallow, so I spit it out. This was especially true with the Angus beef I tried yesterday. Every bite I took seemed to be stringy and I had to spit most of it out. 

My question: is spitting out things that we do not feel can be chewed well enough to swallow the same thing as chewing something for flavor and spitting it out? Should I just not eat grapes? They are on my list of approved food. I supposed I could peal them before I eat them, but this way is so much faster, since pealing grapes takes forever, unless someone has some kind of advice on pealing grapes.

I've been known to spit out something I just know won't go down right. If I continued to eat it  and spit, it would be a problem, if I put that plate of bad food away, because I knew it wouldn't work, it's not a problem, it's being wise. But if something always caused that, and I always ate it and re-decided I couldn't do it, and used the "too tough" to rationalize trying it again frequently... that might be bad. YOU know if you're trying a food that you know wasn't good for you previously because you think it will now work, or if you figure it won't work, but it tastes so good, so I'll try it today, and tomorrow, and the next day.

for me, if it's too tough, i put the plate away. A month or six months later in my early months I'd try it again, but if three attempts over three months all made it to my "not good" category, I'd strike it off my list until a long time passed and then I might try again but not if I'm not ready to spit (I don't like to be unladylike and spit anything, but vomiting is also unladylike)

 I can't imagine a reason why you couldn't spit out undigestable residue. It's not wasteful. I do the same with beef jerky. Get all the nutrients out of your food and pitch the rest is what I say.

No, it isn't the same.  The chewing and spitting that is a disordered eating habit is done with the intent of not swallowing the food even before the person puts it in his/her mouth.

Even at 5 years out, if I get something that I cannot chew up properly (it usually only happens with beef) I will spit it out.  That really is no different than a non-op spitting out a piece of gristle or fat.

Lora

I wind up rejecting the unchewable parts frequently, there's always a bone, or a stringy portion in almost every meat that I cant chew. And as the other lady pointed out, you'll develope a list of things where its pointless to keep trying, for me, I can eat certain types of steak now, but it has to be extremely tender, and I have to carve it wisely, discarding tje stringy areas, fillet mignon is on my spinal good list, I can eat 4oz of it no problem, but I wont buy any other steak because I cant chew them enough. But yeah, grapes, they're bad listed, I'm to lazy to take the time to peal them lol. Just dont get too hung up on a certain type of food, you're not who you were preop, and will need to make life long adjustments.

Oops, sorry for the typos, stupid auto correct, and I dont know how to turn it off either lol.

 Thanks for the responses. I am just a really picky eater, which drives me nuts. I keep trying new foods and foods I did not like before surgery, but I still only like a handful of foods. There are only about 20 foods on my list I like, some of which, I am finding it hard to eat. It makes eating a chore. 

i find myself doing this often with tomato skins. I usually peel them, but that's not really kosher in public/restaurants

I just chew everything until its gone, dissolved in my mouth, you learn to do it over time.  I have never had anything stuck ever nor have I ever thrown up or spit out food I felt I couldn't swallow.  I won't say I never spit anything out, there are time I take a bite and start to chew and realize I feel full and spit it out.  But it doesn't happen because I don't think I can swallow it.