A friend recently visited the show and announced that after years of struggling with her weight she's decided to have bariatric surgery. It made me sad. I've experienced the same ups and downs, but I always believed there was a natural answer for me. It took a while to find that answer, but I did, and I've been all the happier for it. My solution came with no anesthesia, no surgery, no hospital stay, no recovery period and no side effects.
When my friend made her announcement it was with the resignation that she had failed and she was now delivering herself into the hands of others to do what she has found impossible to do. She had declared herself out of control and helpless, surrendering to the doctors as her higher power.
I believe what my friend is experiencing is an addiction to food. But instead of treating obesity like an addiction to food, doctors often treat it like a disease. Surgery cuts out or renders useless a part of the stomach, making it impossible to eat large quantities of food, at least for a time. This it is essentially an imposed fast or, more accurately, imposed starvation. Patients may leave the hospital no more prepared to take in quality nutrition, which is what is absolutely necessary when you eat so little. If the patient was already malnourished before surgery, that condition may persist after surgery. The patient may experience great difficulty consuming heaps of sugar and salt-laden goodies, so if addiction was indeed the reason for the person's obesity, this may lead them to experience withdrawal-like symptoms.
What health practitioners and others in the field of weight loss all too often fail to address is the patient's relationship with food. Unlike drugs and alcohol, food is a necessity, and abstaining forever is not an option. Abstaining for a period of time through voluntary juice fasting is possible and has health benefits as well, though you should consult your physician before beginning.
Clearly, I don't recommend that this be done without supervision. Supervised fasting can be a great way to provide the education necessary to make fasting work. Removed from food, the patient gets to take a long hard look at their relationship with food. Their body also gets a rest from digestion, probably for the first time in a lifetime. The body has a chance to reset itself and the patient gets the benefit of both losing weight and experiencing what their body feels like with proper nutrition. With your physician's help, fasting may be continued in intervals until the healthy weight is reached.
Surgery is always available, so it's not as if you can't have it done if you find that other options don't work for you. I just wonder why invasive procedures are often the first thing doctors offer to people who are struggling with weight issues.
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Weight is subject to complex hormonal and autonomic feedback, entangled with other processes including the regulation of the sleep/wake cycle, temperature, and growth. That feedback evolved under conditions where food was of much lower calorie density, much less readily absorbed, and usually available only with substantial effort. Obesity is when that regulation is disordered in ways that cause it to fail under current conditions. Sometimes it fails conditionally, in ways that depend on various aspects of the current situation. In those cases, eating your veggies or increasing your activity will help. But if the feedback itself becomes disordered, those behavior changes won't help much.
http://winningtheobesitybattle.wordpress.com/
After people have had gastric bypass surgery they can eat such a tiny amount of food--well no wonder they lose weight. I would lose weight, too, if I only ate and amount of food that is the size of an egg.
http://winningtheobesitybattle.wordpress.com/
Many obese bodies are actually always hungry because their fat cells do not release the fat and energy needed for everyday functions. Hence, rather than a problem with will power or self-control, their bodies are starving for food. The excess insulin has destroyed the natural process of using the fat stored in fall cells. Consider this before judging others for their decisions.
And yes, it is with Atkins. Before you groan, remember that the USDA, proctor and gamble and the food industrial complex does not want you to eat real food -- they want you to eat excess subsidies and processed food that are chock full of cheap ingredients they are promoting. The USDA should never, ever, be in charge of making recommendations for healthful eating. And doctors, medical schools, and registered dietitians are making recommendations based on flawed science and government subsidies (wheat, corn, and soy).
Dr. Atkins was demonized by the press and the medical industry because he was right. The press won't report that recent science has verified that his diet is the best for regulating insulin release, and that carbohydrate restriction is the best method for weight loss, weight maintenance, and the solution to the diabetes epidemic (how did all those years of low fat work out for us?).
Before going for the surgery, try Atkins first (and keep it up).
http://winningtheobesitybattle.wordpress.com
We keep trying to get out the message, and hopefully someday the government, media, and the public will get a clue.
kat
Its about time we started acting like responsible citizens to ourselves and to our planet (and Glenn Beck and Rush will laugh at you but thats a good thing).
Thanks Robin for giving advice on this subject of weight loss. The battle to change our eating routines is a hard one to win.
The last time I visited the states, I met two people within a week who had had bariatric surgery. And the vast majority of the folks I spent my time with were taking some kind of antidepressants.
Unfortunately, in America, expressing skepticism towards such things has the effect of labeling yourself a member of the flat-earth society. Also unfortunate is the fact that the US is so often a test-market for that which will be sweeping the globe.
We just had this whole national debate about rising health care costs, and one big reason is that doctors make more money by medicating and cutting. Prevention doesn't pay in our system.
I also know people who say they "just can't lose weight", but I constantly see them with 32 oz sodas from 7-11.
That being said, as much as I try to educate a patient on lifestyle changes, they ultimately want a "pill" that will "make" them lose weight. I try to explain to them that no such pill exists, but they heard from their friend's cousin's roommate that bla bla bla will "increase their metabolism", "decrease their absorption of fat", or any of the other miracle mechanisms that don't work. Ultimately, they find someone else who'll prescribe what they want and I never see them again.
The fact remains that it's not just doctors trying to make a buck. Patient's play the biggest role in weight loss situations and the vast majority of them just want a simple fix that won't require any effort on their part.
BTW, was this ridiculed woman obese?
http://winningtheobesitybattle.wordpress.com/
Is this requirement unique to this area?