Compulsive eating: spiritual or biological.

I will quote something that DianaCox has said in regards to having a broken hunger mechanism, "it is NOT just the sleeve part that fixes this - it is the combo of the sleeve AND the change in metabolism, particularly the insulin-sensitivity, that the DS provides which gives us back the sense of satiety which makes ALL the difference."

I believe that the broken part is caused by the insulin -sensitivity. That is why bingers have that empty feeling, which induces a need to stuff themselves. I believe this is a physiological response to what is biologically broken. Binging due to unregulated insulin, glucose, etc, is merely a means of survival.

This is why I don't get why people say they are addicted to the behaviors, such as hoarding of food, associated with binging. They are not addicted. Being that issues related to insulin sensitivity can often be controlled with diet, these behaviors are the bodys way of protecting itself.

That's just my opinion.

Greetings Phyllis,

I hope you are well and are having a wonderful holiday season. At the way bottom of this thread you can see that I just wrote a reply to this thread that I had posted a while back. Hopefully it will explain why you still have hunger and "head hunger" problems. It's in your gut.

I really wish everyone knew this. The DS isn't a free ride, but  it is the answer to the terrible hunger problems that many of us have suffered from.I hope this somehow this helps you or someone else you know who has hunger problems. I would repost, but I'm no longer interested in dealing with mb drama, especially not with 12 stepping RnYers. There's no sense in arguing with them. They are cognitively incapable of understanding the physiology of appetite.

Now you can understand why DSers are so pushy.

Take care,
Yehuda

 it's sad to see an empty avie on your posts, Phyllis.  but the words remain as good!

I actually can relate to that. However, I don't have uncontrollabler hunger, so I don't stalk the kitchen, and I'm not always thinking about my next "fix." I do love to eat just for the sake of eating, which is why I love my DS. As Diana has said in the past, "with the DS you can eat for taste." So I don't overeat, but I can satisy my tatse buds and mind with every meal.

 Bingo.

That's been my experience to the nose as well.. regarding the stalking the kitchen. I had a biological drive to EAT, like the drive to breathe.. it was just always there. 

I was the OP of this thread, and I want to explain a little more for those who have been led to believe they are suffering from food addiction, binge eating disorder or a spiritual malady. None of these conditions even exist.

Appetite is controlled by hormones responsible for both hunger and satiety. Some of these hormones includes: ghrelin, leptin, PYY and insulin. A broken hunger mechanism is the result of producing too much hunger and lack of satiety. It is a twofold condition, and so I would suggest that this would require a twofold solution.

The duodenal switch is a combination of a vertical sleeve gastrectomy and an intestinal bypass. The sleeve removes much of the ghrelin hormone and increases PYY and leptin.

The intestinal component of the DS has the metabolic affect such that you take on the metabolism of a lean individual. Not only does the metabolic component permanently increase metabolic rate (malabsorbtion) but it completely changes how hormones such as insulin function. It is this metabolic affect, particularly its effect on insulin sensitivity, that corrects what I described as being broken. What is broken is metabolic, not the spirit!

The OA philosophy that we are suffering from inner children and there resulting spiritual malady is bull crap. What OAers try to pray away can be corrected by the intestinal routing of the DS.

Of course this isn't a cure all for carbivorism and poor eating habits, but it can correct a biologically broken hunger mechanism. RnYers who claim they wanted to go part way with food are true idiots. Why would anyone want a tool for "behavioral modification" when surgery can correct what is broken in the first place. Who said that you can't follow an OA abstinence plan with the DS? At least you would be more physically able. I would argue there is no finer surgery than the DS whether food needed to get right with you, or whether you needed to go part way.

The DS is the only way to correct what is broken.

 it's nice you found what works for you but to believe it is the ONLY answer is as arrogant as what's his name, who thinks OA is the ONLY answer.

I have binge eating disorder so I know darn well it exists. I have done very well working on it with my own version of self-help, blended from everything I have read and steeped in my own experience. I did not need a DS to fix me.

it's kind of nice to see a post of substance on the MB once again, however.

Greetins,

Like I told Don, I apologize for my arrogance. I wasn't being nice.

The DS is not for everyone, but it can correct biological hunger problems. No, not everyone has these problems. And there are those who have more real emotional eating problems. I have looked at the proposed criteria for the DSM-V for BED, and I believe too many of those symptoms are the result of real hunger. Having problems with overeating does not in itself constitute having an eating disorder. Not in my opinion. www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevisions/Pages/proposedrevision.aspx

We can all have our opinions.

Take care.

To give an example of the smo without having to throw names out, just think of a guy around here who was 600+ at his highest weight. It is obvious to anyone in the DS world that he needs a DS. Food addiction is, in my opinion, for the most part a misdiagnosis, especially for the smo.

This is a little of which came first...the chicken or the omelet.

The SMO can't just be categorized in terms of single term diagnosis.  The body is complex and can confound the best medicine, doctors and such.  To suggest that the mind, without the help of biological hunger, can't drive someone to SMO status seems a little far fetched to me.  Again, I accept that there is biological hunger without clinical addiction.  Where I get lost is in absolutes or near certainties being used to justify a position without real solid data to back it up. 

WL (with or without surgery) for the SMO people, IMHO, requires a total mind and body approach.  Do you have any statistics that say the DS is 100% effective?  If it isn't, why does it fail?  That would be an interesting topic all by itself for general discussion in a separate topic. 

Also there is the quality of life issue after any WLS.  Will people like any particular regime?  LB fills, VSG restriction, DS supplementation...?  The best answer is one that people will follow and can live happily with afterwards.  While I am just anal enough to follow a DS plan, I just didn't find it fit ME.  It can not be assumed that successful outcome of a WLS will always translate into a compliant and/or happy person if it doesn't fit them. 

Beating folks over the head with DS IS BEST just doesn't provide the dialog needed to help people see what is best for THEM.  Because a group of DSers diagnose someone as needing a DS doesn't make that so. 

I encourage anyone to be proud of there own progress and explain why they were successful and offer it as a path that others might want to follow.  I do not subscribe to MY WAY or the HIGHWAY.