Bariatric Surgery

In the United States of America, one in three adult Americans is overweight and one in five children are overweight. People want to rid themselves of the extra weight they carry for many different reasons; for example to look better, to feel healthier, to attract a romantic partner, to cure present health problems and to prevent future health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, some forms of cancer, heart problems and arthritis.

For as many different reasons as there are to lose weight, there are also that many different ways in which people go about losing weight such as fad dieting, daily exercise, taking pills, or in extreme cases, having surgery like liposuction and gastric bypass.

Weight loss surgery is also known as bariatric surgery. With the number of obese Americans increasing every day, so does the number of people who look into having bariatric surgery performed on them. Bariatric surgery may seem like the “easy way out” to most people, and in a way it is. Bariatric surgery limits the portions of meals that a person can consume at one time, it also requires that patients chew their food more thoroughly before swallowing, which in turn causes the patients to lose weight rapidly and enables them to maintain the weight loss. All forms of this surgery make it so the size of the stomach is reduced to only fit a certain amount of food, whether it be that part of the stomach is removed and stapled, a LAP-Band is placed around the upper portion, or if a duodenal switch is performed (when the part of the stomach is removed and stapled and the duodenum bypasses most of the small intestine to prevent absorption of most foods).

Even though the surgery causes patients to lose weight rapidly, there are requirements that one must pass in order to have the surgery done. Some of the requirements are that the person does not desire the surgery in order to look better, but rather that they need the surgery because their obesity is severely affecting their health. The body mass index of a candidate for bariatric surgery should be more than 40 and at least 100 pounds overweight. One also needs to have tried all other options of losing weight non-surgically

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  1. It’s not the fact that you have to chew more before you swallow that makes you lose weight. Despite what everyone thinks, it is a lot of sacrifice to lose the weight. It requires suffering both physically and emotionally. I had it done about 9 months ago and still struggle with some foods, but despite it all, it has saved my life after a long battle with diabetes.

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