Chewing Tips for Colostomy Newbies: What Works?

Hi everyone. Newbie going on 9 weeks colostomy. Learning the hard way what I can and cannot eat. So far, no orange in any amount and no raw peaches. The pulp, for me, is now indigestible no matter how well I chew. Which brings me to my question... I am chewing everything to an absolute pulp, even bread. Can I assume that this is a correct or appropriate chewing tactic? And that no matter how well I chew, some foods really have more insoluble fiber than I can now handle?

It seems that it is trial and error on how much of anything I can successfully consume, no matter how well I chew, and output easily. I think I am overeating and not drinking enough as I alternate between really well-formed output followed by a large amount of soft output.

Hi Blu, welcome to the site. That sounds about right about chewing, especially if you have an ileostomy like me. As for drinking, I sip on different liquids all day: coffee, milk, iced tea, water, and cold beer after cutting the grass.

Hi blu,

  Oversimplifying it a bit.......you need to chew what needs to be chewed.  In other words the harder it is for your stomach acid and intestinal bile to break down.......the more it needs to be chewed.  As a newbie it's going to be trial and error, but look at the nutrition labels of what you're eating.  Insoluble fiber can't be digested, and if you eat it will need to be chewed as much as possible.  Neither soluble or insoluble fiber can be digested, and you already know that, but other carbs that can be trouble are starches, and it matters primarily how they're prepared.  Sugars should be avoided for a whole other reason, but carbs in general aren't really your friend.  I'm not going to get into it here because it's not what your question is about, so suffice it to say carbs elevate blood glucose, which causes inflammation........and done chronically makes for really serious medical problems.  So tread lightly.

   All said......you can never chew too much, but over time you'll learn what needs to be chewed and what doesn't.  If you're the kind that likes to experiment, then simply put a cup of white vinegar in glass and drop a piece of whatever food you're thinking about eating into it.  If the vinegar breaks it down completely.......no chewing necessary.  If not........see how long it takes for the vinegar to break it down, if at all...........and chew accordingly!!

;O)

What Ron said… it is about trial and error as well.

I chew no differently now than I did before an ostomy.

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If you have a colostomy like you say (and not an ileostomy), chewing is not as critical, and you do not have as many restrictions on food. Depending on how much colon you have left, your diet could be virtually unchanged. The less colon you have, the faster your system will react to foods, and the more careful you'll need to be with hydration.

You are only 9 weeks out; things are still healing. In a few months, retry some foods that you are now classifying as undigestible.

Some changes in stool consistency are to be expected. Some foods slowly output, meaning more water is removed, and it is thicker: potatoes, bananas, marshmallows, etc. Some foods will tend to speed output, so it is thinner and softer... raw fruits and vegetables, for example. Drink more water when eating these foods. It helps to combine faster foods with slower foods.

If you have a lot of colon left, you will find that transit times of foods vary, and it can be difficult to relate what you've eaten to the behavior of your stoma. Keeping a food journal may help. It didn't work for me, but it makes sense to try.

I try to remember to chew things more than I once did, but I forget half the time. It doesn't affect me at all, but you need to chew well for the time being. Probably not as much as Lio; you'll work it out; everyone is different.

You are right; some foods are more fibrous, like pineapple, for example. If you like fruit, try fruit juices: orange juice or peach juice, without the pulp, that is. Chewing is important, but how much you chew depends on the food and also on what works for you. You are learning what doesn't work for you, even if you chew really well. Make a note of that and keep a journal so you can refer back to it to know what you have tried that hasn't worked out so well. Things like applesauce obviously require less chewing. Maybe try canned fruit; it's usually softer. Or those little snack packs of fruit. I have an ileostomy, so I have to be really careful about what I eat, but I have found that I can eat some canned and snack packs of fruit, depending on the brand. I have found which brands work for me and which don't, and I have made a mental note to only buy those brands that work for me. It really is a good alternative to try canned fruit if fresh fruit isn't working for you. You can get it with no sugar added; you don't have to get it in heavy syrup, so it can still be healthy. Have a look at your local grocery store and just see what you can find.

