Food intolerance

Why do some people have so much more trouble with keeping food down than others?  I haven't really tested the limits of the diet yet (7 weeks out) but I haven't had difficulty with good tolerance or keping things down.  I wonder why and it kind of scared me at how much I ate last night without a problem.  I know I eat way too fast.  An old habit that is hard to break.

If we knew the answer to your question there wouldn't be a need for this forum.

Old habits will become the past, so just keep making new decisions.

Sometimes it is because people don't chew as well as they should (my surgeon was adamant that we chew everything to "mush"), or because they eat too fast, but many times it is just because individual bodies react differently.

Some surgeons (including mine) have also found that patients who spend a long time on liquids and purées post-op often have significantly more trouble once they start back on solid food than people who start soft foods relatively quickly after surgery and progress to solid foods fairly quickly. (My plan had me eating oatmeal and scrambled eggs on Day Three before I even left the hospital (my surgery was open, so I was there four days), and had me eating fish and moist chicken after the second week.  I didn't throw up at all until I was 18 months post-op and ate some dry chicken too quickly, and didn't have any foods I didn't tolerate until I was more than 6 months out and was adding back in some harder to digest items (bacon, apple skins, raw veggies) or, once I was more than a year out, tried some "special treats" (unhealthy things) like an onion ring. I am 8 years out and still cannot digest apple skins well, and more than one bite of an onion ring makes me vomit.  Fortunately, I can live without both of those items. 

Lora

Thanks!  Still haven tried raw veggies or fried foods, but I have had small bites of something sweets.  For the most part protein shakes satisfy sweetcravings.  I am trying not to eat those forbidden foods but I'm sure over time I'll bevome braver# You explained it well.  :-)

I am one month out since my surgery and I am just transitioning back into normal foods. So far I have only a couple bad reactions to anything. I find that I eat too fast as well. If I do my tummy will feel bloated and once I threw up because I ate a little too much. My bad. But once I expelled the extra I felt just fine. Got myself a good food scale and really watching my intake, so far so good. I had a little grilled teriyaki chicken last night and no problems. :) It's all about trying new things and seeing how your pouch will react, its kinda like playing Russian roulette with food...lol. Everyone is different. 

I often wonder that too. I'm almost 3 months post op and threw up once, I'd tried curry and my tummy just didn't like it. Everything else I tolerate fine, even steak. I do chew upwards of 30 bites eack forkful... I just need to learn to take smaller portions on my fork. 

I think it just comes back to people are just different.  I read here once that the largest % of people have no problems what so ever with any part of WLS journey, but they don't feel the need to ask questions, because... well they have no problems.  I can eat just about anything, so for me its my willpower alone that's stopping me.  I sometimes wish I was a dumper as ive heard about 30% are, the rest of us well...we do it or not, but just have to live with our choices...

Good luck to you on your journey!

My guess is that far more than 30% of RNYers dump, but that they are like me: I physically do dump, but takes a LOT of sugar to make it happen (more sugar than any of us should be ingesting from a caloric standpoint), so for all practical purposes, I don't dump.

I can eat up to 1/3 C of full fat, full sugar Haagen Dazs ice cream, but more than that makes me sick.  A half cup of Strawberry Haagen Dazs has almost 250 calories (butter ocean has 300!), 15g of fat, and 20g of sugar! That, though, is about what it takes to make me dump.  Yes, I know this because I have eaten almost a 1/2 C a couple of times in the last 8 years... and have paid the penalty for wanting those few extra spoonfuls.  Generally, I eat only a tablespoon of it at a time, though, and a splurge is 1/4C.

Lora

Good question! A friend of mine had VSG in December and still can't eat iceberg lettuce, shredded meat, or anything spicy. I had RNY in May, and shredded buffalo chicken was one of my go-to foods during the soft food stage 3 weeks out. I haven't found any foods I *can't* tolerate yet, but there are things I haven't tried since surgery (like sweets, rice, or pasta). I'm certainly miserable if I eat even two bites too much though, and slowing down is crucial to realizing when you're full. It is definitely a hard habit to break, but I have more success with small, planned snacks to make sure I never get so hungry that I want to gorge myself at mealtimes.