Bariatric Surgery

More than 60 percent of the U.S. population is overweight and about 30 percent are classified as being obese. In recent years, however, society has shown an increased awareness of the need for the treatment and prevention of obesity. People all over the world are turning to trendy exercise routines, fad diets, pills or supplements and even hypnotism to battle the problems of weight control. Admittedly all of these efforts have made an impact; however, there are still a large number of people who've had little or no success losing weight and keeping it off.

Advances in technology and modern medicine may have given those people a chance to have a longer and healthier life. Morbid obesity is a disease of excess energy stores in the form of fat. This biologically-based disease goes beyond a simple disorder of willpower. People who suffer from morbid obesity endure physical and emotional trauma on a daily basis. Aside from poor self-image and self-esteem, a person who is severely obese is also more likely to suffer other chronic health problems such as: cardiac dysfunction, pulmonary problems, digestive diseases, and endocrine disorders as well as, obstetric, orthopedic, and dermatological complications.

In today's health conscious society, people suffering from this illness are constantly reminded of their problem and ultimately their inability to overcome this disease. Lack of respect and compassion for the morbidly obese is also an issue of concern. Widespread attitudes that severely obese individuals are weak-willed, ugly, awkward, self- indulgent and somehow immoral contributes often to low self-esteem in morbidly obese individual.

It is now widely accepted among those in the medical field that morbid obesity is a medical condition that requires treatment. In fact, it was recently announced that Medicare would remove barriers to covering anti-obesity treatments. This disease represents a management challenge for physicians and a psychological and biological challenge for those suffering from this disease.

Published scientific reports show that non-operative methods have not been effective in achieving significant long-term weight loss in severely obese individuals. Dietary weight loss plans often cause depression, anxiety, irritability, weakness and preoccupation with food. For those individuals who have tried and failed to lose weight using non-surgical methods, there is hope for a longer, healthier life.

Bariatric surgery or surgery which is intended to assist a person to lose weight has been around since the mid 1970’s. The goal of gastric weight loss surgery is to promote significant and lasting weight loss in those severely overweight individuals who have been unable to achieve or maintain a healthy weight through diet and exercise. However, gastric or bariatric surgery is not a miracle procedure. It doesn't guarantee that you'll lose all of your excess weight or that you'll keep it off long term. The success of this surgery depends in large part on understanding your weight issues and on your commitment to follow a healthy diet and a regular exercise program after the surgery.

In the 1990’s bariatric surgery was not considered an effective way to promote weight loss due to the historic problems and the still prevailing opinion of many doctors that all it takes to lose weight was will-power, an active exercise regimen and a low calorie diet. Overweight people are often prejudiced against by doctors as well as much of society. Self-image and self-doubt made the effective loss of weight difficult or even impossible for many of these people. As the “epidemic” of obesity became a major health issue in our society, surgical intervention was considered a “last resort” technique for morbidly obese people.

Two bariatric surgical procedures (the Roux en Y Gastric bypass surgery and the Duodenal Switch surgery) have been used in a large number of cases. These procedures were developed in the 1990s and were modified versions of the earlier digestive system bypass. These two surgical options do present some potential problems with the digestive processes in the intestine. They both alter the physiological digestive processes as well as restricting the input of food. While these methods have worked on many patients, there are also often a fair amount of digestive systems upsets. The two newest procedures include the Lap Band, which is an inelastic band placed around the stomach to reduce food intake and the Vertical Gastrectomy where approximately 90% of the stomach is removed, both effectively reduce food intake.

For more information on bariatric surgery, go online on the Internet and search for “bariatric surgery”. You will find hundreds of papers and articles describing the physical and emotional aspects of the various surgical options.

My experiences in eating in the months following my surgery were checkered. It was a learning period. Dietary items I had considered normal before the surgery, created some distress in the stomach and I had to be very careful what types of foods I consumed. I found that soft foods, such as poached fish or shrimp were tolerated better than a grilled hamburger patty. The textural quality of the food, especially in this early post-surgical phase, is important. It is important not to stress the surgical sites or put pressure on the staples until the healing is complete in 3-4 weeks.

I would try foods that I had experience with as well as new foods to see how my system reacted. I found that spicy foods did not create any particular issues, but harder textured foods did. I developed many of the recipes I will be posting as I experimented with the dietary restrictions and limitations that my body was placing on me. The process continues.