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I was privileged to be interviewed by an online magazine this week about the sometimes controversial subject of gastric bypass surgery. While it may surprise you that I'm not totally against it for those very, very few people who have exhausted every possible solution to their obesity, I do NOT support it as a first option as it is so flippantly being used by people calling themselves medical professionals today. I'll post a link to that interview when it is published in the next week or so.
Coincidentally, this very topic came up late this week because I just happened to receive an e-mail from a 41-year old woman who weighs 310 pounds and is now considering gastric bypass surgery. Yikes! Her story is a sad one because she is at the end of her rope struggling with her weight since the age of four and even going through several bouts with eating disorders. She now feels there is nothing left for her to do but to go under the knife.
Here's what my reader wrote in her e-mail:
When I turned 25 I became bulimic. At the time I weighed 300 and my weight began coming off like crazy. I went to a size 8 and didn't stay there but always 'maintained' a low weight via hours and hours of exercise, laxatives or purging the other way.
That went on for so many years until I became a Christian. Once I got saved, I was very convicted to treat my body as a temple of God. The battle was hard, but I did stop purging. I don't need to tell you the weight flew right back on me again and I've tried so hard to eat healthy (which I realize is the low carb way of life) and in the right portions
Yet, I cannot seem to make any headway and have been to all the specialists. I have started the process for the gastric bypass surgery. This isn't a quick decision I just made yesterday...I've wanted this for the past 2 years and I've taken most of the steps required to have the surgery.
I went to counseling (because of the eating disorder history) and I know that this is not my magic bullet. I so desperately want to do this for the sake of my kids, my husband and my health. I don't want to sit at home while they go to the park anymore.
What I want is two goals--1) to ride a horse with my daughter and 2) ride a bike with my husband and son. So many have tried to talk me out of it, but my doctor and I feel that it's the only way to make the 'mountain' more manageable. I have to admit, he was against it for quite some time and worked with me for the past five years before we got to this point.
Now my dilemma is my insurance has denied the surgery. I need help! Who can help me? Do you have names of doctors that you know who would work with me financially? Are there other options to pay for the surgery? I appreciate any help you can give, I know you are busy!
Oh, this just breaks my heart. What would this poor woman do if the gastric bypass surgery option wasn't available to her? How would she eat? She already KNOWS low-carb is a healthy nutritional approach, so why even mess with getting cut on? After all, livin' la vida low-carb is the diet they'll put her on after she has the surgery, so why not do it now?
I don't want anyone who has had gastric bypass surgery and found success on it to mistake what I'm saying as ridicule or scorn against your decision. I know there are some real gastric bypass surgery success stories, most notably my friend and fellow blogger Beth Badore (aka "Melting Mama"). But people like her are the exception, not the rule.
Here was my response back to this hurting reader:
Let me encourage you with the hope that you CAN overcome your obesity problem naturally without the use of surgery. That was what I was able to do three years ago when I reached 410 pounds.
Thanks to the Atkins low-carb diet, I lost 180 pounds in one year and got healthy for the first time in my entire life. I would have never thought it was possible had it not been for this amazing dietary approach. I found what worked for me and I'm STILL doing it! YEAH!!!
God was with me throughout my weight loss and I KNOW He will give you the strength, support, and guidance that you need to succeed as well. THANK YOU again for writing and please feel free to contact me anytime with your questions or comments about livin' la vida low-carb.
I hope you reconsider your decision about having gastric bypass surgery.
While a lot of people look at that surgery as their big opportunity to lose weight for good, there are certain risks involved with it that need to be weighed. If you are comfortable with them and feel there is absolutely no other way because you have given all the other options a 100 percent chance of working, then perhaps gastric bypass surgery is for you. My own mother had the surgery done just one month before I started low-carb. She has lost 100 pounds, but it's been a tough road.
What could possibly be "Better than gastric bypass" for weight loss?
Interestingly, the June 12, 2007 issue of Woman's World magazine boldly screamed the headline "Better than gastric bypass." Oh really? What could be better than the method for shedding the pounds being so highly touted by doctors and the so-called health experts as the saving grace of frustrated obese sufferers?
Would you believe they're referring to the Kimkins diet? Yeppers, that LOW-CARB diet that has quickly become a media darling in 2007 is being portrayed as an "alternative Atkins." Take a closer gaze at that good-looking, smiling woman on the front cover--it's 100-pound Kimkins weight loss success story Christin, who I previously blogged about being featured in Woman's World along with another Kimkins success named Deni.
This same issue also featured the 200-pound weight loss success of Kimkins founder Kimmer (who they refer to as "Kim" on the front cover). If you haven't seen this Woman's World magazine feature yet, then I highly encourage you to pick up a copy of it to be encouraged and inspired by a low-carb diet that is helping thousands lose weight and get healthy without the use of gastric bypass surgery! It's Kimkins, baby! ;)
Hopefully you now realize gastric bypass surgery is NOT the answer obesity. Seek out every other natural dietary option that you can and be sure to give them a real chance to work before giving up on them. If you find a nutritional approach that you enjoy, read everything you can about that way of eating, and then keep on eating that way for the rest of you life. Do that and you'll probably be surprised by how effective it will work for you.
Don't give up hope because weight loss CAN be done...without surgery! GO FOR IT!
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