Drinking with meals???

I was eating dinner with my wife tonight and of course I was eating slowly and not drinking with my food. My wife was eating the same food, but she, having a regular stomach, was drinking as she normally does a glass of water. Gee that sounded good as the meat tasted a little salty tonight, but anyway here is my question. I meet with my PCP this coming Friday, but thought I would bounce this off you people here.

I was told, as best I can remember, to not drink with my meals because it makes the food go out of the pouch faster and 1, I may get hungry faster, 2. A little digestion goes on even in the pouch and a little bit of the nutrients that are in the food gets absorbed there.

This is what I was told, but here is what seems strange to me. If that is so, why where people like my wife and me before surgery told that it is fine, in fact a good idea to drink while you eat? Even in restaurants they always give you a big glass of water or other liquids. I think one of the bazillion diet plans I have been on had me take a sip between mouth fulls???? So if the reason we do not drink is as above, wouldn't it also wash the food out of a regular stomach and etc.? Wouldn't my wife get hungry faster as I think it is only a matter of scale. He stomach is bigger than mine but still they are the same except for size. Something is messed up here and it probably is me, but I was just wondering what you people think of it. I am not going to start drinking with meals, but I do question why?

Somebody will be able to explain this better than me.....but, when we have the RNY we not longer have a pyloric valve. Think of it as a trap door that keeps food in your stomach letting your food in a little at a time. With us.....no trap door.

Martha 

You explained it very well.

So before RNY, drinking with meals helps fill your stomach up more.  After RNY, it washes food out of your pouch so it gets empty faster.

I kinda wondered the same thing...Hope someone has an answer. :)

Just to give a different cultural perspective:

When I was a child, I was not allowed a drink before or during dinner - I had never really seen people drink with food like they do here until I moved here!    We always cleared, washed and dried dishes and THEN would be allowed to have a drink - maybe not 30 minutes but certainly 10-15 minute wait.   I do think it's habitual because my boyfriend and I will eat the same food and he has to drink during the meal (thankfully not with a mouth full of food!!!)

One of the few things that turns my stomach is watching people chew their food and then gulp soda or water before they swallow - ugh

my mom grew up here in the states and wasn't allowed to drink with her meals either. she still doesn't.

we also dont have the stomach acid in our pouches that is produced in a normal stomach. its still made in the other stomach and gets used later but not right away.

Diets want your non surgery tummy to get full with less food so incourage you to drink to inflate the stomach more then the food alone will. This will trigger the full feeling with less calories consumed. The added water mixed with the food will only slowly be allowed out of the stomach by the valve.

After the rny we have no valve to hold in the food and drinking washes it out. We have a funnel now.

First, there is VERY little digestion that goes on in our pouch because there simply isn't enough acids, etc.  The only thing that happens is that the saliva continues to break the food down.

The reason that diets for people who have their natural stomachs ENCOURAGE drinking before and with meals is because the liquid helps fill up the large stomach and helps them feel full with much less food.  That, however, is with a stomach that has a concave bottom and a pyloric valve to control the rate at which liquid and food exits the stomach.  If the stomach holds 3 cups (completely random number) and someone drinks 2 cups of water, then there is only room for 1 cup of food and they will be full.

People with RNY pouches, however, have a funnel shaped pouch with just a stoma (no pyloric valve) at the bottom end and any amount of liquid will push the solid food down through the stoma into the intestine, so the pouch is no longer partially (or completely) full and you don't feel satisfied.  So then you eat more.  If you then wash THAT food down, you have then made room for even MORE food... So it causes us to overeat (unless you are using pre-measured portions).  Even if you have measured portions, because you washed the food down, and the pouch isn't full, it will take less time for the pouch to empty and you will feel hungry again very quickly.  That is why we are also encouraged to avoid slider foods for meals (things with a high water content such as soups, yogurt, cottage cheese)... They flow out of the pouch into the intestine too quickly and then we feel hungry again just a short time later.

 

Lora

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR0VM3mnsgM   Here is a great video posting why you shouldn't drink and eat. Someone else posted it a few days back on here.