Okay, I will admit that the way it all played out seemed like she was more interested in monetizing her situation, rather than using her public influence to educate others about diabetes.

But what really baffles me is folks lamblasting her for the food she cooks. Namely, blaming the butter and fried foods for her diabetes.

First, fat does not make you fat.  Fats eaten from natural food sources (butter, animal meats, coconut oil, nuts) are good fats and good for you. Our brains need fat to stay healthy and low fat diets have been linked to depression and binge eating.  Fat makes us feel satiated so we don’t overeat.  Remember:  good fats, from good sources are good.

Paula Deen did not necessarily always use good fats.  She did use a lot of butter; but also used fake fats like vegetable oil too. It’s the fake fats that have been linked to inflammation and recent studies have shown is the contributing factor to heart disease.  So fake fats cause inflammation and inflammation causes heart disease.*  It’s not the cholesterol, the butter or fats from meat or other good sources that cause clogged arteries.  Our bodies can handle real fat, but do not handle fake fats.  Keep it real!  *Request my free report above,  The TRUTH About Weight Loss Surgery, for more details on fake fats vs. real fats.

But probably the most likely reason for Paula Deen’s type 2 diabetes (aside from any genetic predisposition) is her excessive use of carbs:  potatoes, pasta and sugar.   These types of  high glycemic carbs cause insulin spikes, which over time, stress the pancreas and eventually limit the body’s ability to keep insulin levels stabilized and thus, blood glucose levels remain high and the result is type 2 diabetes.

Cutting carbs is the best approach to managing diabetes with diet*, exercising and maintaining a healthy weight are also part of a healthy lifestyle to manage diabetes.  *Obviously discuss your specific situation with your doctor.

Actually, eating a low carb diet is probably the best way for most folks to lose weight! Low carb does not mean no carb; our bodies need carbs, but they need to come in the form of non-starchy vegetables.  Potatoes and corn are starchy.  Spinach, green beans and leafy green salads are not.

We don’t need bread, potatoes and pasta.  I’m telling you it’s those types of high glycemic carbs that are packing on those pounds, raising insulin levels and making you feel sluggish.   I truly believe we could avoid many undergoing weight loss surgery if these folks would change what they eat, and eat low carb.

On a low carb diet, you don’t count calories, you count carbs.  How many carbs should you eat daily, depends on who you ask.  I know some who like to stay around 20 net carbs per day; others 50-100 net carbs.  I personally think you should do what works for you, your body and gives you the results you want.

Because carbs directly effect insulin, it makes sense to eat a low carb diet to either manage your diabetes, or lose weight to avoid getting diabetes.  It just makes sense.

To Your Health,

What do you think about Paula Deen’s diabetes announcement?  

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What Causes Obesity?

The simple reason: calories in – calories out.  If one eats more calories than they burn off, then the extra is stored as excess weight.

What is not so simple, is why an obese person has more calories than they are burning off. This is where the true cause of obesity lies.

Before I give you those reasons, I want to qualify those reasons with this: There are no always or nevers. Meaning one can not say this is always the reason, or this is never the reason. There are going to be exceptions in all things; but my focus is on the common broad-reaching reasons that are true for a large majority of the obese population.

Reasons for excess calories that lead to obesity:

1. Slow Metabolism Some folks have a slower than average metabolism: whether genetic or brought on by years of yo-yo or starvation dieting, slow metabolism affects the body’s ability to burn calories – thus affects weight.
2. Ghrelin This is the hormone that triggers the feeling of hunger. It has been proven that most obese folks have excess amounts of grehlin production.¹ ² Yes, they are truly hungry all the time.

Now the above two reasons are contributing factors, but they’re huge. When I hear someone, referring to the obese, say ‘Why don’t they just stop eating?’ or ‘Why don’t they go on a diet?; it irks me. It’s an ignorant (i.e. uneducated) statement and a broad generalizing prejudiced statement at that.

I would bet that nearly every single obese person has dieted more than the average size person; and in fact, the dieting is one of the contributing causes of obesity! “Dieting” usually involves deprivation; starvation methods of weight loss, that involve too few calories that throw the metabolism into starvation mode where it won’t let go of fat. And if you happen to be one of the unfortunate ones who has a genetically slower metabolism, and you try the deprivation/starvation dieting method – you truly screw up your metabolism to the point where you can gain weight eating very few calories per day. I know – as I was one of those unfortunate few.

I know for a fact that every single person who has had gastric bypass has been on a diet, and most on a supervised diet. This is one of the requirements one must meet before having gastric bypass. So gastric bypass is not the easy way out, or quick fix. It’s the last resort when all other attempts to lose weight have failed. Undergoing major surgery to dissect your stomach down to the size of an egg and remove 5 feet of small intestine and redirect what’s left is most definitely not the ‘easy way out’. It’s painful, costly and has lasting long-term potential for side-effects, if one is not careful and diligent in taking their protein and supplements.

Then you have the ghrelin hormone issue; where you feel like you’re starving – ravenous even – and going without food is nearly impossible. This goes beyond having will power; as your body is literally working against you. This goes beyond normal hunger; this is a hormonal imbalance triggering the ravenous appetite and the need to eat.

Gastric Bypass resolves the ghrelin hormone issue as the part of the stomach that produces the ghrelin is removed during the gastric bypass procedure – for those surgery types that are both restrictive and malabsorptive; such as Roux-en-Y (RNY), the ghrelin issue is resolve immediately when the surgery is done.

However, gastric bypass also helps for those with slow metabolism as it reduces the food intake, and the calories/fat absorption via the malabsorptive component, to bring the caloric intake in line with the body’s metabolic energy needs. Not to mention that by losing the weight, one is then better able to exercise to boost the metabolism even further; where as while obese, exercise is often very difficult to impossible.

