New research on how the band works

[Jachut 487]

Finally, they know how the band works!

We've had this discussion many times, how can you get stuck immediately you swallow a bite if food is sitting in the pouch for hours, not going through the stoma immediately and causing you to be stuck!

DH went to the doc yesterday and was given a video. We both attend Prof. Paul O'Brien's practice so its always at the forefront of any research into the band, Prof. O'Brien being one of the band's pioneers. Anyway, their latest discovery is that food does not sit in the pouch for hours and slowly plass through as previously thought but as all those of us actually WITH a band know is probably not the case. What the band actually does is exactly like a blocked sink - you know how the plug hole chugs and glugs and spits it back up and then sucks it down, spits it up, sucks it down and gradually clears? Well, that's what the band does too. Food passes through, some goes right through, most is spat back up by the muscular contractions of the stomach, then its sucked back, some goes through, more comes up etc. In that way, each bite takes about a minute to pass through the stoma. What the band does is slow down your eating (or should) to such an extent that there is time for the food you eat to stimulate the nerves at the top of the stomach to indicate fullness - merely a exention of that old, eat slowly becuase it takes your stomach 20 minutes to tell your brain its full theory. Its the slowness of eating with a band that allows such a small portion of food to satisfy.

that being the case, the doctor advised DH that its quite important not only to chew, but to WAIT between bites to allow this process to take place, even to the point of a minute between each bite of food.

The DVD also went on to reinforce this clinic's believe in 3 meals a day, no Snacks based on the fact that hunger hormones are way better controlled with a long period between meals, that the body is not designed to constantly be coping with new input, but rather is designed to have long periods of fasting. I know for a fact this works for me, but I think differnet people cope better with different ways of eating.

Interesting, hey?

[Mimilou2004 13]

Very interesting, thanks for posting.

Mimi

[NJGirl32 43]

This makes a lot of sense and I think I read in the book Bandwagon that it works the same way-stomach muscles are constantly at work and food doesn't really 'sit' in the stomach. I agree with the 3 meals a day-it works for me. I eat at 8-1-6 and have a snack at 9.

My NUT told be to have Breakfast (snack) lunch (snack) dinner (snack). The train of thought is that this keeps the metabolism at a higher level.

[Coco's Mum 1]

This makes a lot of sense and I think I read in the book Bandwagon that it works the same way-stomach muscles are constantly at work and food doesn't really 'sit' in the stomach. I agree with the 3 meals a day-it works for me. I eat at 8-1-6 and have a snack at 9.

My NUT told be to have breakfast (snack) lunch (snack) dinner (snack). The train of thought is that this keeps the metabolism at a higher level.

This is so interesting. I hope more post-banders weigh in on this.

NJGirl - so you don't do the eat-snack-eat-snack-eat-snack and stick to 3 or 4 'meals' only? Thanks.

[roziecakes 20]

Wow! This is REALLY interesting, and it totally makes sense. Thank you for posting this!

[sassyfrass 24]

.....so it IS like the saying of eat slower, to eat less. Makes a lot of sense. We are always eating on the go, in a rush and have eaten way more than needed, so that when our stomach has finally caught up with all the food, we are WAY overfilled. Makes a lot of sense. I like how the band will force me to slow down, thus eat less. I will eventually get tired of waitng in between bites to eat because I have other things to do, so I'll just quit sooner than I normally would.

[Ellie Belle's Mom 0]

Very interesting.... thanks for sharing!

[bluekerry 3]

Very interesting study. In my old life I was a very fast eater. I ate every meal like it was my last. Now that I have to eat slow, I usually get tired of eating before I get full and just quit.

[Jack 855]

I've grown fond of my own sense of serenity and a more gradual pace of life in general accompanies the changes my Little Angel of the Silicon Fisssst has imposed on my eating habits.

"Eating rapidly" has become a clear error in many ways I strive to avoid, especially at first meal of the day.

I haven't seen what more recent research has shown, but the old notion was that the pyloric sphincter opened only enough to allow passage of the portion of stomach contents that had been reduced to a certain liquid gruel-like consistency before introduction to the small intestine.

I never had the concept that Bandster upper pouch contents was an "hours delayed" event, as somewhere in reading a lot gave the idea of just slowing down the process, but one could clog up the drain by certain eating errors.

Thanks for the post Jacqui.

[NJGirl32 43]

This is so interesting. I hope more post-banders weigh in on this.

NJGirl - so you don't do the eat-snack-eat-snack-eat-snack and stick to 3 or 4 'meals' only? Thanks.

Yep! I reay try to eat 3 meals and 1 larger snack. It works for me. If I get really hungry between meals I might have a small piece of fruit or a spoonfulof trail mix-but I look at the clock and say I can wait until __ time. On the weekends I try to delay my breakfast as much as possible. I enjoy reading the paper and having coffee.

[Humming Bird 275]

For me, the 3 meals plus Snacks causes me to "graze" all day (yesterday). I find my numbers on the scale tend to be much better when I stay busy and let myself be a bit hungry between meals. Head hunger or real hunger? Who knows, but if I do the snacking thing I get so off track I tend to gain weight. I need to focus my mind so that if I need some sort of snack it doesn't turn into the all day graze thing.

