Anyone else have problems holding down food ?

[dudeman 0]

This is bit unpleasant topic, but I'm 30+ days post-op and am supposed to be on the long term regular diet according to my physician's plan. However, any solid foods like Pasta, rice, pizza doe -- even if I take 30 chews each bite, keep the volume of food to 1/2 cup per sitting, I'm still having trouble keeping the food down, i.e. I've got to go to the toilet and let it out via vomiting. Bit embarrassing too, but to be honest, I expected to be done with this getting used to the VSG, and letting the lining heal. I haven't experience any leaks or other problems with the surgery -- just that the new stomach doesn't seem to be having major problems with anything, except for soft, mushy, or liquid foods. With the on-going vomiting (every meal basically), I'm also having problems with keeping the nutrition and calories in having to eat more calories than recommended. The weight loss is on schedule though at around 1~2lb per week. Anyone else gone through the same type of thing out there ? Appreciate all your thoughts on this problem. Tnx~!

[bilka 6]

I am having the same problem. Luke warm baby food is fine, liquids are fine, semi-solid food is a disaster. So I just eat less than half a portion of what I should in order to get my stomach used to food.

I should eat 125 grams salmon (mashed with a fork), so I prepare it, I mash it, mix it with light mayo and eat a third of it. Then I don't allow myself to go throw up. I stay at the table and wait until the annoying feeling is gone.

In the evening I do eat baby food, otherwise I won't get many calories in, but I do at least one semi-solid meal per day.

My hubby (doctor) is the one who gave me the idea: just have a even smaller portion than what you should and DO NOT GO vomit. Just don't.

[dudeman 0]

Ok .. thanks for that advise. But the problem with "just don't do it!" for me is that I experience a high level of unpleasantness whenever there are solids that the new stomach doesn't agree with. The feeling is bit like someone torquing the stomach in a twisting motion, followed by tremendous pressure. Once I get these two feelings, the only relief is to release that food.

There have been occasions, where I have been able to eat Pasta without meat or sauce and it didn't come up. There have been other occasions where I followed up a dinner with some Snacks and solids held. So, it seems like the new stomach has become very temperamental.

To tell the truth, at first may be first week post-op, I couldn't barely throw up on demand. But I've gotten so routine to this, that it's become part of eating now. I don't think I remember a recent meal, where I had solids that I did not throw it up. So, I'm hoping someone had the same experience and knows when or how this phase will stop.

Right now, the only way I can avoid this -- is to convert back to an all liquid diet, and I am behind schedule already there as I am supposed to be able to eat solids now, albeit low volume like a 100 grams per sitting. But I appreciate your input and any other inputs and advises.

[dudeman 0]

Also, I've been doing good on solids such as cooked salmon, boiled chicken, cooked pork, medium rare steak strips. But for grains and foods with high Fiber, the new reduced stomach feels like the reduced space makes for a high pressure situation for the grainy foods made from wheat and rice flour, steam riced a former stable food no longer on the menu due to upwardly movement.

[Derp 3]

You might just be a little behind schedule - your body in particular may not be ready for the pasta/rice. I'm a total noob, but i've noticed that my body is going slower than "scheduled". I spoke to my dietitian earlier this week and she said not to force myself to hold to the schedule or force it, but to do what my body says is right.

I'm just now able to get the basic Clear Liquids down, and i'm several days post-op. I have a feeling my healing schedule will be a lot slower than what's considered normal.

[swizzly 901]

If your tummy isn't liking pasta/bread/rice, then don't eat them. Then you can keep the meat and other Protein down. Yes?

[dudeman 0]

Yes, I can do eat some meats like boiled chicken and most fish. Stir fried chicken seems too dried and irritates when it goes down. Some greasier pork like bacon is staying down well. Seems the common thing is if the pork is too dried it might not want to stay down. Rare beef strip is staying down, but not roast beef and thin sliced beef or ground beef.

There's no way I can eat a piece of pizza and hold it. It's gonna come back up. Not that I really want to go bad diet with burgers and pizza, but I would like to be able to eat them without having to give them back.

[dlflightgirl 2]

I had my surgery on 2/7 so I'm also 30 + days out. Since I've read we can develop a leak until 6 weeks I'm taking it slow and still having soft/mushy foods. I've found my favorite is cooked chicken with cheese and mayo and blend it in the magic bullet. I can eat about 1/4 cup of food and that's it. Last night at friends house they ordered Chinese food and I had 1 little chicken from generals tso's and 1/2 of 1 dumpling. I was stuffed. I felt uncomfortable for about 15 min with that amount of food so 1/2 cup would kill me at this point. I haven't had any bread or Pasta yet. Since I'm eating so little I'm sticking with the Protein only. Good luck and don't feel bad taking it a little slower. Listen to your body.

