Keto. A clarification.

Check below my response to Cathy. I make my own ghee (super easy - watch a YouTube how to,) plus I make my own - out from the fridge spreadable butter, mixing kerrygold with avocado oil and salt. My BF uses that butter to eat as "a dip" with crackers ( Nut Thin crackers).

I don't buy ghee, I make it from an organic un-salted butter. Organic or Kerry gold - same price. I don't use kerrygold for frying, saute. I use ghee for high heat.

To have soft from a fridge butter- I mix 8 oz of kerrygold to 4 oz of avocado oil.

In one batch I often take 24 oz of Kerry gold to 12 oz of avocsda oil.,

Making soft spreadabld butter:

• Let the butter to soften outside the rridge,
• blend with hand blender,
• once the butter is nice and creamy, slowly add avocado oil and a pinch of salt as you blend that together.
• Put in containers, and set in a fridge to get more solid.

Spme people use olive oil, but Olive oil has a very distinctive smell. Avocado oil is very neutral.

I love ghee and yes, great for cooking because of the higher smoke point than butter. I'm too lazy to make it, though, lol.

I did, however, just see that Costco carries 54oz jars of it for like $19.99!! I must get to a Costco soon (nearest one is 2 hours away)!!!

And I also agree about the avocado oil, I prefer it over olive oil. I can't stand EVOO (way too olivey tasting except for salad dressing for me), but light olive oil I use as well.

Cathy,

Does the VSG surgery have different absorption like the DS does? Or is it the same as a person that hasn't had bariatric surgery?

Liz

No it's pretty much the same as non-WLS. All that is done for us is the stomach is reduced to the size of a banana, and the remaining is removed...so we are strictly restriction, there is no malabsorption. No rerouting of intestines or anything else, and we retain our pyloric valve. We process food just like non-WLS people do.

Good to know!

Thanks,

Liz

Cathy will come back to answer you I'm sure, but in the meantime: The Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy is actually the first step in the Duodenal Switch. If you've gotten a VSG, you've got a much smaller stomach. Google it for pictures. Your intestines are left intact and you have full absorption of calories and vitamins and such.

The full DS includes the sleeved stomach. But your intestines are also changed and malabsorption is now greater than with the RnY, and it is permanent. With the bypass, vitamin malabsorption is permanent but the caloric malabsorption tapers off after about 18 months. The diet and vitamin requirements for post DS eating are different.

There is a DS forum here on OH and if you have any DS specific questions they would have exact answers. You could also PM Val, she's been here forever and is a successful DS'r. I'll try to scare up some diagrams that might help you visualize things in case Dr. Google is unhelpful today.

edited because I see Cathy responded while I was typing this wordy answer! Glad you got what you needed to know =)

Thanks, I pretty well versed in the DS as I did a ton of research prior to my surgery. Just didn't take the time to google VSG and I'm aware what the sleeve is and the difference between the two. I just hadn't heard VSG used for the sleeve or if I did, it didn't stick that they are one and the same.

Liz

There are some differences in absorption with VSG, because so much of the stomach is removed. You no longer have enough intrinsic factor, so you'll almost certainly need to supplement vitamin B12. You also wont produce nearly the same volume if stomach acid, so other things aren't broken down the same. Its pretty common for VSGers to need calcium, iron, and D3 supplements long term.

But not counting on anything is the best approach. Have yearly lab work done, and tweek supplements as needed.

Thanks Hala! I'm going to try this. I've also been cooking with the ghee because it does a better job with heat and I really like the way it all holds together even at higher temperatures. The butter spread sounds great too. We don't put a lot of butter on things usually, but things are changing up a bit now.

It just cracks me up to see my husband doing all of the label reading. This is a big change from the meat and potato guy I thought I knew so well for the last 30 years. He's a normie who has only ten pounds to go before he hits his goal; it will be interesting to see what he does with all of this then.

On the upside - he went Keto and I also lost a good amount of weight. Apparently I didn't realize how often I was taking bites of the sweets and snacks I used to keep here for him. I lost my 20lb regain over the summer, then went down another 15 pounds. Not complaints here for sure!