Please tell me im not alone!

[mommyjamie 83]

Tonight I was making shrimp Soup and once it was all done, before pureeing mine I tossed a shrimp in my mouth, chewed it and spit it out. I just wanted the feeling. Lol. I did it w mozzarella cheese too.am I going crazy? 9 days post op.

[mickally 95]

Your not alone. You can do this. The craziness gets better just hang in there it's so worth it.

[healthyme1963 136]

I think that the desire to chew is perfectly normal.

I just graduated from soft foods to a normal diet two days ago. The entire time I was on the liquid and then soft foods plan, all I wanted to do was chew something crunchy! I missed the act of chewing; who woulda thunk it?

Now, though, that I'm on regular foods, I still haven't been brave enough to try raw vegetables, salad or not-so-soft meats. Go figure!

Edited April 30, 2014 by healthyme1963

[vsg_joanna 67]

Yup I totally chewed and then spit something out when I was still on full liquids lol

[scorpianwoman39 16]

Yep chewed beef, loved it , then spat it out and had my Soup lol

[Bufflehead 6,358]

You are not alone, but it is not a good idea and you should make every effort to stop! Copying and pasting Laura-Ven's post on this topic, which you can find here:

http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/252757-chewing-food-and-spitting-it-out/

First, this behavior is the first steps of bulimia and getting into the habit of chewing food and spitting it out can lead to a very serious eating disorder. After WLS we are already dealing with changing the way we relate to food, so we want to instill good habits all along the way and avoid the bad ones as much as possible.

Second, there's a biological reason not to do this too. When you smell food and when it enters your mouth and you begin to chew, the body goes into Prep Mode to receive food. Your salivary glands produce saliva, your pancreas produces insulin, your liver produces gastric acid and your brain begins to calculate how much nutrition you're about to receive from the food you eat so it can keep track of it's daily needs/calories --- the body is a well tuned machine and it knows how to deal with food when it knows it's coming. But then you spit out the food. Your body still has excess saliva, insulin, gastric acid and it can't figure out why it didn't get the nutrition it thought it was going to get so the brain accountants go nuts.

Excess insulin in your body causes your appetite to increase so you'll eat more food to soak up all that extra hormone. Excess gastric acid in the stomach -- now released at the Y of your common channel -- can cause indigestion or heartburn or ulcers. And those brain accountants are now doing some creative math to recalculate the nutritional value of food because it thought it was going to get a certain number of calories, but none came, so next time you try to eat that same food the brain thinks you need twice as much to get the same nutrition as it thought it should have gotten last time.

So not only is the whole "chew and spit" habit a training ground for bulimia, it's also a way to tease your body into thinking it's getting food when it really isn't. Bulimia is a very serious illness and not something you want to play around with.

[Teachamy 1,042]

• Thanks, Bufflehead. I was going to go look for that post myself!

[Domika03 309]

I posted a few months ago about licking the cheese off my Doritos & giving the dogs the actual chips. Yup, I did that!!!

[Heidi7799 16]

I think that this is lines for telling your doctor and maybe seeing a psychologist for these feelings we are all feeling a loss hello we were all eaters and being on liquids is mentally challenging. Spitting out food or licking flavoring is not the answer keep telling yourself that soon you will have way more choices to think about and yes you will chew. I hope all of you choose health over unhealthy tricks that won't benefit you in the long run! Stick with your doctors orders and you will have success!

[mommyjamie 83]

I think that this is lines for telling your doctor and maybe seeing a psychologist for these feelings we are all feeling a loss hello we were all eaters and being on liquids is mentally challenging. Spitting out food or licking flavoring is not the answer keep telling yourself that soon you will have way more choices to think about and yes you will chew. I hope all of you choose health over unhealthy tricks that won't benefit you in the long run! Stick with your doctors orders and you will have success!

I did it once. After reading responses, I didn't do it again.

[Teachamy 1,042]

Don't worry, Jamie. This stage shall pass!

[lulumomof2 5]

Heidi7799... Thanks For posting.

Mommiejammie I did the spitting and will stop also. I'm actually not hungry its totally a chewing thing but after reading the post it makes total sense. pureed food will be here soon. ..I/ we can do this