Every swallow with a gastric band bounces back
Research suggests that every single swallow that you take with the band in place is equal to four swallows without a band (on average).
When you swallow, the food passes down the food pipe towards the gastric band. When it reaches the band it bounces back up a little way into your food pipe.
Up and down. Up and down.
Every bounce is like a fresh swallow.
So a single swallow with a band is like me taking 4 swallows without a band.
When the food bounces, it passes the vagal nerves. These have a role in telling your brain that you’ve had enough to eat.
So what? This bouncing helps explain what you have probably felt already.
When you rush your food and swallow several bites too quickly, the bites bounce like super-balls. The bouncing bites probably collide and this may explain the discomfort.
When you slow the pace down and allow the ‘bounce’ to happen, your brain connects with the nerve signal to tell you, before discomfort, that you’ve had enough to eat.
This works with solid firm foods but not liquids because liquids flow past the band and meet no resistance from the banded stomach; fluids flow and splash rather than bounce.