I leave it to the professionals, like the Drs. Eades, to give medical advice.
That said, I can’t resist speaking out against a practice as outrageous as this one, especially when it concerns someone I know personally.
Bariatric surgery is being heavily promoted as the only solution for morbid obesity. One would think that such an extreme measure would only be used when all else failed, but that is apparently not the case.
A young man I know told me that he was scheduled to undergo a gastric bypass operation. He had requested the less invasive (and reversible) lap band, but his insurance company would only pay for the major operation. He was told that before he could have the surgery, he would have to lose weight in order to reduce the risks so his doctor put him on a low carbohydrate diet. At the time I spoke to him, he had already lost 35 pounds. I asked him, “Why do you need the surgery when you are losing weight without it?”
“Because they told me I was going to die,” was his answer.
I have since read that this is a common practice; these doctors cannot claim that bariatric surgery is the only thing that works—they clearly know it is not. They now have a patient who, if he survives the first year, is dependent on them for the rest of his life. Adding to the many known dangers of this horrendous surgery, some doctors are now requiring post-operative patients to carry the doctor’s beeper number with them so they can get help immediately if they start to show symptoms of Wernicke’s encephalopathy, a condition most often seen in malnourished alcoholics. (Sources: S. Singh and A. Kumar, Neurology, March 13, 2007; vol 68: pp 807-811.)
Are these the same experts who warn us not to stay on a low-carb diet for more than a short period of time because we don’t know what the long-term effects may be? I have been on a low carb diet for more than seven years and have experienced only positive changes. Many people have been eating this way far longer than I have, but I’ve yet to see anyone who had to carry their doctor’s beeper number.I doubt that we know enough to design a better human. Wouldn’t it be easier to correct the diet to suit the bodies we have than to alter our anatomy to fit the diet?
©2007, Judy Barnes Baker