A little memo from my dietitian!

lapbandking · March 16, 2009

You can also click my picture and go to my website and find my first fill on video. Its day 27.

So, you just had your first fill. Not so bad, right? For the remainder of the day on your “fill days,” you should stick to just liquids: clear and full liquids. The band around your stomach is a little tighter so it may take a day or two for your body to adjust, so taking in only liquids for the day can prevent the possibility of anything getting “stuck” at the band site.

Everybody’s fill volume is going to be different. And the amount of fills you get will vary from person to person. So, don’t compare yourself to others, thinking “why does she have only 5cc’s and I’m at 7cc, etc etc?” It can take a while until we reach the sweet spot of filling your band with just the right amount, to where you can still eat but feel comfortable and satisfied after a small amount of food, and continue to lose weight.

Which brings us to the rules of how you should be eating. It’s not just “what” you eat, but also the way you consume your foods and liquids. For the most of us, we’ve been raised in the Clean Plate Club of America, with membership only granted to fast eaters. That behavior has got to change.

Remember: SLOW, SMALL, and CHEW THOROUGHLY.

When consuming foods and drinking liquids, take your time and slow down.

Where’s the fire? When we eat too fast, we often end up eating too much. And when we finally feel full, we’re grossly stuffed. Sound familiar? Being so full, we have to excuse ourselves, unbutton our pants just so we can breathe. If you eat too much, over time, you may stretch your pouch. And stretching your pouch leads to a larger stomach that can hold more food.< /p>

More food = more calories = weight GAIN.

It takes about 20 minutes for our brains to register satiety. Once you train yourself to slow down, put the fork down between bites, and savor the food, you may find yourself being comfortably satisfied with less food than usual. Try it. After a couple bites of food, ask yourself: Do you feel full and satisfied with the amount you just ate? If so, this is a good stopping point and it’s time to step away from the table.

For solid foods and liquids, make sure they are in small amounts.

No more pelican mouth. If you eat too large of a bite, chances are that you probably won’t chew it well enough. This increases your chance of food getting lodged at the band site. The next thing you should do would be to locate the nearest sink/toilet/trashcan/whatever receptacle because what just went down will most likely want to come back up.

Think of a funnel. Only small pieces can pass. Too large of anything: food, liquid, pills can clog up your pipe.

With each bite of food, chew thoroughly.

Now that you’re reminding yourself to slow down and take small bites, don’t forget to chew your food up quite well. Your stomach shouldn’t have to do much digesting. The food should be broken down well enough prior to entering the stomach. By chewing your food thoroughly, you decrease the likelihood of food getting stuck and increase the ability to tolerate more foods like beef, chicken, bread, etc. And also, chewing your food thoroughly will help you slow down the pace.

All of this will come naturally, it just takes some practice. Keep reminding yourself and you’ll realize why it is so important to modify our eating behaviors.

Lin Lin Shao, RD LD

Bariatric Dietitian