Gastric Bypass and the LAP-Band - "Quick Fix" Procedures

A recent newsletter that I received from a local hospital group made me laugh hysterically with disgust! The cover article discussed weight loss via the gastric bypass or the LAP-Band procedure, both of which are "state-of-the-art" medical procedures of modern medicine to help people lose weight... and to lose weight quickly. Throughout the article, recipients of the successful surgery were interviewed and the outcome of their scenarios described.

The Bypass
Gastric bypass is a procedure in which the stomach is re-sized to a small pocket to decrease its ability to store food by utilizing a plastic band or surgical staples. In addition, the lower stomach and first portion of the small intestine, the duodenum (the location where most absorption of nutrients takes place), is effectively bypassed. The procedure allows the recipient of the surgery to feel full more quickly; this reduces the amount of food and calories that the individual consumes. Bypassing the duodenum also does not allow for as many nutrients to be absorbed.

After the surgery, the patient needs to permanently change how they eat:
They can only eat small amounts of food at a time - the stomach cannot hold more than a few ounces.
They must eat slowly and chew thoroughly unless they want to experience pain and vomiting.
They cannot drink 30 minutes before, during, or 30 minutes after a meal since food and water cannot both be contained within the stomach simultaneously.
They must avoid "simple sugars" as it causes "dumping syndrome" - a condition in which the simple sugars pass quickly through the digestive tract and cause shaking, rapid heart rate, sweating, dizziness, and severe diarrhea.

The LAP-Band
The LAP-Band is an adjustable gastric band composed of an inflatable silicone pouch that is positioned around the top portion of the stomach. The band creates a small pouch at the top of the stomach that is capable of holding just a few ounces of food. As this stomach pouch will fill quickly and the band will inhibit the passing of food, the stomach registers a signal to the brain that it is "full." The result is that the recipient of the surgery will feel hungry less often and will eat smaller portions of food, thus resulting in the loss of weight.

After the placement of the band, a saline solution is introduced to inflate it and induce pressure around the stomach. Over time, the individual will discover a comfortable "green zone" in which they are not too hungry and yet can still consume food. To maintain the weight reduction that will occur, recipients of the LAP-Band surgery must follow restrictive guidelines of diet, exercise, and band maintenance. The recipient must eat less, eat more slowly, and chew food more thoroughly.

Complications of the LAP-band procedure may include: a blocked stomach from insufficiently chewed food, ulceration, inflammation of the stomach tissue, extensive vomiting, and erosion (a situation in which the band migrates through the stomach wall, causing the leakage of gastric contents and blood into the abdominal cavity).

Long-Term Health Effects
Our bodies truly are miraculous; they perform their necessary functions with relative ease when they are healthy. When man takes nature into their own hands to "bypass" or "restrict" the body's given structures, multiple problems result. The modifications of lifestyle after gastric bypass and the LAP-band procedures were listed above, but consider the following: bypassing the location of nutrient absorption will cause a loss of necessary nutrients that create an environment for health and longevity. The patient may lose weight after these procedures, but they will also be losing bone density, increasing toxicity, losing blood health, and decreasing overall cellular health - the body will starve and virtually eat itself alive!

Causing one to consume fewer calories also equates to fewer nutrients. In fact, it is more important to count nutrients than to count calories! Everything has calories - wood, tar, concrete - but not everything has nutrients. One could consume an entire box of donuts (a nutrient deficient food) and still be hungry as their body is attempting to acquire nutrients.

Conclusion
The best way to lose weight is to eat right and to stay active. It is not about the right diet, rather it is about a choice of lifestyle. What foods do we consume and in what amounts? Are the foods rich in nutrients or are they highly processed, modified, and artificial? The foods that nature provides are packed with essential nutrients, devoid of harmful chemicals, low in calories, and have a harmonic balance of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.

The modifications that are recommended after the gastric bypass and LAP-Band procedures are not anything new. We all can utilize the benefits of eating differently - eating slowly and chewing thoroughly causes one to eat less and to acquire better absorption of the nutrients.

Gastric bypass and LAP-Band procedures are not worth the risk and subject the body to future chronic illness and health conditions. The best medicine is prevention - living a lifestyle that creates health.