Eating and Drinking

Hi All,

Because I've had the sleeve surgery, do I still need to stop drinking fluids 30 minutes before and after eating?  

Melissa

You can drin****il you start eating, but you shouldn't eat with your food, and you should wait 30 minutes to drink after eating.  

What Neesie said.

Some Docs guidelines say 30 min before and after, but most people just follow the not drinking with a meal and 30 min after. Liquid passes through your pouch fairly fast so 30 minutes before seems unnecessary.

  frisco
on 3/4/12 7:44 pm VSG on 09/30/09  
The Pyloric Valve.....the most not talked about function that will answer a lot of questions.

If you understand the Pyloric Valve function......things will be a lot easier and explain why we need to do certain things.......


Post Date: 10/5/11 5:58 pm 
 

First, I'm not a doctor nor have I ever played one on TV.

This is a level one explanation.....there is more to it....but if you understand this....it will make some sense.

 

This may be old news to some..... But I've noticed a lot of people who have had VSG do not have any idea how the Pyloric Valve works.

 

This is my understanding how the Pyloric Valve works.

 

The Pyloric Valve function and how it pertains to your VSG.

 

The function of your Pyloric valve is the single most not talked about important part of understanding how and when you should eat and drink.

 

The Pyloric Valve is just that....It is a valve that is located at the bottom of your stomach/sleeve. This valve is in between your sleeve and the small intestine. The basic definition of a valve is an apparatus that opens and closes.

 

When open this valve it is about the diameter of a dime. When closed it's opening is closed down to the diameter of the head of a ballpoint pen.

 

Dense proteins and harder to digest foods will cause the Pyloric valve to close to hold the food in your stomach for pre-digestion...... stomach acids breaking down this "RoughÂ" food. 

 

That's why we are told to eat dense proteins first.....To close the Pyloric Valve so food stays in your stomach/sleeve longer so we have a sense of satisfaction.

 

It takes about 30-60 minutes for the food to clear the Pyloric Valve...... Than it's OK to drink.

 

That is also where the term slider food  comes into play. A slider food does not close the Pyloric Valve and as the term is intended.....food slides right past an open Pyloric Valve.

 

 

 

So now the other half of the Pyloric Valve function..... You eat a dense protein like chicken that causes your Pyloric Valve to close. Say for example your sleeve has a 4oz. capacity.....and you eat 4oz. of chicken.....your sleeve is full and holding all 4 oz. of chicken for pre-digestion because your Pyloric Valve is closed. 

 

So now try and drink something....where is it gonna go? Up.....Up until it hits another valve of sorts..... the Esophageal Sphincter (valve) and above that is a flapper valve. The function of these two valves is to hold food, bile and stomach acids in your stomach and not backing up into your air way. This is a very high pressure system. Thats why when you eat to much or drink after eating a hard to digest food and your Pyloric is closed.....It hurts cause you pressurized your intake track. Vomiting would be a natural pressure release.

So you can see how learning and understanding how the Pyloric Valve works is important as it pertains to eating and drinking with a Gastric Sleeve.

 

So that was kinda like VSG and the Pyloric Valve 101

 

As you get further a long you will want to use the Pyloric Valve in other ways to keep food in your sleeve longer to stay satisfied longer. 

 

A sleeve empties faster than a stock un altered full size stomach so sometimes it's beneficial for you to learn what foods stay in your sleeve longer to extend satisfaction.

 

Dense proteins are #1 in closing the Pyloric Valve. Chicken, steak, pork, fish.....in that order seems to be the way it goes for me.

 

Other foods that are hard to digest and help close the Pyloric Valve are foods like:

 

• Broccoli Stalk
• Asparagus
• Celery
• Cucumber with Skin
• Radish
• Cabbage (I'm testing this right now)
• Bell Pepper

 

So I hope you understand my 5 cent tour of the Pyloric Valve and how it effects the way we eat with a VSG and how important it is to work the Pyloric Valve to your benefit.

frisco

This is still my favourite post on this entire site.  Thank you, Frisco.

Wow- I understood all that!ha!  Thanks for taking the time to write it out for all of us!  Dee

My nutritionist gave me the 15/30 guideline:  Don't drink 15 minutes before eating and don't drink 30 minutes after eating.  She says you can wet your mouth before eating, but don't drink while you eat.  I'm struggling with not drinking too fast. 

So five years out, and I still avoid drinking and eating at the same time. I imagine that will be true forever.  For the longest time it was very uncomfortable to drink with food in my stomach - created that upward pressure that Frisco talks about, made me burpy and just overall uncomfortable.  Now that's not so true anymore, thankfully, although it still can cause gurgling and burping/hiccup problems if I drink too soon after eating.

I also avoid drinking after eating for as long as I can, at least a couple hours or more, to let my stomach digest/empty on its own time, because it seems that if I drink within a couple hours of eating I get hungry for my next meal sooner.