Enjoying Dessert Post-Surgery
After bariatric surgery, you may wonder if dessert is still an option, especially given all the information on limiting sugar intake. This surgery includes many changes in our eating habits, though it doesn’t necessarily reduce our desire for sweets. So, can we have our cake and eat it too? Well, yes—but with some adjustments. Choosing the right type of sweetener—whether natural, artificial or somewhere in between—is key to satisfying that sweet tooth without sabotaging your progress.
The Missing Link: Fiber in Post-Op Bariatric Life
Bariatric surgery is a life-changing procedure that offers a solution to those struggling with severe obesity. However, the journey doesn’t end at the operating table. The post-op phase is crucial in ensuring long-term success, and diet plays a pivotal role in recuperating the body. While much of the focus is on protein intake, vitamins, and hydration, one critical component often gets overlooked: fiber.
Keto Diet After Bariatric Surgery
The ketogenic (Keto) diet has become increasingly popular over the past few years, mainly due to its promise of improved health and weight loss through high-fat, low-carb foods. Though some may be successful with this approach, recent bariatric patients have nutritional needs and challenges that differ from those of the general population, so keto may not be the best fit. Below, we’ll walk you through this now-popular diet’s potential pros and pitfalls.
Getting off GLP-1 Weight Loss Medication (Wegovy & Zepbound)
With all the headlines surrounding the effectiveness and benefits of weight loss medications like Wegovy and Zepbound, as well as other GLP-1 receptor agonists prescribed off-label like Ozempic and Mounjaro, you may be wondering why we are already talking about getting off them. So, let’s dive in and discuss why you should have an exit plan.
Uniting for Health: The Bariatric Retreat
Nerissa Stewart, CEO Bariatric Society
Welcome to the heart of transformation, where minds meet, journeys intertwine, and health takes center stage. The annual Bariatric Retreat, hosted by the Bariatric Society, is a profound gathering that celebrates the power of community, knowledge, and healing in the realm of bariatric care.
The Game-Changing Way to Cook Your Rice and Halve the Calories
In the world of bariatrics, rice often gets a bad name, quite rightly so sometimes. After all, it’s delicious and can quickly become a calorie bomb that takes you well off track. It’s so easy to enjoy that we are often surprised by how much we consume.
But what if we told you there’s a way to enjoy the rice yet consume far fewer calories than you think? Well, scientists have cracked the code! Amazingly, by employing a simple cooking trick, you can make rice much healthier.
Can I Be Vegan After Bariatric Surgery?
After bariatric surgery, you will undoubtedly hear it’s best to do a specific diet. Or maybe you limit certain things from your diet for personal reasons. How about veganism? Is it possible to eat only plant-based food and still have a post-op-friendly diet? The short answer: Yes, you can be vegan after bariatric surgery, but it does take some planning and attention to detail since your dietary needs change quite a bit after this type of surgery.
5 Surefire Ways to Derail Your Postop Bariatric Success
Bariatric surgery, as a specialty, is unique, and bariatric practices work with patients on both the physical and psychological levels. Many bariatric surgeons claim they can predict whether a patient will be successful, and to some degree, they can. They’re not looking to see a patient fail; rather, it helps them manage patient selection and expectations before surgery. It also helps them identify and help their patients avoid the most common pitfalls that make bariatric surgery unsuccessful. Today, bariatric surgery performed by an experienced and knowledgeable weight loss surgeon is very successful, with historically low complication rates. As such, it often remains up to the patient whether they will take full advantage of the tool they have been given.
Obesity & Enlarged Labia / Labial Hypertrophy
By now, it’s clear that obesity affects just about every part of the body and causes significant physical and psychological ramifications. We commonly discuss the most visible of these concerns, but discussing areas of the body that hide behind our clothes is also important. Often concerning and rarely talked about is the likelihood of labial hypertrophy or excess labial tissue caused by excess weight and obesity.
Avoiding Reflux After Bariatric Surgery
Bariatric patients are among the most knowledgeable and well-read in all medicine. When speaking to patients, it’s often surprising and refreshing to hear how much they already know about their surgery of choice. During this research, the patient usually comes across the concept of reflux after their bariatric surgical procedure (usually gastric sleeve) and wonders if it could happen to them. The short answer is that we genuinely don’t know, but there are ways to reduce the risk, and we discuss them in this article.
Pfizer Discontinues Twice Daily Weight Loss Pills in Clinical Trials
It was recently announced that Pfizer discontinued a clinical trial for a twice-daily oral weight loss medication developed as an alternative to weight loss injections. The promise of this medication was significant – Pfizer, for one, thought it was a $10 billion drug with greater potential in the future. More importantly for patients, however, there was the hope that it would offer those who did not want to inject themselves with GLP-1 receptor agonist medication, like Wegovy and Mounjaro, an alternative pill form.
However, much like the injected weight loss medications above, there were side effects. While the side effects were generally well tolerated by many patients in the injection trials, they were far less accepted in pill form. Most side effects were mild and gastrointestinal-related, but they were significant and persistent enough that many patients dropped out of the clinical trial.
Do Surgeons Reinforce or Buttress the Staple Line During Bariatric Surgery?
One of the most exciting parts of being in the bariatric field is seeing the excellent and in-depth questions bariatric patients have. Weight loss surgery patients are some of the most educated on their procedures. As such, we’re often surprised by great and often very technical questions, one of which is whether bariatric surgeons use reinforcement or buttressing on the staple line during bariatric surgery.
Comparing The Gastric Bypass to The Gastric Sleeve
Most patients who research bariatric surgery realize that the two most performed bariatric surgeries in the United States are the gastric sleeve or sleeve gastrectomy, and the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. There’s a good reason for these procedures being so prevalent. Both are proven with plenty of data behind them, and both allow patients to lose a significant amount of weight and improve or eliminate many of the diseases associated with excess weight and obesity. With such similarities, you might ask what the difference is and why you would choose one over the other. There are subtle differences between the two procedures, and we will discuss those in the article below. While your research may point you in one direction, it’s important to remember that a consultation with a qualified bariatric surgeon is the only way to know which procedure is best for your situation.
Do Bariatric Surgeons Remove the Gallbladder During Bariatric Surgery?
While many of us do not think much about the gallbladder, and we don’t need it to live, it represents an organ in the human body responsible for over 1 million surgeries every year. Many millions of Americans have gallstones – tiny, calcified pebbles in their gallbladder that sit there and don’t cause much trouble. Some patients can also have a large gallstone that can be alternately symptomatic or asymptomatic. However, when any stone blocks the outflow of bile into the stomach or gets lodged in the bile duct, it can be excruciating and even debilitating, with pain and discomfort occurring soon after a meal.
The Case for Bariatric Surgery in the Day of Wegovy & Weight Loss Medication
The class of drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists like Wegovy and Mounjaro have been held up as possible solutions to the worsening obesity crisis in the United States and around the world. These drugs are incredibly effective in well-selected patients. However, the hype has been such that many patients now believe that medication is all they need to lose their excess weight and hit their weight loss and disease resolution goals. Many patients look for this medication without considering whether they may be better suited to bariatric surgery. With that said, there is an excellent case for bariatric surgery for many patients who are currently taking Wegovy, Mounjaro, or other GLP-1 drugs off-label for weight loss. In this article, we dive into what these medications are and what they are not, where the effectiveness of medication ends, and where the usefulness of bariatric surgery begins.