[dudeman 0]

Thanks for that! I can identify with the feeling and it's good that you're also around 30 days out. If you are feeling that -- I guess my feelings that I am getting must be normal. Tnx! Hopefully, in another month I will be able to eat all solids and hold them down.

[KabinKitty 11]

I am not quite a month and a half out. Surgery was February 2nd. I would love to try some pizza just because I miss the taste, but I would NEVER dream of trying that so soon!

Foods that have dough in them will expand in your stomach. No wonder you are vomiting. I have not vomited once since surgery. I eat very slowly and chew, chew, chew. No more mushies for me and my Magic Bullet only sees my Carnation Instant Breakfast shakes.

Last night I shared a meal with hubby at Cracker Barrel. We had chicken fried chicken (like chicken friend steak), mashed potatoes and green Beans. I had no trouble with any of it, and stopped as soon as I felt a little pressure. Sometimes I can eat maybe two more bites about 10 minutes later, but quit before I feel like the food is just sitting there waiting to get into my stomach.

If you crave pizza there is a recipe that uses finely riced cauliflower in the crust. I plan to try this!

Cauliflower Pizza

1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower*

1 egg

1 cup mozzarella cheese

1/2 tsp fennel

1 tsp oregano

2 tsp parsley

pizza or alfredo sauce

toppings (make sure meats are cooked, I used turkey pepperoni)

mozzarella cheese (for topping I used some cheddar too)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Farenheit. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray. In a medium bowl, combine cauliflower, egg and mozzarella. Press evenly on the pan. Sprinkle evenly with fennel, oregano and parsley. Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes (15-20 minutes if you double the recipe). Remove the pan from the oven. To the crust, add sauce, then toppings and cheese. Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted.

*To make "riced cauliflower" take a whole fresh cauliflower, break it into small florets and steam it. Then put it in a food processor or blender and whiz until you get little chunks that resemble rice. (There is no rice, in riced cauliflower.) You could also use frozen florets, but I almost always have fresh cauiflower on hand.

[brandynd 6]

That sounds really yummy! Do you happen to know the nutritional content? If not that's okay I'm sure I can add it up when I try it!

[KabinKitty 11]

That sounds really yummy! Do you happen to know the nutritional content? If not that's okay I'm sure I can add it up when I try it!

I have no idea the nutritional content. I don't eat gluten. I would think it would be extremely low in carbs. I'm thinking of trying this for dinner tonight. I found this on the blog of one of the members. I think her user name is something like mom2girls. Seems like the crust would be very crispy and light....YUM!

[swizzly 901]

I don't know if this will help anyone else, but I've been needing some red meat to try and boost my energy levels. I was scared to eat beef or even ground beef, it didn't look like it would sit well at all. So I ran it through the food processor a LOT until it was nearly like a paste, then instead of browning it like normal, I cooked it in a bit of liquid to ensure it all stayed tender (even slow browning toughens it up a bit) and not clump up into bigger pieces again. Then I used it in chili -- worked like a dream.

[KabinKitty 11]

I'm not suppose to have red meat until 5 months out. The way you prepared it if it was added to chili I could probably even handle it. I have been using ground turkey instead of beef for some time now, even before sugery. No one knows the difference and I get it for $1.39 in one pound frozen rolls at Aldi food stores.

I never heard that beef does a better job increasing energy levels. I'm not a beef eater and mostly eat chicken and canned tuna. My energy is coming back. The best thing for my energy level is getting my Protein in and getting enough sleep. Sometimes I think because it seems we have healed so well and with such little pain, we forget we did have major surgery. We are extremely limited in the volume of food we can give our bodies in the beginning, hence we are more tired.

My energy level is coming back. It will just take time and patience for yours to return. I took almost a month off work to recuperate and was still very tired the first week back. Be patient and take care of yourself!

[swizzly 901]

In terms of energy, I was thinking of the Iron content in red meat -- I've also been eating (craving) loads of spinach, so I think I may be a little low on Iron. Thus the need to find a red meat solution.

Yeah, I'm on my third week off work already and still have a couple more to go. Sometimes I'm very energetic and some days I just walk the dogs and then lounge around the rest of the day (and feel guilty for doing so...).