[Dave_NW 92]

Pre-banding, I ate like I was on fire. Speed was everything. (Blame the 20 years I spent in the Navy - there was always a lot of food, but never enough time to eat it at normal speed. I could clear a full tray of food in a matter of five minutes.) Now, I eat much more slowly, because eating fast causes me to get stuck. I don't have the time to wait a full minute between bites - that just wouldn't work for me. But I can feel when food passes through my band, so I know when I can have another bite, or at least when to slow down. I try to chew well, but it doesn't always work so easily, especially at different times of day. So each meal is a matter of swallow-and-feel-how-its-going. If I feel food hasn't passed through the band, I put down my fork and wait till I feel the pressure change as it does move through. It's a new feeling for me, but seems to be a good indicator of where I am with that meal.

I also can't do just three meals a day. I get a hypoglycemic thing, and my blood sugars drops, (I guess?), and I get shaky if I don't eat. But if I eat a few ounces of dense Protein about every four hours or so, I'm good to go. I don't snack or graze, in the "junk food" sense of the word. If I need a snack, I make it a healthy one, or part of a Protein Bar, or something that matters. And I count those calories in my daily tally, because I know there is no such thing as a free lunch. (Or mid-afternoon snack, or nighttime munchies... ) When I read about people who say they're "cheating" with junk food, or grazing on bad food all day, I just don't see how that's possible to do. At least for me - everyone does things their own way. (I have a banded cowroker who eats junk food all day, drinks soda like there's no tomorrow, and never exercises, then complains that he isn't losing weight. Duh!)

Given how much my stomach growls and roils and rumbles throughout the day since banding, Jacqui's comments about food passing up and down through the band all day makes sense. I don't remember my system ever being this loud before, and since I'm eating way less than before, I couldn't figure out why there was so much going on. Must be a quantity of food thing.

And the incredible, long, loud, deep belches? OMG!!! Jeez, sometimes I feel like I should be a trucker or something. LOL!

Dave

[CheckYes 46]

Very interesting!

[Jachut 487]

For me, the 3 meals plus Snacks causes me to "graze" all day (yesterday). I find my numbers on the scale tend to be much better when I stay busy and let myself be a bit hungry between meals. Head hunger or real hunger? Who knows, but if I do the snacking thing I get so off track I tend to gain weight. I need to focus my mind so that if I need some sort of snack it doesn't turn into the all day graze thing.

Same here, once I start, i want to eat a "meal", I cant quite at just a snack. And I have never mastered the art of heatlhy snacks that support my nutrition - snacks always tend to be processed foods for me, even if healthy like a nut bar or something. But I eat it and I'm not full, so I want to eat more and before I know it, I have eaten as much as a meal anyway, but just not as healthy food as I would normally eat at a meal.

So my rule is 3 meals no snacks. If I'm truly hungry, my trick is to eat a raw carrot - a difficult food for me - and a cup of coffee. This blocks me up and creates that I couldnt possibly eat feeling even if my lower stomach is still telling me it needs food.

but generally for me, its breakfast, lunch dinner and that's that. No snacks.

[Jachut 487]

Pre-banding, I ate like I was on fire. Speed was everything. (Blame the 20 years I spent in the Navy - there was always a lot of food, but never enough time to eat it at normal speed. I could clear a full tray of food in a matter of five minutes.) Now, I eat much more slowly, because eating fast causes me to get stuck. I don't have the time to wait a full minute between bites - that just wouldn't work for me. But I can feel when food passes through my band, so I know when I can have another bite, or at least when to slow down. I try to chew well, but it doesn't always work so easily, especially at different times of day. So each meal is a matter of swallow-and-feel-how-its-going. If I feel food hasn't passed through the band, I put down my fork and wait till I feel the pressure change as it does move through. It's a new feeling for me, but seems to be a good indicator of where I am with that meal.

I also can't do just three meals a day. I get a hypoglycemic thing, and my blood sugars drops, (I guess?), and I get shaky if I don't eat. But if I eat a few ounces of dense Protein about every four hours or so, I'm good to go. I don't snack or graze, in the "junk food" sense of the word. If I need a snack, I make it a healthy one, or part of a protein bar, or something that matters. And I count those calories in my daily tally, because I know there is no such thing as a free lunch. (Or mid-afternoon snack, or nighttime munchies... ) When I read about people who say they're "cheating" with junk food, or grazing on bad food all day, I just don't see how that's possible to do. At least for me - everyone does things their own way. (I have a banded cowroker who eats junk food all day, drinks soda like there's no tomorrow, and never exercises, then complains that he isn't losing weight. Duh!)

Given how much my stomach growls and roils and rumbles throughout the day since banding, Jacqui's comments about food passing up and down through the band all day makes sense. I don't remember my system ever being this loud before, and since I'm eating way less than before, I couldn't figure out why there was so much going on. Must be a quantity of food thing.

And the incredible, long, loud, deep belches? OMG!!! Jeez, sometimes I feel like I should be a trucker or something. LOL!

Dave

I know what you mean about that "pressure change". that's what I wait for as well. Might get 4 bites in then have to wait a bit, then another, sometimes, I need a 5 minute rest, you just have to wait till you feel that subtle shift. Now we know what that actually is - well I knew but it confused me because I alwasy thought food wasnt supposed to be goign through yet!