??'s about drinks with meals and snacking.

OK... Some one help me with this. Why exactly is it bad to drink with your meals again? I don't mean gulping, I am thinking sipping. I don't gulp with my meals, but every now and then I have to sip (like a tea spoon worth at a time). I am 3 weeks post op. Should I just deal with no liquids durring that 60 minute window. Also, question on snacking. I eat lunch at 11 am, I don't get home to eat dinner till around 630. Is it ok if I have  some peanuts once or twice in the afternoon (or one peanut butter cracker)?

With the amount of food you cannot eat at one time, snacking is essential to your getting your protein and nutrition, just focus on protein and avoid it turning into constant grazing or you will develop a new bad habit,...or extend the old one into your new lifestyle.....not good. I do breakfast with the bulk of my vitamins, 2-3 protein bars and 2-3 bottle waters between breakfast and lunch, lunch, 2-3 protein bars and 2 bottle waters between lunch and dinner, dinner, and some kind of evening snack and another water but nothing solid 2 hrs before bed (most of the time.  Of course those are on normal days.  The routine varies as the events of the day drive availabilty.   My intake of protein bars by choice could just as easily be some other protein source and they are many.  Find something that works for you and your lifestyle;  Beef jerky, peanuts, smoothies, shakes, boiled egg whites, cheddar cheese sticks, etc,.etc., Drinking with eating I find appealing also but more than a moistening washes the food through before it can be digested and absorbed properly and remember,... the new plumbing is relearning how to do its job too.  It will get use to whatever we make of habit of doing to it; good habits or bad. Waiting 20-30 minutes is just a matter of doing it and gettiing use to it, then it becomes habit.  It really isn't that long once you've made the effort.  I just note what time it is when I stop eating the solid food and try to do something else even if it is just conversation, reading a newspaper/magazine/internet article or a spot of TV (news or ESPN).  In desparate times, maybe even a spot of work.... :-)  It goes by pretty fast.  Keep the faith and May the FARTS be with you!

Joe pretty well coverd it, you don't drink so the food is not washed out of the pouch as quickly and gives your system more time to break it down. Also you wil feel fuller longer.  One trick you may want to try is sugar free gum. I grab a couple of pieces and chew it shortly after a meal, keeps me busy and my mind off drinking.  pan head

Hey Chris.... Joe hit it pretty good...I do have to moisten  a little..I don't think that is a problem...but I guarantee....If I do fluids with my meal....it will shift something, and things will back up and I will yak....it will clog that little hole and foamies,a nd yakking...it just ain't worth it... Russ