6% of weight loss surgery patients die within 5 years

[Nancy LC]

Good grief.

They're claiming it is due to the fact they're still obese after surgery.

http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=609098

[oakdryad]

According to Roslin, even obese patients who do not lose weight before such surgeries "still have better results with surgery, than with any other treatment option. Since we do not ration care for any other disease, is it fair to ration for obesity? Our role should be to find the best treatment for each individual, not only offer surgery for those who do best."

Show me the money.

Best treatment, eh? Have any of the bariatric surgeons, nutritionists, etc., counseled these patients on LC eating plans BEFORE proceeding to surgery? I think not. This is, after all, a *fad diet.*

:grumble, grumble:

[teaser]

This is a Hospital's diet page for after bariatric surgery;

post surgery diet (http://www.stronghealth.com/services/surgical/bariatric/recovery.cfm)

quote;
"Sometimes certain foods will make you vomit or feel uncomfortable. This could be caused by several factors, so wait awhile and try that food again. You will find out, through trial and error, which foods work for you. Introducing new foods one at a time will help you to know which foods cause problems. Some of the more difficult foods include:

Tough meat, especially red meat
Milk products (some people develop a milk intolerance)
Carbonated beverages
Breads
Pasta and rice
Fatty, fried foods"

There's not much left after that list but a low fat low carb diet like Stillman's.

They also advise you to eat your protein first, as it's the most important part of your meal. They can't bloody well admit that until after major surgery, of course.

[bike2work]

:eek: The statistics are shocking.


Best treatment, eh? Have any of the bariatric surgeons, nutritionists, etc., counseled these patients on LC eating plans BEFORE proceeding to surgery?
No, eating all this fat and meat is said to be dangerous. Ironic, isn't it? I've been advised by two doctors to consider bariatric surgery. Thank God (and I'm not saying that in vain) that I ignored their advice.

Eating all this saturated fat and meat, and avoiding "healthy" complex carbohydrates, has made me healthier than ever.

[Sandollar]

I remember on the TV show "Big Medicine" that they put a patient on low-carb before surgery to shrink his liver....but that was only one patient....I think the others got liquid diets.

[mike_d]

Eating all this saturated fat and meat, and avoiding "healthy" complex carbohydrates, has made me healthier than ever.Its going to be embarrassing when the bariatric specialists discover a very low-carbohydrate diet will give a patient more predictable results with much less risk and expense. My fear is they may know this already?

[Kary]

Remember amphetamines? How about getting jaws wired shut? The ear staple? The first round of lap banders/gastric balloons about 20 years ago? Now it's round 2 for the lap band (new and improved!!) and a major, major surgery called gastric bypass.
Bariatric specialists indeed. Tell me it isn't all about the money.

[oakdryad]

:eek: The statistics are shocking.


No, eating all this fat and meat is said to be dangerous. Ironic, isn't it? I've been advised by two doctors to consider bariatric surgery. Thank God (and I'm not saying that in vain) that I ignored their advice.

Eating all this saturated fat and meat, and avoiding "healthy" complex carbohydrates, has made me healthier than ever.

Ain't that the truth! I was diagnosed with sleep apnea last fall (a real low point), and the doctor suggested that I consider bariatric surgery because *I would be a good candidate.* I thought HELL NO!

So after a longish bout with depression, this I started back with LC this past summer, and I've already lost a pretty significant amount...plus I'm making serious lifestyle changes, totally of my own volition. I have a friend who had lap band surgery about a month after I started LC, and she's having huge amounts of trouble adjusting to the lifestyle changes her surgery is forcing her to make.

It's a totally personal, completely observational and highly unscientific *study* but my experience is so far much more successful than hers. And MUCH less expensive too.

[renegadiab]

:eek: The statistics are shocking.


No, eating all this fat and meat is said to be dangerous. Ironic, isn't it? I've been advised by two doctors to consider bariatric surgery. Thank God (and I'm not saying that in vain) that I ignored their advice.

Eating all this saturated fat and meat, and avoiding "healthy" complex carbohydrates, has made me healthier than ever.

Amen to that!!!!

They are also saying that bariatric surgery helps diabetes. Maybe so, but it's infuriating that they would rather have people mutilate thier bodies than try a simple low carb approach. I'm doing just fine withouth the mutilations.

[mamboking]

Everyone is acting as if people who get bariatric surgery just wake up one day and realize they're fat and then run off to the hospital to get an operation.

All of the people I've talked to who've either gotten the surgery or who've thought about it have tried every diet under the sun. They just couldn't stay on them. (Just like most of us).

Please don't insult the people who've gotten the surgery by saying "if they had only tried a low carb diet they wouldn't need the surgery." My guess is that they did.

[anita45]

The problem is that the bariatric surgery in many cases doesn't address the reasons that these people have an obesity problem in the first place.

A very good friend of mine has had a gastric band fitted - she's lost a tremendous amount of weight and looks great. However when I went to meet her a few months back I was horrified to see the results of this op. She cannot hold down any bulky food, she can only eat a small amount - if she tries to eat more than this she starts spewing really badly. She's often in pain and basically the whole eating process can be very traumatic. She just shrugs it off but I'm very frightened for her.

The thing is though - she still eats all the same crap that she used to. Just in smaller amounts. Now she's not stupid - she knows that low carb works (she was very successful on it in the past) - she just doesn't have the will-power. I think there are a whole host of other things going on too and that she could probably do with some therapy - she went for the band though because she saw the fast results it brought her sister. Again the same thing has happened here - with her sister still eating crap, just in minuscule amounts.

[oakdryad]

Everyone is acting as if people who get bariatric surgery just wake up one day and realize they're fat and then run off to the hospital to get an operation.

All of the people I've talked to who've either gotten the surgery or who've thought about it have tried every diet under the sun. They just couldn't stay on them. (Just like most of us).

Please don't insult the people who've gotten the surgery by saying "if they had only tried a low carb diet they wouldn't need the surgery." My guess is that they did.

I'm not pointing fingers at the people getting the surgery. For the most part, they've been advised to do so by their doctors. I used a specific person, known to me, who has had the surgery but is not changing her eating habits as an example and contrasted it to my LC experience. What I AM doing, however, is pointing fingers at the doctors and bariatric specialists who will advise high carb/low fat eating, and then direct people towards surgery when that doesn' work.

I've tried many diets...and have been told that bariatric surgery was something that I should pursue, perhaps my only option. Of the doctors and nutritionists I've seen, the vast majority have *counseled* low fat/high carb. I did Optifast a couple of years ago, and the nutritionist kept trying to tell me that I would STILL be using that evil shake in my maintenance program.

However, I wouldn't accept that. I don't believe that surgery is a viable option for me. So I went back and researched my options and decided to try LC eating...and guess what, I AM avoiding surgery by eating LC.