What grinds my gears about Gastric Bypass page 2

[BarefootPuffin]

Lindsay,

THANK YOU!!!! I've read forum posts, here and in other nutritional forums, bashing people about having the surgery done. It's easy to be cynical and rude when you aren't in the same situation as the person going through the surgery decision process. Furthermore, I had the surgery to improve my quality of life. Where I was headed was very ugly and I didn't foresee myself having a great quality of life. It is very hard when you are used to hearing the conventional wisdom spiel all day long, and then the cw docs suggest the surgery. It's very persuasive. I too stumbled onto the PB lifestyle by freak accident, and like I said, had it been mentioned to me before, along with the science that people like Mark and Robb Wolf provide, I highly doubt I would have had surgery. However, with the new found happiness I have I wouldn't have taken it back at the time either.

[sbhikes]

There's a really good video out there about a lady who got MS and changed her diet to a primal diet with lots of vegetables and was cured. I was instantly reminded of a guy I used to work with. He was very fat and finally got the bariatric surgery. He became very thin, almost too thin in my opinion. He is still thin and it's been about 10 years. He ended up with MS and has to use a segway to get around where he works (he's the IT guy and has to haul computers between the two buildings.) I thought of him because now that he's got no stomach, there is no possible way he could ever eat the 9 cups of vegetables recommended by the lady who cured her MS.

[Yvonne PHX]

I know only one person who did this. She went from being incredibly obese to being the moderately obese mom who always brought a couple of Coronas to sip on for the kids' playtime at the park. Coincidence?

[Rosegin]

I personally know three people who have had gastric bypass. My MIL lost about 100 lbs and has gained probably 50 of it back. My ex-FIL lost about 150 lbs and has maintained but has that "gastric bypass" appearance. Sallow skin, sunken cheeks, hanging jowls. An acquaintance lost approximately 150-175 lbs and has gain a good 50 lbs or so back. She also looks pale and unhealthy.

I don't recommend it.

[spincycle]

I don't know anyone who's had it done, but I have an acquaintance in Canada who is in the process of having the lap band done. Canada pays for it, but it's a 2 yr. process to get approved. She does not have to go on a diet (SAD or otherwise), but she does have to keep a food journal and quit caffeine. I do think the food journal is a good idea. I have much more sympathy for obese people after reading "Why We Get Fat" by Gary Taubes. I don't think he's right about everything, but he really opened my eyes to the impossible and desperate situation that obese people who follow CW face. And honestly, if I had ever been in that boat, I may have considered surgery myself. I've mentioned PB to her and WWGF, but she has not shown any interest. I think that as soon as people hear "no grains" they think it's a kooky fad diet. Honestly, it makes me sad for people who don't know better, and angry at our medical/nutritional establishment for being so frickin' blind and stubborn. I mean, how many more people are they going to kill before the ship starts turning around. I was at the mall 6 months ago, and I saw a young man, he couldn't have been more than 20 sitting on a bench, and he was massive. I hurt for him, because he was so young, and he could barely move. Two hours later, as I was leaving, he was still there, just sitting and waiting, I think he just didn't have enough energy to walk around. I can't imagine living life like that, and yes, if that were me and I knew no better, I'd probably opt for the surgery.

[BarefootPuffin]

I don't know anyone who's had it done, but I have an acquaintance in Canada who is in the process of having the lap band done. Canada pays for it, but it's a 2 yr. process to get approved. She does not have to go on a diet (SAD or otherwise), but she does have to keep a food journal and quit caffeine. I do think the food journal is a good idea. I have much more sympathy for obese people after reading "Why We Get Fat" by Gary Taubes. I don't think he's right about everything, but he really opened my eyes to the impossible and desperate situation that obese people who follow CW face. And honestly, if I had ever been in that boat, I may have considered surgery myself. I've mentioned PB to her and WWGF, but she has not shown any interest. I think that as soon as people hear "no grains" they think it's a kooky fad diet. Honestly, it makes me sad for people who don't know better, and angry at our medical/nutritional establishment for being so frickin' blind and stubborn. I mean, how many more people are they going to kill before the ship starts turning around. I was at the mall 6 months ago, and I saw a young man, he couldn't have been more than 20 sitting on a bench, and he was massive. I hurt for him, because he was so young, and he could barely move. Two hours later, as I was leaving, he was still there, just sitting and waiting, I think he just didn't have enough energy to walk around. I can't imagine living life like that, and yes, if that were me and I knew no better, I'd probably opt for the surgery.

