Susan Maria Web Site Revised ***

Sorry.......the one i was reading was for the July Rant. Tracey

Hello Tracey - I agreed with some of what she had to say and disagreed in other areas. There was a HUGE discussion on this on the main board a few weeks ago and this is PART of what I had to say then: ============== REPOST BELOW ================= I completely DISAGREE that "my/our" surgeons say we MUST drink Protein drinks - there are MANY surgeons who prefer their patients get the protein thru FOODS. My surgeon did NOT want me drinking protein shakes, I drank them because I could not get enough in during my first year, via foods. Of course, telling the public to take in protien via foods wouldn't help a bariatric site that sells protein shakes - so I suspect those doctors (who do exist) are going to be discounted or left out of the "know all" mix. Regardless - I agree with a LOT of what she had to say - I also have a very LOW tolerance for those that find ways in life to justify why things can't work or don't work, or shouldn't work... shut the hell up and MAKE IT HAPPEN already! =============== END of REPOST ================== If you want to read some of the other opinions that were being tossed around that day, here is the link to the original thread. Lots of opinions, some of them heated, all of them valid. http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/messageboard/postdetail/1349896.html?vc=0 - Leilani

Lei--That was the first time I had read that thread. I had heard about it, but never read it. BTW--I really don't have time to be reading it--but I did anyway.

First let me say that I have never ordered from SM's website, so I have no loyalties here. However, I did go read her rants about protein & vitamins and I agree with both. And also let me say that I'm speaking from the "distal" perspective -- as that's the type of surgery our doctors perform -- 200cm bypassed. My doctor has never believed in protein supplements. At my last visit I had a very long talk with him because he was discouraging people from taking protein supplements. Because I have done so well with the surgery, he listened. I told him I could either go back to overeating or I could use protein supplements. I could not eat just protein at every meal in order to get in as much as I need. I have to have fiber or suffer bowel issues. Because he liked what he was seeing in me, he has backed off his position and now tells people to supplement if they want. They were saying 60 grams of protein a day. Now they've upped it to 80 grams a day. They are realizing that with the malabsorption, we need more. I've always thought we needed 90-120 a day and that's what I've strived to take in. And since food is harder to absorb than a good predigested whey protein (because food has to actually be digested first), I am more confident that the supplements are being absorbed. And I have had so many people tell me that I don't "look" like I've had WLS -- I look healthy. So that's got to tell you something -- like what I'm doing is working. And yes I do take vitamins EVERY day -- no matter what. And more than just a multivitamin -- calcium citrate, B-complex, carbonyl iron, C, and a few others that aren't required. It's easy to think you don't need vitamins in the early states (first 2 years). Your body has a lot of vitamins stored from before WLS. But after 2 years, you'd better have been supplementing all along or you are going to start having deficiency problems. Having distal WLS meant making a pact to take vitamins and always get in your protein. Anyone who can't or won't do this should not have the surgery because they are setting themselves up for a lifetime of medical problems that can be worse than being fat. JMHO Deb

Amen! And I'm a proximal, not a distal (75 cm. bypassed). I still use protein shakes at 3+ years post-op (from another vendor). My labs, dating back to pre-op days, always put me in the low-normal range for protein. I'm still there, with the help of shakes. If I punted the shakes, logic dictates I'd fall below normal. I haven't been willing to experiment with my health to find out. And I eat loads of protein, as best I can. But nothing delivers protein as efficiently to me as a protein shake. Isn't malabsorption part of the reason for the guts being re-routed? Why ignore that and not intake extra protein? Shakes are best to help me out, but kudos to those who can manage to stay in the normal protein range without them. Labwork will help confirm which regime works best for each of us. I've come to believe that most of the passionate arguments over protein shakes could be resolved by just tracking a patient's labwork over time. Whatever works for him/her, works. I'm danged if I know why doctors don't go with the long-term labwork as the gauge for who benefits from shakes, as opposed to adopting unbending policies or opinions based on questionable beliefs. For example, has anyone met anybody who got fat by drinking *good* protein shakes without a lotta sugary stuff added in? I haven't, but I suppose anything is possible. I'm fairly sure it'd be an uncommon outcome, however (she said dryly). 'Course, for those bariatric surgeons who don't track their patients' labwork into the second, third, fourth, etc. post-op years and beyond . . . or who don't even request the right labwork . . . or who fail to compare recent labwork with the previous tests to watch for trends BEFORE deficiencies take over . . . it's hard to have a database of knowledge, or even anecdotal knowledge, as to what works for folks down the road. From what I've read and seen, too few of them actually do all of those things, so it's up to us, the patients, to stay on top of that stuff and participate in our long-term follow-up care as best we are able.