Food textures

I have had a much better day today for some reason! I started the day with baked beans and poached egg on toast (about 380 calories). For late lunch I ate a Philadelphia Light sandwich and some mixed salad (260 calories). This evening I ate vegetarian mince with potatoes, spinach, courgettes and chestnut mushrooms (220 calories). I'm now feeling quite full but we're settling in to watch a film on TV later - so in case I get peckish we have some strabwerries picked from the garden plus a Weight Watchers yoghurt (about 120 calories). This is one of my favourite desserts - one I used to eat even before I got much more health conscious! Chop up the strawberries and pour the youghurt over the top - lovely!


I went to the Healthier Weight support group meeting today in Manchester. I will report on what was discussed in more detail in the next few days, but I just wanted to share this one thing with you. I asked for clarification about what we bandits should eat in terms of getting the texture of food right. I understand that at one extreme, we have the so-called 'slider' foods (such as soup, and soft, runny foods), and at the other extreme, are the crunchy, dry foods (such as salad and crunchy vegetables). What I am less clear about are the foods in between! For instance, I have never really understood why some people frown upon things like lasagne. Lasagne contains pasta, tomatoes (and maybe other vegetables) and mince - what's wrong with these? Well, I got my answer today. The thing that is 'wrong' with lasagne is the high amount of oil it usually contains - and all the high fat cheese. It's these foods that turn what might otherwise be a fairly 'dry', solid-textured food into something that goes down through the pouch and into our main stomach much more quickly than is desirable.


To seek further clarification, I suggested that the main content of the take-away I ate the other day (that caused a little laughter) was probably good, healthy, dry food of the right consistency - rice, prawns, mushrooms and onions. However, what turned this 'healthy' food into something that slipped down through my stoma into my stomach very easily (and left me not feeling particularly full) was the curry sauce that was poured over it - this probably contained oodles of oil which turned it all into mush - effectively making it a slider food.


So, there you have it - I think I understand this all a lot better now. It's not necessarily the actual texture of the food - it's the fat content that determines whether or not it turns into a slider food or not and goes through the pouch easily.