Eating without a stomach

[Fat Guy]

A personal essay today on the opinion page, by Anna Stoessinger, discusses her recent surgery for stomach cancer -- which involved removal of her entire stomach. A food lover, she details her celebration of food leading up to the surgery. It's a great read, bittersweet but wonderful in its way.

One point the piece makes is that it's possible to live and eat without a stomach -- you just have to eat smaller amounts more often. Is that true?

[Mjx]

A personal essay today on the opinion page, by Anna Stoessinger, discusses her recent surgery for stomach cancer -- which involved removal of her entire stomach. A food lover, she details her celebration of food leading up to the surgery. It's a great read, bittersweet but wonderful in its way.

One point the piece makes is that it's possible to live and eat without a stomach -- you just have to eat smaller amounts more often. Is that true?

Apprently, yes. From what I can see, apart from cutting back on fibre, the array of things you can eat isn't actually affected (https://patienteducation.osumc.edu/Pages/search.aspx?k=gastrectomy, third link on the page).

[Brasshopper]

When my grandmother was about 68, she was told that she had to change the way she ate forever more - cut out certain foods, never eat a portion larger than a pack of playing cards at any meal, and to insure that she ate at least a half banana per day...and she followed many of the suggestions, and she was not a light woman and never lost weight. She had to move to six-eight small meals a day, lived for 30 more years eating that way. I never learned exactly what happened, she continued to cook for others at the three typical meal a day level, while eating a small portion at that time and another portion of something a couple hours later.

While I learned a little from her, (the family recipe for onion pie is one) I never thought she was an amazing cook, other than that she could make bread and I can't without a breadmaker. But it is possible to make a life changing alteration in the way you eat (my grandmothers was not so extreme) and still live a full life, still make food every day.

I read the woman's essay, it was touching and well done. I hope she is successful, and seeing that she is going to eat one bite at a time from now on, I hope that those bites are the best that they can be, and that her life is as good as it can be. Food is important, but it is not all. She loves her husband, they will find something else.