It is no secret that an obesity pandemic has been beginning to surface throughout most of the developed countries, especially in the United States. The epidemic in the States has gotten to the point that it is out of control, and people are beginning to look for a quick fix. For many people who are morbidly obese, gastric bypass surgery seems to be both a godsend and the quickest way to lose the weight and gain confidence back. With so many people shelling out thousands of dollars for this surgery, we all have to ask, is it really all it's cracked up to be?
In order to fully understand the effects of gastric bypass, you have to know how it's done. The surgery basically shrinks the stomach by adding a small pouch near the entrance, and bypassing the rest of the stomach. This makes the stomach basically divided in two, with one section unable to really 'work' like it's supposed to. The stomach basically is shrunk by 90%.
The GI tract (intestines, etc) is rebuilt so that it can handle the new change. Together, the bypass surgery causes patients' stomachs to be unable to handle the quantities of food that it was used to. Patients immediately begin to eat smaller meals. The meals are slowly (and gradually) increased in size from 1/4 cup to 1 cup. They aren't allowed to eat between meals, nor are they allowed to graze. Meals are set at specific times post-bypass. In other words, patients are basically forced onto a regular diet.
While gastric bypass sounds like an excellent option as far as surgeries go, there are a LOT of issues with the practice. Anywhere from 7% to 14% of all gastric bypass patients will experience complications. The complications range from anything from the inability to use the bathroom, to internal bleeding, to infections, to vomiting, to the inability to process foods normally.
Many bypass patients find that after they have gotten their surgeries, they cannot absorb calcium, iron, zinc and Vitamin B. In many cases, people who receive bypass surgery have to supplement their meals with vitamin tablets or vitamin drinks in order to simply get the very basic amount of vitamins that are needed. At any rate, people who get gastric bypass surgery are forced to follow a surgeon's advice to the letter, or they take their lives into their own hands and risk hospitalization or worse.
If the regimen that is prescribed post-surgery sounds similar to a diet, except with more pain, and less health benefits, you are right. Most diets do try to restrict the amount of food that is eaten, and some suggest eating at special times during the day.
However, most diets do not often include bouts of violent vomiting, and few would be as inflexible as the diets prescribed by doctors for post-bypass patients. Few people really consider how restrictive the diet that post-bypass patients have to abide by can be. For instance, not being able to eat except at certain pre-planned times means that traveling can be extremely difficult.
Dieting and exercise is not easy by any means of the word, but it is much less expensive and much healthier than doing it via surgery. People who hope to become more attractive should also go this route for another reason - with bypass surgery, weight loss is too rapid for normal skin to get accustomed to. That means that bypass patients tend to have looser skin compared to people who diet to lose weight, which in turns means that you will age rapidly compared to people who turned down the surgery.
If at all possible, bypass the option of gastric bypass. Join a gym, eat healthy, and talk to your doctor for other healthy alternatives to this risky, uncomfortable last resort. Your body will thank you.
