Chewing and Spitting

Thanks Jackie for sharing your story... I am sure it is going to help more than it offends.. I just hate it when I hear people talking about Chewing and Spitting... 

My mom used to do this years ago when she would diet and it just grossed me out so bad I never tried it.. Probably why I got so fat I always swallowed..LOL...

Good Post!!

Lucy

 Wow, I haven't seen this suggested as a good idea or I would have commented on it - so thank you for starting this thread!

I have never personally done this - but I have come close.  I'll share a bit of my story just to hopefully add some extra info...

I first saw the whole "chewing and spitting" idea on Intervention.  On this particular episode they were holding an intervention for a bulimic.  She went through everything she did etc and talked about chewing and spitting, and I thought "OMG what a great idea!".  This of course was pre-op, when I was completely out of control with my food.  I thought if I could get the taste etc without actually getting the calories in this would be the answer to everything and I would lose weight.  What a great idea.  The only problem?  Well it came from the show Intervention....from a girl who was so far gone into an eating disorder that she was ON Intervention.  Hmmm...so I didn't do it.  Because obviously there was something wrong with doing it - even though I couldn't see what could be so bad about it.  But I thought about it a lot and it took a lot to NOT do it.  Because I was feeling so out of control, I ended up in an eating disorder clinic and was diagnosed with Binge Eating.  I never purged and never had a classic binge per se but I definitely fit in with the group of women I gathered with every week.  I could identify with everything.  ANd part of the criteria for diagnosis - chewing & spitting.  So while I didn't meet that criteria, it was certainly one of the questions they asked about.  I was honest and said that I thought it was a great idea but that I had never done it because I knew there was something bad about it since I got the idea on Intervention.

So don't go down this road.  It might seem like a good idea, but it's NOT.  Plus,something else I learned the simple carbs, which is what most people are doing this with, start to be digested in your mouth.  So you are getting at least some of the calories anyway - they aren't freebies.  And you don't want to start down that road.  In order to be successful with WLS you have to learn to overcome disordered eating.  You need to fix the reasons why you eat, for comfort, stress, boredom etc.  If you can't do that without help then get help.  I was surprised to find out that I wasn't the only fat person who had an eating disorder.  And I'm sure there is somewhere similar to where I went that would be able to help you too.

Thanks for sharing this with us Jackie...if I was there, I would hug ya and squeeze ya and tell ya how special you are!

Jackie, you make some very good points.  As everyone has said, thank you for sharing.

I used to watch that show intervention on A&E all the time last year.  One episode had a girl that would only chew and spit her food.  It really was disgusting, seeing her spit up her food.  It can be a disease.  This particular girl was pretty bad off. 

Not sure if it was the same episode or a different person, but I also recall an episode about a girl who would feed herself thru a tube in her stomach, and was doing it for years, because she would not swallow food.  It was really quite disturbing.  From what I recall, she was doing it for years, with this tube in her stomach. 

These things can become a bad problem and I understand where Jackie is coming from.  not eating enough can be just as bad as eating too much.  We need to find that happy medium to be healthy.

Totally agree, great post Jackie.

WHOOAAAA look at you miss...you look fabulousio!!!!!!  I love your new avi...you look very happy!..Jackie..do you recognize that smile?

Major props to you, girl.

Wonderful post, Jackie. 

     Excuse me Jackie as this reply is directed, not to you, but, to the newbies. People, Jackie is giving very, very sound advice here, as she usually does. The point of any weight loss surgery is to assist you with a tool to modify eating behaviors. If you were wondering why a psychological exam was require by most surgeons prior to WLS, this would be a key part of the answer. 
     If you have had, or are considering WLS then your success will be determined by learning to accept a lifestyle change, that begins with eating changes. Early out, a good part of the change is conditioning the mind and body to be without the foods that will put weight back on. If you live without them during the "honeymoon", early post surgery stage, your body will get use to not having them and you won't crave them later on. Condition yourself to the taste and when you are able to eat such foods again, you will and the weight will return. The goal of weight loss surgery is to get healthy. Substituting one eating disorder for another will not help you reach that goal.

 This past weekend we were together with a big group of friends and family and we ordered pizza's and salads for dinner.  The smell of the pizza really started to get to me and I stared longingly at all that gooey cheese.  It was then suggested to me that I should take a *****ew on it and spit it out.
  Gross!!!  There was no way I wanted any part of it.  Instead I just plain took a bite and after 1 swallow realized that the doughy crust was not going to make my pouch very happy at all and I threw the rest out.  
If a craving is going to get the best of me, I'd rather take a bite and get it over with, even knowing that it's wrong, but tasting it will only make me want it more.  I haven't craved pizza since then.  In fact I made a very healthy, protein filled vegetable/beef soup instead and love it!!!
Thanks Jackie for being so incredibly brave and sharing your story with us and validating my decision to not chew & spit.