Stage four foods - lap band

Dec 17, 2010

Hi there! I went for my one week follow up to my surgeon today and he let me go to stage four, mushies! Yay! I high-tailed it right to the store and bought split pea soup. Some might not find that overly appetizing, but I love split pea soup. I pureed it with my immersion blender (I literally could not live without that thing) and I must admit, it was a little nerve-wracking to sit down to that 1/4 cup of soup at first. It's almost like learning to eat all over again!

I've heard on other blogs that there are indicators that tell you when to quit. I heard this on bandedwendy's page at youtube. There's something called a "soft stop", where you just begin to feel full. Then, if you ignore that sensation and keep eating, there's a "hard stop" where you feel like you've exceeded the room in your pouch and couldn't eat another bite. Wendy's advice is to LISTEN TO YOUR BODY while eating. Stop at the soft stop. She says that if you push it, you'll be faced with "foaming, sliming and a PB". Sounds like a car wash!

I wrote in my very first blog about foam/slime. This is where your overpacked pouch will reject food, and it sends up saliva which is thick and viscous to facilitate throwing it up. However, I've heard this throwing up is different than the flu-induced variety where you heave and heave. This is where the PB comes in. It's called a "productive burp" which is meant to clear your esophagus of too much food.  Wowser. Graphic enough for ya? Now I was terrified this would happen when I ate. Although I was hungry for food instead of liquids, I got into a very secure place with my liquids and it was daunting to move up to real food, even pureed food.

I asked my surgeon today what kind of volume did he expect me to consume when starting on mushies, and he said, and I quote, "One cup." What??! Let me take this moment to encourage you to be VERY specific in your wording with your doctors. He thought I meant, how much can the pouch eventually hold. No. What I wanted to know was how much should I eat TODAY? 1/4 cup is a good starting point at each meal and I can work up from there. Whew...can you imagine if I tried to cram down a whole cup today? Can you say PB? Yikes!

Anyway, my advice -- start small, eat slow. Don't drink before, during or after the meal for at least 1/2 hour. And guess what - I'm full! And the fullness has stayed with me for two hours so far. And I'm ever so grateful for that.

0 Comments