Gastric bypass surgery is a weight loss procedure that results in major changes not only in the body, but also in ones lifestyle. To be able to adapt well to those changes, a patient needs to bear in mind these guidelines that ensure success after the surgery. Success means maintaining a healthy weight and preventing the possibility of regaining weight.

1. Avoid foods that are not nutritious. The culprits for weight gain are foods and liquids that are rich in calories, fat, and sugar. These include soda, milk shakes, alcohol, and sugar-rich desserts. These foods do not provide nutrients; instead, they cause hunger pangs and vomiting. Avoid them so that you do not out your weight loss effort to waste. Make sure that your diet is rich in protein, and include lots of fruits and vegetables.

2. Avoid foods that cause discomfort. Sticky, dry, and fibrous foods such as pasta, rice, bread, and meat are usually a no-no for bypass surgery patients. Soda is also not allowed because it causes bloating, gas pain, and even pressure in the stomach.

3. Avoid snacking between meals. This will only hurt your chances of keeping a healthy weight.

4. Avoid drinking liquids immediately before, during, or after meals. Filling your stomach with liquids instead of foods will deprive you of your much-needed nutrients for healing and recovery. Be sure to drink fluids at least 30 minutes before and after your meals. And of course, avoid drinking fluids while eating meals.

5. Refrain from drinking alcoholic and caffeinated drinks. Alcohol does more harm than good for people who have gone through weight loss surgery. Devoid of calories, alcohol can cause stomach ulcers. Caffeine have the same effect, aside from working against hydration in the body.

6. Contact your surgeon if problems arise. If you experience one or more of the following problems, call your surgeon immediately: extreme pain in the legs, shortness or difficulty of breathing, fever, bleeding of the incisions, and dark stools.

7. Maintain your follow-up visits after the surgery. This will make it easier for you and your surgeon to monitor and assess your progress. Also, this will result in early detection of problems such as surgical complications and nutritional deficiencies.

8. Keep yourself from getting pregnant for two years following surgery. Because your body is undergoing weight months after the surgery, it may not be able to support a baby. This will be unhealthy for both of you and the fetus. Ask your surgeon for advice in case you plan on getting pregnant.

9. Join a support group. Coping with the aftermath of the surgery may be much easier if you do it with the help of other people. There are many support groups formed to provide emotional support and advice for people who have undergone weight loss surgery. Search for these groups on the Internet; for sure, you can find one within or near your locality.

10. Find ways to cope with stress. Stress usually leads to comfort eating, which is not good for people who have had weight loss surgery. Listen to your favorite music, read books, meet up with friends, and do whatever you can to effectively deal with stress.

You will get the best results from gastric bypass surgery if you follow the guidelines mentioned above.

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Gastric bypass surgeries and other weight loss medical procedures being performed in the United States are increasing for the last few years. This may be in response for the increase in the number of people suffering from obesity. According to the American Society of Bariatric Surgery, there are about 140,000 gastric bypass being performed every year.

Those who have undergone weight loss surgeries, lose about 50 to 60% of their body weight, a year after the surgery. Along with the weight loss, they would also be losing ailments associated with obesity like high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, heart diseases and even cancer.

The Procedure

The most common gastric bypass performed is called the Roux-en Y gastric bypass. In this procedure, a small pouch is created on the top of the stomach. It is stapled, to seal it off from the rest of the stomach. This small pouch will no longer digest any food. The upper part of the small intestine, the duodenum, is attached to this small pouch.

When eating, the food would bypass the small pouch in the stomach and the upper portion of the small intestine. The food would go directly to the middle section of the intestine called the jejunum. Since it is the small intestine that does the absorption of minerals, vitamins and calories, the body will absorb limited calories only. A Y formation is formed just below the stomach.

Incisions are made in the abdomen to perform the procedure. Surgeons will be using the laparoscope or a small, tubular instrument with a camera. This will enable the surgeon to see the abdomen and perform the surgery. The laparoscopic gastric bypass actually makes the stay in the hospital and the recovery period shorter and quicker.

There are still open gastric bypass performed, however, there could be wound-related problems with this kind of procedure. The laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is performed under general anaesthesia. The procedure lasts for about four hours. Patients who have undergone the procedure stay in the hospital for about two to six days to be monitored for any complications.

After the Surgery

Having a smaller stomach has effects on how much food the patient can eat. There are special diets that a patient recovering from gastric bypass surgery follows. Every food that the patient would eat will be important for his nutrition. There are times that they are also recommended nutritional supplements to avoid deficiencies like anemia or vitamin deficiency.

There are patients reporting weight loss of as much as 50 to 60 percent a year after the surgery. There are even some who would report an astounding 80% weight loss. However, it is still possible for patients to stretch their stomachs and have that large size again. There is still a possibility of getting back those lost pounds. That is why doctors would recommend dietary restrictions and exercise plant that would keep the pounds away.

There are also tendencies that gastric bypass patients would develop gallstones, stomach ulcers, hernia or nutritional deficiencies. The part of the stomach which was bypassed can get enlarged, it could cause bloating and hiccups. There is also the Dumping syndrome which happens when the food moves quickly to the small intestine. This can happen after eating foods high in sugar or fat.

