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Originally Posted by Wyvrn
It's not about the money, it's about changing what is considered by the medical industry to be the acceptable protocol and saving lives and people's health, which is what doctors should be doing.
Lots of people appear to be very poorly informed on just how to go about it, the science behind, what is and isn't healthy to eat - look at all the people here who still think saturated fats are unhealthy. What if people could get good information and solid support for ketogenic dieting from their doctors, instead of having to figure it all out for themselves from the endless conflicting information in the popular press and internet? It's amazing anyone succeeds, really. But I am not suggesting that WLS should not be available to anyone. But it truly should be a last resort.
I'm not judging people who have had WLS. I'm judging the medical industry. Unfortunately, I'm afraid it won't change unless we consumers stop accepting it.
Wyv
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I don't share your pessimistic view of the medical profession. Perhaps it's my bias showing being Canadian where being a doctor isn't the money-making proposition it is in the States, but my experience is doctors want to help their patients. For most doctors, I believe that if they truly felt a ketogenic diet would do that better than WLS, they'd suggest it instead.
Saturated fats are unhealthy, according to mainstream medicine. I don't believe it personally, but until there are as many studies or more that debunk the myth as there are studies confirming the myth, we can hardly blame doctors for not believing us. Give it time, the truth will come out eventually as more and more studies control for carbs and prove that saturated fats aren't unhealthy. I don't believe the doctors KNOW saturated fats are healthy and CHOOSE to pretend they aren't to fool their patients into having WLS. The doctors might be wrong, but they honestly believe they are right, they aren't being malicious. Now, they lobbying groups, special interest groups that push a certain agenda, sure, they might be malicious, but that's not the doctors.
As for whether doctors will give patients a good well-supported ketogenic diet, well, that's interesting. There were those studies recently that suggested that while initial weight loss on low-carb was better than low-fat that after 6 months or a year, the weight loss was approximately the same in both groups (going by memory here folks, I might have a detail or two wrong). If I were a doctor without first hand knowledge of the benefits of low-carbing in taming my cravings and hunger, would I be particular if a patient tried low fat vs low carb? No, probably not. I'd say, you tried, it didn't work! Why would I think low-carb would work better?
I'm sorry if you thought I was criticizing you for judging WLS patients, I wasn't refering to you (or anyone in particular), just the culture of judgement we seem to have against obesity in the Western World. I didn't feel you were critical of WLS patients at all, I did get it was the doctors you felt upset with.
I do agree we need information. We need to educate doctors, we need more and better studies proving the benefits of low carb, we need a way to legitamize low carb after years of being the all you can eat meat diet, but I think it will take a while before that happens.
Val