Good carbs vs Bad carbs

I am back and more excited then ever.

I am back to blogging and I am more pumped up and exited then ever. I am about 30 days away form my second annual Your weight matters national conference this year being held in Phoenix Az. Check it out for your self. The knowledge you will gain is priceless. OAC Your weight matter conference. I will be back and updating this site much more often as once again I am at a loss that we do not have more educated nutritionists specifically for bariatric patients. I have ordered transcripts and I am seriously looking into going back to school for nutrition. I believe that we deserve to have educated nutritionists who have been overweight and understand how we as bariatric surgery patients need to eat and live for the rest of our lives. I am so tired or seeing information given to us that lists items like Mac and cheese and pizza as things we should eat. These are either a very once in a while thing and only after we ave protein or they are a never again item, if we do not educate the patients on proper eating than we are setting them up to fail. Something I refuse to do and refuse to sit back and watch happen. So stay tuned form more info later this week.

Weight Loss Surgery: Which One to Go For?

Often a patient gets puzzled over the variety of weight loss surgeries available, therefore it is good to know what are the differences and similarities of surgeries in order to get a broader picture. The main surgeries performed worldwide are Gastric Bypass Roux-en-Y (GBR), Gastric Band and Gastric Sleeve.

Surgery time and hospitalization

Firstly, there is a difference in time. It takes approximately 1.30 hour to perform Gastric Bypass, while 40 minutes for Gastric Band and 2 hours for Gastric Sleeve. Hospitalization also differs slightly. Usually a patient is advised to stay for 2 days after Gastric Bypass, 1 day after Gastric Band and 3 days after Gastric Sleeve. However, bear in mind that the surgery time and hospital stay may vary due to a number of reasons such as hospital policy or surgeon approach.

Advantages

Gastric Bypass shows greater weight loss than after band. It is most commonly done and most researched surgery. Gastric Band is reversible surgery and least invasive, therefore the recovery is fast. One of the greatest advantages of Gastric Sleeve is that the digestive tract is not changed, therefore there is no risk of malnutrition or dumping syndrome.

Improves other weight related disorders

Weight loss surgeries have shown outstanding results not only in tackling weight issues but also improving or even resolving serious health conditions. For instance, a recent study shows that after the Gastric Bypass 84% percent of patients resolved diabetes II, 48% after Gastric Band and 72% after Gastric Sleeve. Gastric surgeries also alleviate hypertension. 75% resolved hypertension after Gastric Bypass, 55% after Gastric Band and 48% after Gastric Sleeve. All three surgeries also showed improvement of sleep apnea, asthma, arthritis and reflux.

Possible Disadvantages

However, as any surgical intervention, weight loss surgeries carry a number of possible disadvantages. For instance, a person may suffer from insufficient nutrition, risk of dumping syndrome and anastomotic leakage after Gastric Bypass. On the other hand, after Gastric Band the lowest weight loss is recorded. There is also a need for constant band adjustment and a risk of band slippage. After Gastric Sleeve, a person may need a revision surgery since there is a risk of staple line break. There is little data on long term results since it is relatively new procedure.

Who qualify for gastric surgery?

Usually, a person whose BMI ranges from 35 is a suitable candidate for gastric surgery. However, if a person has diabetes II then from 30 BMI.  In general weight loss surgery is performed to a  person ho has obesity related disorders negatively impacting his health, is in good psychological state and did not manage to lose weight in any other ways.

So how much weight do you loose?

After gastric bypass, in 6 months a person loses approximately around 54%, in 1 year – 72%, after 2 years – 75 % and after 3 years – 72%. After gastric band accordingly, 35%, 45%, 56% and 58%. After gastric sleeve – 46%, 56%, 68% and 75%.

Obesity is a growing concern worldwide. For instance, in UK 23 % of population was obese in 2009 and 34% in US. In UK 1 weight loss surgery per 10,000 residents is performed, while in US 7 surgeries.  NHS statistics show that the most popular gastric surgery performed in UK in 2010, was Gastric Bypass, making 58% percent of all surgeries, while gastric band stood at 19% and other 23%.
The first Gastric Bypass was performed in 1967, while Gastric Sleeve in 1970 and Gastric Band in 1978.
Of course, before deciding which gastric surgery to have you should consult your doctor and make a decision only after a through research.

Here is another comparision of the different surgery types for you to compare.

Thanks to Noradbariatrics.com for the information.

Different surgery types

Here is a great description of the different weight loss surgery options. It has good visual information that sometimes helps people grasp exactly what the surgeon's do in the operating room. I am not sold on the pros and cons they list per say but with research you can gain a lot of insight into the pros and cons.

I am working on how to get started with this blog. What's most important to start with and where do I begin? I want you to have the chance to read blogs by people who I have found great information from, I have links on the right side of this page to a couple amazing women and blogs that are a wealth on information. Please take the time to check them out.

Why you ask did I start the this blog?

Why did I start this Blog?

So after deciding to have weight loss surgery and researching all the options in December of 2010 I had gastric bypass. This by far was the best decision I have ever made for myself in my entire life. I attend support meetings at least twice a month and nutrition classes once a month through my surgeons office. I have found that many of the nutrition classes are very technical and that they tend to lean toward a diabetic diet. Now our systems are very similar to those of people with diabetes yet we are also very different in what we choose to eat and what we choose to leave out after weigh loss surgery. This has started to become a passion of mine to help other WLS patients navigate the roads and offer ideas and suggestions on what to eat and how to recreate or make substitutions for our once favorite foods. Sometimes you want the opinions of someone who has been there done that and struggled with weight versus someone who has always eaten healthy and not had a weight problem before. So that i why I am starting this blog to help pass on ideas and nutrition to others. As this is a work in progress it may take me a while to get it up and running but please check back.