Fluids While Eating

**bndjones** · 07-29-2016 07:13 PM

My doctors website and what I've seen regarding NOT drinking 30 minutes before meals and 1 hr after may be my biggest concern. From what I understand, drinking while eating or around the mealtime can lead to dumping syndrome. I can't remember a time that I didn't have something to drink while eating. I have been trying to lay off lately but it's really difficult. What kinds of experiences have those already having surgery been having??? Can you get away with just a little water, tea or coffee during a meal.

Will appreciate the advice.

**Kindle** · 07-29-2016 07:34 PM

The reason for that rule is leftover from gastric bypass rules. (Dumping is typically related to the sugar content of the food you consume) With bypass, you do not have a pyloric valve, so there is nothing keeping the food in your pouch from passing into your intestines. They don't want you drinking with meals, because that flushes the food through faster, often incompletely digested and leaving your pouch empty and making you feel hungry sooner so you might end up eating again too soon.

With VSG, our digestive anatomy, including pyloric valve is left intact and it acts as a valve to let food into the stomach only after it has digested in the stomach first. If anything, drinking with meals can leave you too full to get in an appropriate amount of food at mealtimes.

Some people choose to follow this rule religiously, and I did for the first 6 months or so. But then I discovered that no, I don't get hungrier sooner if I drink with my meals, so I drink and eat at the same time all the time. It has not hindered my weight loss, caused regain or made me eat more than I should.

**Pam G** · 07-30-2016 01:20 AM

I don't follow that "rule" because there's no way I'd be able to get in all my fluids if I did. If you eat three meals and two or three snacks, that's 5-6 hours out of the day where you can't drink!

I don't have dumping, but I do get full faster if I drink while eating. And that business about liquids making your food pass out of your stomach faster? I call BS on that, too.

**zoey101** · 07-30-2016 07:46 AM

Originally Posted by bndjones

My doctors website and what I've seen regarding NOT drinking 30 minutes before meals and 1 hr after may be my biggest concern. From what I understand, drinking while eating or around the mealtime can lead to dumping syndrome. I can't remember a time that I didn't have something to drink while eating. I have been trying to lay off lately but it's really difficult. What kinds of experiences have those already having surgery been having??? Can you get away with just a little water, tea or coffee during a meal.

Will appreciate the advice.

For me this rule only applies because even at over 16 months out I still can't drink with my meals. I get FULL way too fast if I do and then I don't eat enough food at all. To this day I still can only eat very minimal amounts of food in one sitting so I don't want to screw that up by drinking and eating at the same time because I need to eat ore at least that's what everyone tells me lol. Anyway Good Luck and try not to stress over stuff like that because you won't know how you will respond until after the surgery and you might be like me and not want to do it anyway.