Help required with drinking & eating rule

[Rinata Rak]

Hi everyone,

I'm a little confused as I've had conflicting information about how long to leave between drinking and eating.
Before meals seems to range from 15 minutes to an hour and after meals seems to range from 1/2 hour to an hour, depending on what I'm reading.

I'm still in the liquid stage but wanted to train my mind now and get used to it for when I'm starting puréed Stage next week. I keep forgetting to time when I've stopped "eating"

Has anyone got any tips or advice on how to manage this please?

Thanks x

 

[los in it]

I was told to wait at least 1/2hour after eating before drinking and 1/2 hour before eating to ensure an empty tum then after eating to ensure you didnt "wash away" any of the best bits of food

 

[Rinata Rak]

Thanks Los. It seems to vary from surgeon to surgeon and dietician to dietician. Quite confusing!!

 

[2nd chance Jo]

I have never timed it I'm terribly unorganised tho lol. I was told 30 to 60 mins. I usually keep to half hour tho I think. I miss drinking with meals so much small price tho

 

[Rinata Rak]

Thanks Jo.
You're right, Ive been so used to drinking while I've been eating. That is going to be a hard habit to break!! X

 

[nicola1723]

I'm a bypasser but 20/30 mins. Get used to it over time

 

[Rinata Rak]

Thanks Nicola x

 

[Kar8858]

I have always stuck to half an hour, especially after eating as, one your stomach is full of food and two, you will wash the food through before it is absorbed and digested properly. You soon get in to it.
I still find even 7months out im only drinking around 1200ml a day.
Good luck

 

[Rinata Rak]

Thanks Kar.

Looks like the general rule of thumb is 30 mins. I'm happy to go with that! Thanks x

 

[Smallerme]

What did your own team say? Mine was leave it at least an hour afterwards and still I pretty much stick to this 17mths after surgery, usually longer. I get hungry soon after I drink so I find it helpful to not drink too soon after a meal. Before hand I tend to leave it 15-30mins, it's enough time for a drink to pass through before eating.

I think this visual helped me with the no eating/drinking rule. Whilst you're on fluids it's really not going to make much difference as your fluid is passing straight through but once on solids you want to keep that full feeling for as long as possible. It's part of why it works. Your body is tricked into the sated feeling for longer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR0VM3mnsgM

 

[Butterfly_lady]

I am a bypasser I was told 20 minutes in between

 

[Rinata Rak]

Hi Smallerme,

Thanks soo much for the link. It's really useful... Especially the visual aid!!

I've had contradicting info from my surgeon and the dietician so I was a bit confused. The dietician said it should be 1/2 hour before meals and 30-45 minutes after meals. My surgeon said 15 minutes before and 45-60 minutes after. I've only been on puréed food for 2 days so as a compromise, I've allowed 30-40 mins before and after meals.

I'm not sure if it's because I'm on puréed now and eating less than feeling full that I feel hungrier now. Also with the amount of water I need to drink along with taking so much medication, I thought it would be easier to follow the 30-40 minutes time to help my intake of fluids.

It's amazing (and confusing) how each provider gives different advice!

Quick question... Are the bowel movements supposed to be more regular when on puréeds??

Trying to get my head around the whole science behind it all!!

Thanks again and hope it's still going well with you x

 

[Tules]

I think there is a bit of a flexibility for the "before" meal drinking. I also heard US patients mentioning 10-15 minutes. I guess the idea is that the water will go through the stomach, and it will be empty anyway. However "after" food drinking is a different matter since the food will be still there and water will expend it. Causing discomfort and expansion. I was watching a US patient on you tube, she presented pictures of her meals (this is 1 year after sleeve) and she did say (and photos showed) that she can eat more if drinking water.
hope this helps. I am more careful about the after meal drinking and make sure there is at least 30 minute gap.

 

[Smallerme]

I still find the differences in providers diet info shocking. I'm someone who likes to know why (yes I was that annoying child ) so to not have evidenced based information drives me mad.

It would be great if someone put together a cohort study of this. Looked at if there was any difference in overall losses at 12,18, 24mths, look at biggest drops and tallied it with how long on liquids/puree/soft/solid and gaps in drinks.

How would you feel about 45mins which both gave as within the time frame? Unless you really can't manage that. This will become less of a problem for you on proper solids as it does really feel like you can't drink after food.

Bowel movements can be disrupted and irregular for quite sometime or you can get the opposite and not be off the pot. Did they give you any movicol for if you're struggling?

 

[Rinata Rak]

I totally agree Smallerme!! I am also that annoying child that needs to know why!!! I also can't believe how many differences there are between the Bariatric teams across on board on diet, drinking, recovery, medication, pre Op diets, exercise etc... Basically, the whole shabbang!!

Today, I've left the gap of 1 hour between meals and drinking and found that I've only managed 1/2 litre of fluids. I'll try 45 minutes tomorrow and will stick to that thereafter I think as I want to get into a proper routine... Thanks for the suggestion!
I can't believe how much of a minefield everything is post surgery at the moment. My whole day revolves around time for food, drink, exercise and medication!! Before I know it, the day's over!!

I've been given so much medication, I feel like a walking Pharmacy yet I've been given no laxatives or given any intrusctions whether I should take them or not at this early stage. When I questioned the lack of bowel movements, I was told its perfectly normal.
Is there any harm in taking laxatives? I was going to leave it for 1-2 days of puréed food before I spoke to my team again.

You're right, it would be great to have access to more cases and evidence for past patients so that we can feel more assured about our own surgeries and progress!!