7 years out and not feeling full

Hello,I have a friend that is 7 years out of RNY and having issues with not feeling full when she has eaten. She has been chewing a lot of gum to help with the urge to eat. She is wanting some ideas of what to do. Can anyone help????? Thank you so much for your help.

First, if she hasn't had a check up lately, she needs to.  An upper GI to make sure everything looks OK would be a good idea. After that, what is she eating?  A lot of carbs and slider foods?  I suggest she try the 5DPT.  www.5daypouchtest.com If she doesn't want to do the liquids then she needs to go back to basics, dense protein first, then good carbs.  No drinking until 30 minutes after, etc.  Other than this without knowing more details, it's hard to give advice. Michele

"Feeling Full." Those keywords you used triggered my most important lesson in my last four years...You said "she is having issues with not feeling full" ....Feeling full is not good!!!!!! She needs to remember how to eat til satisfied and NOT eat til she is full. One of the best parts of RNY was not feeling hunger, until I added non-complex carbs and sugar back into my diet! Bad bad bad! Our pouches don't like full...If she is trying to acheive fullness....that is why she is having so much trouble...She might benefit from the 5 Day Pouch Test...so she can regain some control over her urges.  I'm not judging!  Nope! I went thru this same thing!  I thought I totally blew it when I gained some 10 pounds last winter!   It's soooo hard to cut back once you've begun eating like that...but it is possible! She's got to learn to eat denser proteins and smaller portions and not try so hard to feel anything but satisfied...Drinking lost of water in between meals helps me a lot!  Gum too, although there was a discussion that we shouldn't chew gum!  I dunno... I still do and I don't see myself giving it up until it's almost killed me!  I'm a little weird like that!  LOL

Thank you for the advice. I will suggest the 5 day pouch to her and ask her to try going back to basics and see what happens. 

I have found there is a difference between "feeling full" and "feeling satisfied". Is that what you're friend is experiencing?

I've had that feeling too. There were many times when I had just eaten and I would not "hungry" but I wasn't feeling  "satisfied" either. Of all the problems I've experienced recently with low blood sugar, always feeling hungry and recent weight gain == the simplest overall solution was to stop drinking with meals (which was a habit I had let slip back into a normal routine).

I have also started watching to make sure the foods I eat (especially any carbs) - are choices with a lower glycemic index -- so the food breaks down slower, giving me more of a feeling of saiety longer.

I have started using a slice of gluten free bread called Ezekiel 4:9® instead of eating 1/2 bagel, for example.  Bagels have a higher glycemic index, so they are broken down quicker, therefore making me feel hungry -- sooner. The relatively smaller slice of Ezekiel 4:9 bread gives me a sense of satisfaction longer.  

I hadn't been exercising routinely either. I've started trying to do at least 30 minutes of something aerobic 3 or 4 times a week and it's been helpful in suppressing my appetite too. You'd think with more activity, I might want to eat more -- but it has helped me pass time (not grazing) and it's taken a few lbs off in the meantime!