Please give me the facts about drinking with meals! And pain in my sternum and back?

You know where I went so I need the low down on drinking with meals. First I was told very briefly not to drink 1/2 hour before or after meals. (but not why) Shame on me!  Then I asked the Dr. about it because I feel like I need a drink to wash the food down, he said DON'T WORRY about it, if you want to drink then you can?? I see that you guys do not! What's up with that and why shouldn't I drink??

One more issue...I keep getting pain in my stermun and mid back? Gas, food, liquid??? Any ideas, my ulcer is supposedly healed although I'm still taking Protonix for another month. I hate to have to go see my crappy surgeon if this is normal. He will probably dismiss it anyway just like my ulcer. Dr. Pecquex never called me back..don't know what's up with that. Will have to try calling again. ugggh

Drinking with meals is one thing I haven't been able to give up.  I'm totally guilty of doing that.  My nutritionist said that  it can cause the foods to move out of your stomach too fast  and cause the dumping syndrome, as well as causing you to be hungry sooner since the food moves out faster and then you eat more calories than you should.  :)

The no drinking thing is so you don't wash the food through too fast. If you do ...you can be hungrier quicker ...which can eventually lead to other things like grazing which could lead to weight gain. Do you see where I'm going with this? LOL. It can also cause pain and discomfort.

Not sure why exactly you have pain in your back. The gas thing is usually only a problem when you are like a week or 2 post op. And walking will help that. It could also be you ate too fast or too much. If I do that I get pains in weird locations.

I've also heard that drinking while you eat can add to stretching your pouch, too, and is a slippery slope.  I avoid it most of the time.  Sometimes, though, I  need to get liquids in, and I don't have enough time some days to eat for half an hour than an hour later drink for half an hour then an hour later eat for another half hour, etc.  Something's gotta give, so sometimes it's the water with a meal, but I do try to avoid it.

I've done it all my life, so I guess that may be why it is hard not to do. And often I feel like I need a drink to help the food go down. And I hear ya on getting the fluids down. I'm usually drinking something when I realize I need to eat. lol Thanks for all the info.

i got to a point that i felt it was a pain in the ass to wait the half hour before meals my thinking was ok so my pouch is basicly a funel why do i need to wait to eat if the fluids dont stick around anyway and another thing that boggled me was ok how do you tackle soup / cereal never have it again??  some of my papers from the doc's office had sample menus and soup was listed
also my weight loss surgery for dummies book has a sample menu that has cereal in it with milk so i guess you just need to decide yourself 

so now i drink right up untill i eat 
i have had no problems
 i do wait a  half hour after 
and i have had  cereal with milk and chicken soup