Another Reason to Avoid Gastric Bypass Surgery!

While teaching a nutrition class, one of my clients mentioned a friend who had gastric by-pass surgery and how miserable she was. She lost a significant amount of weight, but the weight-loss was so fast that it left her with sagging skin, which is common in surgery patients. However, her friend had some other problems.

One problem was anemia, which is a lack of iron in your red blood cells. Iron helps the red blood cells to carry oxygen. A lack of iron in the red blood cells means a lack of oxygen that your other cells are receiving, which causes problems. Another problem is that she was starting to lose bone density, leading to a condition well-known as osteoporosis.

Patients who had weight-loss surgery would have problems that are nutrition-deficit related. Since the small intestines have been impaired from absorbing many nutrients, including fat, this means that you are at HIGH risk for malnourishment, and malnourishment could lead to problems such as osteoporosis, anemia, hair loss, kidney problems, etc. Upon your small intestines being unable to absorb many essential nutrients, you can't eat a whole meal (or a whole ANYTHING) because your stomach is so small that any little thing could make you feel full.

I have a neighbor who actually went to the hospital because of dehydration. Being a weight-loss surgery patient herself, she complains that she could barely eat anything. Although she is losing the weight, much of that weight loss is from her muscles as well! A lack of nutrients mean a lack of protein, which is essential for muscle health.

This shows you that physicians aren't the experts when it comes to weight management or nutrition. Any self-respecting nutritionist would be against any type of quick-fix surgery because of the damaging effects on the body. Sadly, it's looking like the physicians are too quick to recommend weight-loss surgery to EVERYBODY. One of my college friends, who is on my nutrition program, told me that the doctors were very quick in recommending weight-loss surgery...and she doesn't even have that much weight to lose! And this is the same case with the above mentioned patient who is experiencing anemia: she also didn't have much weight to lose. And even with my neighbor, she wasn't all that big.

Remember, the main thing that's important is NUTRITION, not WEIGHT. If your body gets the nutrition it needs, it would do amazing things for you. But how could it do its job when it can't even get the nutrition it needs?

A quick fix could be deadly in this case. Take my advice and talk with a nutritionist or fitness professional when it comes to your weight. Sadly, and with all due respect, doctors aren't the best people to talk to about weight and nutrition.