Chewing and Spitting

Hi Everyone,

One of my fellow RNYers is chewing her food and then spitting it out. She is 15 months out and has lost 200 pounds and has about 20-30 to go. She just went for her check-up and it sounds like her doctor thinks all is great. But she keeps talking about how she gets the taste for something so she gets it, chews it and spits it out into a napkin. I looked it up on-line and reviews are mixed, but they are not aimed at people like us. What do you think?

Thanks, nancy

In my humble opinion it sounds like the slippery slope that can lead to swallowing. I understand you want the taste of things, but I would tell your friend that nothing tastes as good as thin feels. Her 200 pd wl is phenonminal...however speaking from personal experience, I know how easy it is to slip back into old habits. I hope she can find some other method of satisfying her needs!

Hi Nancy!

Well, this is my opinion only, but I don't see anything wrong with it as long as she is eating reasonable meals and not spitting that out.  Often times, after I am done baking cookies, I will take a couple of bites and then spit it out.  It satisfies my want for whatever it is.

I do agree with Janine that it needs to be monitored very closely so it doesn't get out of hand.

Just my .02 worth. 

Hugs to you,

As a wise woman once told me........it can be an eating disorder.  Starts small and then grows and soon you have malnutrition.  Better to just not do it.  I smell the good foods and that's enough for me.

I worry about that slippery slope too. She has always wanted to jump ahead on things, but she got sick each time so she stopped. Spitting it out keeps her from getting sick, but she is already noticing that she can eat more kinds of things without getting sick now. She cooks for a husband, and then eats what she cooks, but then she spits it out. It just sounds so awful to me, but she just laughs. I wish I knew if she told her doctor. Part of me wants to call him to check (she used my doctor). But I guess I will continue to listen and watch and make sure she is careful.

Thanks for the help. I wish I knew someone who had done this.

nancy

Goodness this is a difficult one.
My dr. requires a strict protein only diet until I lose 75% of my excess weight, which I have followed. At about 1 month out I was craving salad, it lasted days so finally I chewed on some lettuce and spit it out. For me personally it was a chewing and crunch thing and I got it out of my system. But in this case if she is cooking a meal to chew & spit it's bordering on an eating disorder, which is not healthy. Unfortunately if she doesn't see it as a problem there probably isn't a whole lot you can say or do. Just hope for the best.

It is considered an eating disorder. It's one thing if one feels their threshold due to pain and therefore can't swallow. Other than that... it is on the list of eating disorders.

My best to your friend,
Kim

Definitely mixed reviews, however, I tried the chewing and spitting it out thing, and it started to get me in trouble so I stopped the chewing and spitting with the exception of small bite of orange.  I like chewing a piece of orange, but I cannot handle swallowing it so I do spit it into a napkin.  Everyone is unique and individual, however, we all know chewing will most likely lead to eating more and then we are looking at a revision or unhappy because we are where we were prior to WLS.
 
Terry :)

I find this very interesting as I always have a napkin ready when I eat anything new.  So many things make me sick so that is why I do that.  Could I do that every day or every meal, I think not, but I am going to stay neutral on this one as If it is working for her, fine.  When it stops working for her she needs to stop, can she that is the question.  Some people can go out and smoke once a year, me if I smoke one I know I would be hooked again.  I know I can't eat one lays, so I dont.  If she is one of the rare ones that can handle it, then by all means do your thing.  So that is my 2 cents sorry if it was only worth 1 to some.

Rhonda

Am wondering if she gets enough fiber?  I could see it with sugars or carbs.  There is a guy on the Men's Forum who is one of the most healthy men I know..."Not Dave".  He purees his chicken salad every day.  Doesn't have to (no strictures), just feels that he gets better absorption (RNY).  Is he crazy or ahead of the curve??  If her labs are good and it is not a mental issue (which it could be), then it could be OK.  Brian