Timing Your Liquids for Optimal Digestion

Howdy gang,

I read a lot of posts on here from people saying they can't eat this or can't eat that... and stuff goes right through them. I'm wondering if you guys are aware of when you should drink liquids. I grew up always drinking something while I ate. Seemed logical to "wash it down". But if you're an ostomate... primarily an ileostomate... you need to think through the drinking thing a bit. Most of your digestion takes place in your small bowel. And your stomach acid and bile from your gallbladder are what do the work. So if either isn't doing its job 100%, you'll have more stuff "go right through you", simply because there's less bowel to do the absorption and what it's seeing isn't properly broken down to be absorbed.

Your stomach is simply a bag of acid. So adding liquids you drink while eating dilutes that acid, meaning it makes it weaker. So when food hits your stomach and the acid is weaker, it doesn't get broken down as much and enters the small bowel in bigger pieces than normal. So you can see how drinking while eating reduces your ability to absorb what you just ate... which means it'll just head right into your bag. Now if you've had your ileocecal valve removed, which is located right at the end of your small bowel at the terminal ileum... then you also no longer have the toll booth food has to go through before entering the colon. So your regulation of the speed of digestive traffic is no longer there, and things flow through as fast as they can. That's bad enough, now imagine there's a tidal wave of liquid right behind it and in your bag it goes!

So none of this might mean anything to most, but if you want to see if you can eat or tolerate something... make sure not to drink anything while doing so. The rule of thumb is not to drink until 20 minutes after you ate something. This gives the stomach a chance to do its thing at full concentration and won't flush what you just ate down the highway and into that bagaroonie of yours. Just another thing to be conscious of in the wonder world of ostomates.

Keep your stick on the ice,

;o)

I really thought this was going to be a post about when to drink alcohol....but it wasn't. It was educational in a different way.

Hi Bob

Excellent advice on when to drink and how.
Eye opening!

Thanks, Bob

Sharon

So if I have a cup of tea with my hunk of cake then nothing will be absorbed and the calories will just wash right into my bag?

Don't drink alcohol... the world is screwed up enough as it is... let's not add you to that list as well.

Have a nice freezing cold glass of milk instead. Ahhhhhhh!

"Milk... it does a body good"

;O)

Stories of Living Life to the Fullest from Ostomy Advocates I Hollister

I remember being forced to drink milk with meals as a child. Oh, and I would get in trouble at restaurants for blowing bubbles in my milk with a straw. I'd forgotten you could do that with milk. The closest I come to drinking milk now is dipping Oreos in almond milk or a bowl of cereal.

Somehow I knew you'd have a bad milk story to tell... Don't ask me how... I just knew!

;O)

When I was a wee little tot, my neighbor, an old German woman, would always invite my brother and me into her kitchen on hot summer days when we were out running around to have a nice cold glass of milk. She'd also make us a glass of water with dish soap in it so we could blow bubbles, as it was fun. She'd pour both the milk and the soapy water into two dark red plastic glasses that were so thick you could only tell something was in it, not what it was, and we'd switch between sipping milk and blowing bubbles. Yeah, you know where this is going. One day I was sipping freezing milk while my bro was blowing bubbles and we started fussing around. Next thing I know I want a great big sip of milk, so I grabbed the glass and sucked as hard as I could...........and yeah.......it was the soapy water! Not going to describe the rest, you can use your imagination, but I'll never mix up milk and soapy water again. But every time I go to suck on a straw in a glass of milk on ice.........I recall that day. Always will. Those were the days!

;O)

I have read that you should drink after a meal instead of with a meal. It is hard to resist drinking during a meal though, as you said it helps things go down. I recently got an app on my phone...My Ostomy Journey...and it helps you track what you eat and drink. You can set a hydration goal (I set mine at 64oz) and also you can set a reminder to drink timer on your phone for every hour, 2 hours or 3 hours. Then your phone goes off on that time to remind you to drink something. It also has a food journal built into it. The website for this app is: https://meplus.convatec.com/articles/my-ostomy-journey-app/?campaign=MAOMOJ&utm_source=MeetAnOstoMate&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=An+app+designed+for+people+living+with+an+ostomy

Lee

You drink milk with ice?? (2nd to last sentence depending if you count the ...)

What a great message and sound advice! What is your background? You certainly appear very well-informed! Thank you!

Jeanne

Thank you, Bob. Great advice.

Well, thank you. My background? I'm Crapster's shrink!

;O)

You're hilarious.

Ah, well besides that notorious role!

Oh......you mean what's my day job? I'm an aerospace engineer that has a serious distrust of our medical system.

;O)

Yup. Everything I drink needs to be ridiculously cold. Here's a tip for you... if you put your straw just above the cold liquid in a cup and suck hard, the liquid will atomize as it gets sucked into the straw. By sucking hard, you're dropping the pressure right above the liquid, which causes it to atomize and expand. And as you remember from Physics class... an expanding gas gets colder as the molecules expand and spread apart to occupy the increasing space between them. So you get the absolute coldest drink in your straw. Ain't that something?

;O)

Well, you sure explain things well! Thanks, Jeanne

Guess who skipped out on physics class?

Hmmm... how many guesses do we get?

;O)

Geez, I know you make paper airplanes all day, but how many do you need?

All this talk about sucking and sipping has me.....thirsty..

Lets imagine Bob sucking soapy milk and blowing bubbles through his bag.

Bro. - Warrior

So glad I read this after I ate lunch! Only from a fellow Jersian!

Luv ya Bro! (Not that way!)

:O)

Hear me out, I think it's important for people with ostomies/without colons to have an idea of what type of alcohol works for them. When I drink, I have to do what I call the lasagna method where I have to use layers, so I eat something, drink some alcohol, drink some water, then repeat. Tequila and I are not currently on good terms.