A grain of truth

I’m still getting my head around what it is I’m supposed to be doing.  At the moment, there is no fill in my band and so I am assuming that it is much like a “normal” stomach – just one sporting a fetching accessory.  I am continuing to use MFP to count my calories and I’m sticking to 1000 a day.  There is information in my booklet though, that talks about several things:

• A meal should be around 6 tbsp
• You should eat very small bites, chew very thoroughly and stop eating after 20 mins
• You must not drink anything with meals or for 30 mins before and after eating
• You need to eat ‘crunchier’ food to stimulate peristalsis in the upper section of the stomach (yes, like a cow, I now have two stomachs)
• If you are hungry between meals, you probably need a fill

I have joined a Whatsapp support group which is helpful – the women on there were appalled that anyone would say 6tbsp was enough food (phew).  I am doing the no drinking thing and trying to do the very thorough chewing – the latter is so that food doesn’t get stuck at the entrance to the bottom stomach.  Apparently this is a painful thing – and your body produces lots of saliva to try and wash the item through – but essentially you’re most likely to bring up both the stuck item and all the saliva.  I can live without experiencing this, so best to get in the habit now when it’s less of a risk.

I have my first fill on the last day of this month.  Hopefully I’ll get some more clarification then as I’m not clear whether counting calories is the right thing to do.

For instance, I made a Jambalya at the weekend (more of which later) and portioned it out into 6 portions which were 476 each…. So, tick for calorie counting.  But is the quantity too much?  I have no – what is called – restriction, so can eat more and will feel more hungry.  Is it insufficiently “crunchy” (laughs hollowly, see below…)?  I just don’t know.

The Jambalya.  Remember I said “hey presto”?  Not so much.  I had cross referenced with a few recipes – the one I mostly followed had many comments saying the rice was mushy.  Looking at other recipes, they advised turning the slow cooker up to high, adding the rice and cooking it for 40 mins.  Reader, I did this.  The rice was raw.  I gave it an hour.  It was still raw.  Crunchy… and raw.  Eventually I had to turf it all out of the slow cooker and whack up the heat in a casserole.  It was nice in the end but it was not a tranquil experience.  So, please learn from me: it takes a LOT longer than 40-60 mins to cook rice in a slow cooker.