Thanks for the suggestions. It's ironic that I'm a good cook and I bake; my husband is a chef, and we are an ingredient house. We stopped buying juice and canned foods (we keep an emergency stash of canned and shelf-stable goods), and now I have to go back to what I gave up. It's a frustrating reality. Sorry, I'm just venting. But I hear what you are suggesting!

I'm trying to figure out what your problem/issue is. 🤔 Is it the concern about how your output changes its consistency? Yeah, that's going to happen all the time unless you eat the same stuff all the time. If you're not having issues with blockages, leaks, etc., eat what you enjoy. You'll find out as time goes on that maybe 12 oatmeal cookies at once is too much, and you'll just eat 2 next time, or eating 6 scrambled eggs goes through you quickly, and cutting it back to 1 or 2 is better. You'll figure it out, and having different forms of output isn't a bad thing.

What Alex asks is a good point. I missed this originally.

What makes these things not okay? Because having more liquid output is not that bad unless you are getting dehydrated. Colostomies are different from ileostomies, and we generally don't have the same concerns unless you have very little colon left.

Me too. Got 3 acres and 1.5 are grass. Alas, beer inflated my pouch. I drink hard liquor instead.

Skins plug stomas. Yes, canned fruit is easy to pass. I peel and core apples, peaches, and pears. Use currants, smaller than raisins. Chop into chunks. Use it all week. Never had any issues.

Hi Bluglass2, I eat a lot of mangoes and peaches stewed in their own juice. Raw mangoes are like a Japanese high-speed train for Sadie, my stoma, but stewed in juice is a slight shove.

I can't really offer advice as I've only had my colostomy since the beginning of June, so it is still trial and error for me.

Thank you for asking the question. I am trying to chew slowly, but I confess sometimes I forget.

My diet before was healthy, with no processed food at all, high fiber, and so on. It is winter here, so soup is good.

My stoma's name is Bill.

He is getting used to me, and I am getting used to him. We are making progress.

Hi Bill. Nice to meet the Bills.

You can buy oranges and a squeezer. I also have to drink fresh lemon juice daily. Bilateral kidney stones. They made post-op PT painful! I had to take Oxy's to squat. It took 3 years to remove them, and I don't want any more. Good news, I am happy to be alive and hiking the planet. I go to Cubs games, party down Clark St., and eat pizza at Renaldi's. In 2023 at Petco, Nico Hoerner tore the stitching off the baseball and clobbered the Padres. Life is too short, so go for all the gusto!

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I find that if I chew everything until liquid, I have fewer problems with blockage (and irregularity), but I eat everything I want, including my homemade muesli and granola for breakfast, and thus find that I have to eat 4-5 prunes with it, and another 2-3 after my lunch.

While it's true that most digestion occurs in the small intestine, I believe the colon provides some additional physical breakdown of tough substances like the skins of fruit, etc. Just a longer time subject to the churning movement of the intestinal system would do that.

I believe when water is absorbed from the colon, it carries certain nutrients with it, like electrolytes that may not have been fully absorbed in the small intestine.

Not all colostomies are sigmoid colostomies. I think that's the most common type for those who had colorectal cancer because cancer in higher locations is most frequently a resection and is either reattached immediately or given a temporary ileostomy and reversed. But there are many other reasons for colostomies.

I think chewing advice for colostomies fails to take the diversity of the group into account. Someone with only 10% of their colon left will need to be much more careful than someone with 90% of their colon left. We also vary in how active our colons are.

I think some people with colostomies can eat like they did before, and others must modify their diet and chewing habits. We each have to figure out what works for us.

Good day, Blue,

This may be too late for you, but after my ileostomy, I was told to chew everything 10 times. After doing this for the first week, I found that I could finally stop counting the bites. My mouth also got used to the texture of what was in it and seemed to stop on its own.

Hope that helps,

SharkFan

I think it has to do more with blockage and the function of the stoma. It also has to do with how much large colon you have left.

In my case (and I think many others), a fairly big chunk of the colon was removed, so there's less of it now to complete the final stages of digestion and absorption.