| All posts (173) | Crazy ways to lose weight (14) | Insulin (17) |
| The Obesity Epidemic (40) | Weight loss stories (24) | Weight loss studies (13) |
| Weight loss surgery (4) | Why Americans are Obese (17) |
Before and after LCHF
Johanna Engström has had a fantastic journey. She was inches from having gastric bypass surgery, but decided at the last minute to try LCHF instead. Fast forward around one year and she’s lost 112 pounds! And her internal organs are still intact.
Truly impressive:
Expressen (Swedish paper): How we got thin and styled like the stars (Google translated from Swedish)
Weight loss surgery, cutting away healthy stomach organs, is promoted as the only effective treatment for obesity. But the cracks are starting to show now – not surprisingly. Yesterday a 20-year follow-up of the largest study on weight loss surgery was published and it could be the largest setback yet.
It turns out that obese people undergoing weight loss surgery get an INCREASED need for medical treatment, even years after the surgery. Despite their weight loss! For example they need more inpatient care in hospitals. During the first six years after surgery the increase is very large (see figure above).
The cause is either complications from the surgery (like bleeding, infections, leakage of stomach contents into the abdominal cavity) or long-term dangers like bowel obstruction, anemia, gallstones or malnutrition.
Bloomberg News: Weight-Loss Surgery’s Health Benefits Found to Have Costs
Obese people who did not receive surgery ultimately needed less medical care. So how healthy is it to lose weight by surgery?
There was also an increased need for psychiatric medications (e.g. for depression and anxiety) for weight loss surgery patients.
We need a safer and wiser treatment for obesity. Amputating healthy organs is just an emergency solution. We need to stop giving simplistic calorie-fixated advice (the least effective advice in study after study) before exposing patients to risky surgery. These operations should be the last resort. Thus patients should first be offered advice on low carb (the most effective advice in study after study) and adequate support.
Weight loss surgery may be extremely lucrative for hospitals (the complications are an added bonus!) but if you are a patient: Be warned. And make sure you have good insurance.
Weight loss surgery is hot. A lot of people are starting to see it as the only effective treatment we have for obesity. That’s just insane.
Here are some slides from a lecture at the obesity conference last weekend. The slide above shows the magnitude of the obesity problem. Bariatric (weight loss) surgery will hopefully never have to be used on more than a small minority of obese patients.
Why not operate on everyone? Here’s why: Continue Reading →
In Sweden we have an ideom: “Don’t walk across the river to get water”. I’m sure you see why – but not everybody thinks like that.
Many scientists are amazed today. They don’t know how to explain why so many type 2 diabetics are cured by gastric bypass surgery, when their stomach is removed. At least they need a lot less insulin – from day one!
What’s the cause? Continue Reading →
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