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The Atkins diet is not a new phenomenon. The diet first appeared in the late 1970s and has grown popularity in recent years in response to the low-fat diet craze. As dieters had trouble with low-fat plans, they searched for a new solution and Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution book found a new audience.

A lot of people have jumped on the Atkins bandwagon and there has been a lot of hype as a result. But what are the basic principles of the Atkins diet?

The Atkins diet is based on a theory of why we get fat. According to Dr. Atkins, the over-consumption of carbohydrates and simple sugars leads to weight gain. The way your body processes the carbohydrates you eat have more to do with your waistline than the amount of fat or calories that you consume. In his book, Atkins outlines a phenomenon called insulin resistance. He theorizes that many overweight people have cells that do not work correctly.

When you eat excess carbohydrates and sugar, your body notices that sugar levels are elevated. Insulin is released from the pancreas in order to store sugar as glycogen in the liver and muscle cells for extra energy later on. However, your body can only store so much glycogen at once. As soon as your body reaches its limit for glycogen storage, the excess carbohydrates are stored as fat. This happens to everyone who eats too many carbohydrates.

However, insulin resistant individuals have an even harder time of using and storing excess carbohydrates. The more insulin that your body is exposed to, the more resistant it becomes. Overtime, the pancreas releases more insulin and cells become insulin resistant. The cells are trying to protect themselves from the toxic effects of high insulin. They create less glycogen and more fat.

As a result, insulin resistant individuals gain extra weight. The carbohydrates get converted into fat instead of energy. Other side effects include fatigue, brain fog (the inability to focus, poor memory, loss of creativity), low blood sugar (which can leads to hypoglycemia), intestinal bloating, sleepiness, depression and increased blood sugar. There is much more than weight at stake when you are insulin resistant.

The remedy for people who are insulin resistant is a diet restricted in carbohydrates. The crux of the Atkins diet is a limitation of carbohydrates in all of its forms. The foods restricted on the Atkins plan include simple sugars (like cookies, sodas and sweets) and complex carbohydrates (like bread, rice and grains). Even carbohydrates that are considered healthy, such as oatmeal, brown rice and whole wheat bread, are restricted on the program.

The diet has you restrict your carbohydrate intake to less than 40 grams a day. This will put your body in a state of ketosis. While in ketosis, your body will burn fat as fuel. According to Dr. Atkins research, the ketosis state will also affect insulin production and it will prevent more fat from being formed. Your body will begin using your stored fat as an efficient form of fuel, and youll lose weight.
Another benefit of the Atkins plan is that ketosis will end your cravings for carbohydrates. If youve been living on a carb-heavy diet, you may have found that you simply cannot get enough carbohydrates. With carbohydrate restriction and ketosis comes a reduction in carbohydrate cravings. People who have been on the Atkins diet for some time report that they do not crave carbohydrates as they once did.

Although the initial phases of the Atkins diet are rather strict, the program teaches you to restore balance to your diet in the long run. People who use the diet slowly reintroduce minimal amounts of carbohydrate into their eating until they find a comfortable balance between their health and carbohydrate use.

The basic principles of the Atkins diet have been adapted to many other low-carb diet plans. However, Atkins popularity still remains strong as one of the most effective low-carbohydrate solutions for those who are insulin resistant.

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If you’ve been looking for a way towards a high octane diet, you’ll find fiber to be exactly what you need. Even though research has shown fiber to be powerful, many people aren’t taking this nutrient seriously.

To help you fuel your health with fiber, here are 10 facts to help.

1. Fiber fights diseases. A diet high in fiber can help to prevent colon cancer and heart disease. High fiber helps the body to eliminate cholesterol by binding it in the digestive tract. For thousands of years, fiber has been used to stop constipation.

2. Fiber can actually help with overeating. All high fiber foods will take longer to chew and digest, making you feel satisfied longer

3. Most popular foods don’t have enough fiber. If you like the more popular foods, you probably need to increase your intake of fiber.

4. Grains offer the most fiber. Dietary fiber is actually plant matter that we cannot digest. The best sources are whole grains and concentrated grain products.

5. Kids need fiber as well. Children that are older than 2 years of age should consume a daily intake of fiber. Kids are most receptive to fiber found in fruits, vegetables, and even fortified breakfast cereals.

6. More fiber needs more water. In order to keep fiber moving through your digestive tract, you’ll need to consume a lot of water. With your diet of fiber, you’ll need eight or more glasses of water every day.

7. Fiber cannot be cooked out. When you cook your fruits and vegetables, don’t worry about cooking the fiber out, as it stays. The fiber found in fruits and vegetables aren’t just in the skin or in the peel.

8. You can get enough fiber. If you eat more than 50 grams of fiber in a day, you can get diarrhea and bloating, which can interfere with your body’s absorption of other key minerals.

9. Getting the right amount of fiber in your diet doesn’t have to be hard. Even though you may think so, getting the amount of fiber you need isn’t very hard to do. All you have to do is eat the right foods and you’ll be well on your way to a fiber
rich lifestyle.

As one of the key ingredients to healthy eating, fiber is something you don’t want to skip. Fiber can serve many different purposes, which were covered above. If you aren’t getting enough fiber in your diet – you should do something about now instead of waiting until it is too late.

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