I know what you mean. I'm determined to show people like myself, who have had surgery or haven't, that there is life post-op and we don't have to just be thin. We can be fit and unhealthy. It all starts with listening to our bodies. Even though I've had the procedure, since swapping to a primal diet my health has improved, I've lost another 16lbs, but I've regained muscle definition and I don't know how to describe it....A healthy glow? I just LOOK and FEEL 200% better being primal. I want to help people not have to go down the road of surgery, but if they do, I want to show them how good they can have it after they have made up there mind. This is the first forum that I've found that doesn't spam the topic with...OMG YOU'RE LAZY comments, and how we were just looking for a fast fix. People like that don't do any good for anyone. I'm glad that, for the most part, this forum is made up of intelligent and adult members who don't persecute people for past life decisions.

[Lindsay Grok]

THANK YOU!!!! I've read forum posts, here and in other nutritional forums, bashing people about having the surgery done. It's easy to be cynical and rude when you aren't in the same situation as the person going through the surgery decision process.

I think it's fantastic that you did what, at the time, you needed to do. There are plenty of people who do nothing in response to their condition, having given up hope one diet after another. I think it's also another reason people shut down when we start talking primal. They've heard it already. The empty promises, the hurtful lies, the magical products or eating plan THAT WILL CHANGE THEIR LIFE! .... only it doesn't. And CW "experts" add fuel to the fire.

"If you just eat less sugar and more whole grains you'll see improvement..."
"You just need to do 45 minutes of cardio 5x a day..."
"Eat brown rice, no white rice and make sure you're getting your 11 servings of whole grain..."
"Eat 5 or 6 small meals throughout the day. Never skip a meal."

This is the REALITY for obese people. I got told to go on a low-glycemic diet because of my hypoglycemia... I retained so much water from all the "diet sugars" and had so much gas and bloating from the EXCESSIVE amount of beans recommended in the diet. I even researched the lap band... Just couldn't afford it. So I get it. I really do.

I know only one person who did this. She went from being incredibly obese to being the moderately obese mom who always brought a couple of Coronas to sip on for the kids' playtime at the park. Coincidence?

I think it's very easy to make summary judgments when we're not personally affected by them.

[Corvidae]

I recently was at the doctor and while sitting around in the waiting room picked up a pamphlet talking about many different gastric surgeries, explaining them and how they work, with cheery diagrams and drawings of obese people looking happy. Honestly, the whole thing upset me, partly because I have a serious fear of body-horror (I dont even like people MENTIONING Human Centipede around me) and the diagrams of what they do to the digestive tract in the different procedures seemed like that to me.

But it also made me really sad because I knew that so many of these people have been told they are bad because they are fat and unhealthy, are told the exact wrong things to do to fix that, and then told that they are bad that those things dont work, so this is their only hope left. I was never seriously obese but I still felt the frustration and shame, and remember the "grasping at straws" feeling that would make me wonder if maybe, just maybe, this or that diet pill just might work and maybe its worth a try.... I imagine that a fat person sitting in that doctors office looking at that pamphet probably would feel the same things, and it made me so angry that the system had basically set them up to fail and there was nothing I could do to help.

[magnolia1973]

I looked at the DASH diet, and I think they are creating their own clients for Gastric Bypass. 7-8 servings of grains- that is the base of the pyramid, then no fats for the most part. No wonder people can't lose weight as that is one hell of a miserable diet. I did something very similar but had at least a bit of fat allowed and could not do it or stick to it and the biggest insult was it didn't let me lose weight! A few rounds of that and I can see why someone goes under the knife.

I think the medical industry gives out the WORST weightloss advice- I have been told to "you know, get out and walk 20 minutes a day" (at the time, training for a marathon, running 30-40 miles a week- I was not sedentary), or cut out the McDonalds (I was a vegetarian at the time), - that's the "I want to sell you diabetes drugs approach", the other is the sadistic approach "2 cans of Ensure a day plus a small dinner- some steamed veggies and fish"....Ofcourse their clients want their stomachs cut in half. Their alternatives either get them fatter or are miserable.

I don't blame people one bit for getting surgery, but its a shame they can't find a better alternative.

[Ms.C]

One of the gastric bypass doctors at the hospital I work in gives fancy chocolates to the nurses every Christmas. So thoughtful!