Question:
If you drink with a meal do you absorb less food?

All I have heard is that it is bad to drink with a meal cause it flushes the food through and you get hungry sooner. But if you are never hungry and eat something not so good for you, doesn't it make since to drink alot of water with it to flush it through fast so you don't absorb the fat and calories?    — Pam W. (posted on February 19, 2003)

February 18, 2003
You cannot make the food go through so fast it won't be absorbed beyond your normal malabsorption (if you have a malabsorptive surgery). This is just not possible.
   — M. B.

February 18, 2003
Drinking water will flush the food through your pouch faster, not all the way through your digestive system. Water does not affect absorption rate.
   — Becky K.

February 18, 2003
The main issue is that water takes space. Since your pouch (assuming RNY) is so small and it can't hold much, the doctors want you to be able to fill it with protein. If water is added in then less protein can be eaten.
   — zoedogcbr

February 19, 2003
Your pouch doesn't absorb, it's the intestines that absorb. Flushing it out will only make you hungry sooner, it will not cause you to absorb less. (It would be nice though - wouldn't it!?)
   — Dana B.

February 19, 2003
No. If it worked that way, we could drown ourselves in liquids after a big meal and never get obese in the first place. Didn't work out that way, though, did it? ;~) (Bummer!!!)
   — Suzy C.

February 19, 2003
I agree with what the others have stated. Also keep in mind if you drink when you eat, you stretch your pouch.
   — aprilbaree