Cleared for food and scared to eat.

 I am cleared for food, but scared to eat.

 

With the change of my taste buds, I am so ready to get off the shakes and onto solid food.  But I am scared to eat.  I am so excited to finally have some chew food, that I eat too fast and my stomach is full before I know it.  There is a lot of burping that follows, cause I take in air as well. 

 

I take tiny bites, and small forkful's, but they just seem to come in rapid succession!  I don't know how to eat slow and painful though the lesson may be, it Is like a junkie who keeps coming back.  When meal time rolls around  (when I remember to eat)  I once again am excited for taste, texture and heat in my mouth that I eat too fast.  So what to do?  I really do not want to ruin my surgery in any way shape or form and I want to have this work. 

 

Any suggestions?

 

Kimi

 This sounds more mental than anything and is really up to you.  However, there may be a few things you can try.  One thing is eat with a toddler spoon or fork.  Another is to make sure you are NOT eating in front of the TV.  And third think about what can happen if you don't take it slow.  

I was eager and didn't chew well enough, causing my stoma (spot where your stomach and esophogas connect) to swell.  I was put right back on clear fluids and now have to work my way back up to soft food.  You need to be careful.  

Good luck!!!

Try to remember that everything in your body is healing and it is very important not to overfill your pouch. When you eat take very small bites and chew, chew, chew, counting to 20 or 30 before you swallow. At this point, whatever you swallow should be turned into a liquid in your mouth first. Put your fork down between bites. Stop every couple of bites and really pay attention to how you feel. Stop eating before you feel full.  As you get further out you will be able to eat more, but early on the amount you should eat at one time is really very small. 

I am 13 wees out tomorrow, and my doctor never had me on shakes, so I ate foods beginning at day 3, like yogurt, cottage cheese, etc, then moved onto deli meats and soft veggies at 1 week. 

It is scary because you don't know what to expect. I also ate too quickly and often had horrible pain. If you do that enough, you eventually learn to slow yourself down. I'm surprised how quickly I can eat now in comparison - my first "meal" of egg whites took me an hour! 

Best advice is time your bites...give a few minutes in between each. I've found vegetarian food to be the most tasty and the easiest to go down. 

I walk around, putter about, wash dishes, put a load of laundry in, all in between bites. I found if I just sit there wtching the clock, seeing my food getting colder and colder it just frustrates me. So now I get stuff done while I eat. Maybe this can help you too.

I had to train myself to slow down. I took a bite set down the fork counted as I chewed 30 times. I then said the alphabet in my head (sung it like I was 4 lol) then I picked up the fork and repeated until I was done. I had to do this for a week or two and then it became routine and I didn't have to do it anymore but I def. needed to retrain myself.

I will say when I go past a meal time and I'm really hungry I tend to eat too fast still so I try hard not to miss my scheduled time now.