Obese people are not lazy, they have a metabolic condition that contributes their obesity. Is every single obese person suffering from one or both of these reasons? No. There are some who just choose to eat too much and not exercise. Like I said, there are no always or nevers and there will exceptions to every rule; but the majority of obese people dieted themselves into obesity. They have a body that’s working against them and they are frustrated, embarassed and often fighting depression and stereotypical prejudices.

It is my hope that this article enlightened those of you who did not know these facts, encouraged those of you struggling with obesity to know it’s not all your fault and I encourage you to see a doctor for help in overcoming your obesity. Gastric bypass may not be the answer for you, but remember: if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten. Another day doing nothing to seek help for your obesity is another day without progress toward overcoming it. If you are a gastric bypass post-op, I encourage you to reach out and help others – either those in the obese community with questions,  the new post-ops that need mentoring or helping to educate those who do not understand obesity.

Give back and pay it forward.

—————————————————–

¹ The Hunger Hormone, Controlling Ghrelin

² A Matter of Fat; Ghrelin Hormone Promotes Storage of Energy as Fat

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You are not alone.

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So what do you think:  would you have WLS performed through your mouth?!

Even though there were only a handful of us there, we still had a great meeting – lots of great samples of various products to try and good information shared.  If you are close to the Fenton area, or it’s at all within driving distance, please consider joining us the first Monday evening each month from 7:00 – 8:30 pm.  The group is open to pre-op and post-op and any surgery type.  This group is lead by Gayle and Amanda and is an ObesityHelp sponsored group.

This is not the group that I am hoping to start for the Crawford/Franklin County areas after the first of the year.   Check back later for more information for developments on that group. 

With my recent health issues stemming from nutrient deficiencies (calcium, vitamin D and iron) ,  I’ve had several people ask me if I regret having had the weight loss surgery. My answer is a resounding: NO!  I do not regret having had weight loss surgery!!

First, I think we need to put into perspective that while I have had some health issues, and while they have had some  debilitating side effects for me, frustrating because it’s taken a while to discover that they were in fact related to nutrient deficiencies and not something else; there are people who have had much more severe complications from not only weight loss surgery but from living with obesity.  I do not regret having had this surgery.  All I need to do is to adjust my supplements – tweak the amounts I’m taking, and perhaps continue with iron infusions periodically, if I can’t maintain with supplements.  But honestly, that’s a very small price to pay to maintain my health.  YES, it’s worth it – it’s just vitamins and nutrients people:  very important yes, but not a deal breaker for me.

Note to the Pre-Op folks:  If there is one key thing I want to stress to any pre-op folks who may be reading this blog entry:  is that you need to know you will have to take vitamins and nutritional supplements for the rest of your life after you have weight loss surgery.   If you don’t – you can die. Yes, that’s a very serious statement to make; but it’s true.  If you can not afford to buy vitamins and protein powders after your surgery, then you need to seriously re-think whether or not you can afford to have this surgery; because without vitamins and protein supplements after – you will not be healthy and you can do very serious damage to yourself that could be life-threatening.   The total cost each month varies, depending on where you buy your supplements and exactly what all you take, based on the core minimum that all post-ops really should be taking and your specific lab results.    I personally spend about $200 per month on supplements, including protein powders, prescriptions and everything I need to keep me healthy (not including food).

Which vitamins and how many of each you need to take will depend on your lab work; and of course, that means you’ll need to have your labs drawn regularly.  Every 6 months is ideal for labs, then you can catch something if your levels start to drop, before they get too far down.  Once a year just isn’t often enough and some recommend every 3 months.   So maintaining your health as a WLS post-op is work; but it’s worth it to stay healthy.   If you’re taking your supplements, then it really isn’t that big of a deal if you keep it up.  It’s just part of what you do.  If you stop doing it – then believe me, it will become a huge deal very quickly.

I am normally very much an encourager,  but I believe the in telling the honest truth too.  I believe this surgery works;  but I hear of a lot of post-ops gaining and struggling years down the road with this surgery.   In almost* every instance, it was a preventable problem.   I want everyone to go into this surgery eyes wide open.  It’s a great thing – it will work, but you will have to work too.  You will have to know why you became obese.  You will have to overcome your food addictions.  You will have to exercise.  You will have to take your supplements.  If you can’t do that: then don’t have this surgery.  Otherwise, you may find yourself, a few years down the road,  obese once again, and suffering from nutrient deficiencies to boot,  and it will not be the fault of the WLS, it will be your fault for not being compliant with the guidelines of the surgery.

Your tool didn’t fail you – you failed the tool.   Only you know your own true circumstances and if you are making excuses for your situation.   Let’s get real here.  We didn’t rearrange our guts to continue to lie about what we’re eating and make excuses as to why we’ve failed at this.  Be honest with yourself.  Deal with it and work at making it right.

[*There are some cases of known surgery failures.  Where the stoma is larger than it should be, or the food is going down and the intestine is actually enlarged and creating a pseudo stomach and holding food, and all sorts of things like this.  If you believe you are truly able to eat more than you believe you should be, then make an appointment with your bariatric surgeon for a endoscope to make sure your pouch and everything else is working and intact as it should be.   ]

I took one of my Calcium Citrate pills and placed it in some water in a glass and wanted to see how long it would take for this pill to dissolve.  To my amazement, it took just under two minutes for the calcium pill to completely dissolve in just plain tap water.  Now I know that things move pretty quickly through my new system, but I know that it takes longer than two minutes and that there are some digestive juices and liquids a bit harsher than just water along the way, so I’m now confident that I can take at least my calcium in regular whole pill form and be okay. 

Now to try my other pills to see what those results are.  I’ll let ya know.