Question: What are slider foods?

 After you read this I have put a question at the bottom.

Kaye's Answer: In a malabsorptive procedure the pouch is made and the stoma or outlet is attached to the lower part of the middle intestine called the jejunum. The majority of caloric absorption takes place in the jejunum, so depending upon where your surgeon created the outlet the level of absorption can vary. Skilled surgeons will adjust the length of intestine bypassed according to their patient's projected needs based on dieting history and pre-op psychological screening.

Slider foods slide right through the stoma into the jejunum. My first test of the slider foods was graham crackers and coffee for my after work snack. Now imagine, I could eat a stack of graham crackers and wa**** right through the pouch with the coffee and never feel any satiation. What resulted was an easily absorbed slurry that my jejunum sucked up like a sponge - it didn't have to do any work to absorb this simple carbohydrate slurry. Of course, weight gain resulted and I had to give up this little indulgence. Another popular slider food is pretzels. I speak with post-ops all the time who are addicted to pretzels - again, this is a simple carb that your jejunum is very happy to receive and convert to fat. Traditionally dieters are encouraged to eat pretzels or popcorn - fat free and fiber, right? But that doesn't work so well for us. Giving our re-routed bodies these simple carbs is dangerous because our bodies have spent years perfect the art of fat storage - slider foods are to the body a great big lottery win.

By the way, in my example I spoke of a slurry from graham crackers and coffee. Simple carbs, however, will slide right through without the added benefit of a liquid. And several others can talk about cheese nip crackers, popcorn, mashed potatoes , ice cream/yogurt etc.

SO MY QUESTION IS THIS.... If Slider foods slide right through the stoma into the jejunum, what happens with protein shakes?  And yogurt???

 

Gail -

That's a very interesting question.  I know there are a couple bariatric professionals lurking on the board sometimes, maybe they can shed some light on it.

tia

We are supposed to eat dense protein to make us feel full, the slider foods do not keep us full for very long and therefore we get hungry faster eat more often and gain weight.

Unfortunately the slider foods are the ones I prefer and have to remember that to be successful long term I HAVE to incorporate more of the dense proteins in my diet.  I still enjoy the non fat plain yogurt with a little fruit and a splenda as my morning snack.  I still prefer cottage cheese and tomatoes for lunch.  I love my banana and peanut butter snack.  And I enjoy my protein shake for breakfast.  While I can maintain eating this way I do get hungry and then cause myself to gain because of my snacking. (This sounds like me)

Stephanie

I know my nut urges me to do more dense proteins so I'll stay full longer but I LOVE COTTAGE CHEESE!!!!  Luckily the Weis brand of fat free cottage cheese is quite dry (not very milky) and so to make it more dense, I add things to it like bacon bits and olives. 

Same goes for yogurt.  You can make it denser by adding cereal to it.  Especially Kashi GoLean cereal which has about 13 - 15 grams of protein per cup of cereal.  Add that to an already protein packed greek yogurt at over 20 grams of protein per serving and there you have a very thick, stick to your ribs treat.  It's all about still having what you got accustomed to after surgery and making it stay with you instead of it emptying out so soon.

Actually, I do add oats to my protein shake and peanut butter. It can be pretty thick. I think I understand more now. Thanks!