Do smelly stools run your life?  Is your poop a piddle and your stomach in constant turmoil?  Is everyone telling you to take a pill such as Devrom, Acid-X, or something similar, to poop out the mess and get rid of the gas?  Before you run for the "easy" answer, here are 13 important questions to ask yourself.  Why?  If you rely on the "easy" answer, it could be at the cost of your life.

(1) Are you upside down on eating carbs vs. protein? By carbs, I'm speaking of white food, white bread, McDonald's and any other fast foods, or enjoying the fats in French Fries, or fried foods (to the anguish and consternation of your pouch).  

(2) How much pure water do you consume daily?  As a minimum, you should have 64 oz. of water daily.  If you exercise, then, 96 oz. works much better to keep your body lubricated.

(3) Drink milk? Milk for anyone who has had RNY is a "no no" because milk causes the body to be sluggish and retain weight.

(4) How is your sleep? Disturbed? Sleep through the night? 

(5) Do you poop 3 times a day? You should poop after every meal.

(6) How about exercise? Do you? Do you vary your routine? Are you a couch-potato?

(7) Do you take your vitamins and supplements daily? Do you stretch them out throughout the day? Do you ignore taking vitamins? (8) Do you get exhaustive blood work tests done more than 1 time a year checking for your Vitamin A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C, D, Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Potassium, etc. levels? Do you ignore getting exhaustive blood work tests?

(9)  Do your daily vitamin / supplement levels take into consideration your malabsorption you have from your weight loss surgery? You didn't somehow grow back 80% of your small intestines did you? 

(10)  What type of protein are you consuming? Whey Protein Isolate? Chicken? Nuts? Fish? Look at the discussion I have at my support group on the Bioavailability of Protein, in considering your response. It is at www.obesityhelp.com/group/BellevueWA. 

(11)  Do you have smelly stools? Gas? Are you bloated?
 
If you are, it is because you are upside down on your protein level, your metabolism is out of kilter, and perhaps you have an urgent medical issue which needs to be addressed by your physician.    But, check out the protein level first and get your protein ramped up to where it must be if you wish to live.   Simply because you have had an RNY does not automatically mean your face drains away and you look gaunt.  Neither is it normal to have smelly stools.  Nor should you have to rely on stool softeners, or using your finger to get the poop moving out of your rectum.

It is a mistake by doctors, nutritionists, and other "professionals" who commonly refer folks to taking stool softeners as a matter of course to control this issue.  In my opinion, those folks do a severe disservice to folks who have gas or smelly stools.    All that said, it is common for folks who have had an RNY, that when their bowels move, they fill up the toilet so much it may take flushing the toilet 3 times to get rid of the stuff.  That is OK.  The toilet is working fine.  So are you! 

Smelly stools or gas is not fine.  You have a very serious issue here!

Fortunately, last Saturday (January 16, 2010), I had the great opportunity to take a refresher course in nutrition, to keep my ObesityHelp.com "license" as an Obesity Help Support Group Leader.  Each time I take this exhausting and exhaustive course, I come away learning something new.  This time, I learned a lot about gas and smelly stools because of the recent Q&A OH postings on this subject.

I quote from some of my materials:  "A greasy character and truly rancid odor are indicative of increased stool fat, but are often absent until late.  What this means is that if symptoms are intermittent or if they progress slowly over many years, patients may exhibit vague, seemingly unrelated symptoms such as chronic fatigue and depression, long before the physician considers the possibility of serious organic disease.

"Carbohydrate malabsorption will result in symptoms of diarrhea and excessive flatus (gas).  malabsorbed carbohydrates that enter the colon are fermented by colon bacteria into gases.  Stools seem to float on the water because of their increased gas content not because of their fat content.  This often happens when the gastric bypass patient begins to eat more carbohydrates, instead of protein.  Given sufficient time, fat and muscle will be catabolized."

Now, don't confuse floating stools and think all floating stools are bad.  Those that come from not getting sufficient protein are bad floating stools.  Floating stools which come from using a Vita Mix and blending fresh greens along with fresh fruits so your body is naturally getting an abundance of B, C, E etc. vitamins, is a good floating stool.  That is a subject for another posting. I'm talking about having a quart of Green Smoothies daily added to your diet.  So, floating stools can be a good thing; but, with smelly stools and gas, bloating, etc., floating stools is a very bad thing because your body is being cannibalized to the detriment of your health and life.

"When fat and muscle become catabolized, this function is destructive to the body because living tissue is changed into waste products of a simpler chemical composition."  In better English, this means, cannibalism of your liver, pancreas, heart, kidneys, brain, etc.

"Physical examination may reveal signs of weight loss from both fat stores and lean body mass.  The patient will be weak and will easily develop fatigue.  Fat loss will generally be noted as sunken cheeks and flat buttocks, with wrinkled or loose skin indicative of loss of subcutaneous fat stores.  There may be a direct evidence of a reduced metabolic rate.  The patient will often be mentally slowed.

"Severe loss of body protein may occur before you see bad lab tests.  Clinically, protein deficiency results in edema and diminished muscle mass.  Since the immune system is dependent upon adequate proteins, protein deficiency results in growth retardation, mental apathy and irritability, weakness and muscle atrophy, edema, hair loss, deformity of skeletal bone, anorexia, vomiting and diarrhea.  Protein malnutrition by itself is known as kwashiorkor."  Other issues arise with long lines on your fingernails and brittle nails. 

OK, 'nuf said about gas.  Except, one product you can use which is good for your body aiding you while you aggressively work to straighten out your protein consumption and eliminate the pooping issues, is to take from 1 to 3 teaspoons of Magnesium citrate in your nighttime beverage.  The Magnesium citrate is excellent for your body.   A great resource for this is Vitamin Shoppe (get it on line if you don't have a Vitamin Shoppe in your area). It contains 615 mg of Magnesium, which is 150% of daily value.  In our RNY bodies, if you need to, and believe me, you have to work up to taking even 3 teaspoons; you could increase it because of our malabsorption issue.  It comes in a raspberry-lemon flavor which I dearly love as well as other flavors.  At least, after staying with it and having pooping issues (before I started adding yummy green smoothies to my diet) I developed a liking for it.  Now, I love it.  So, it becomes for me, an acquired taste.  Whereas, I found daily drinking a quart of green smoothies to be love at first taste.

(12)  How is your energy level? 

(13)  Do you generally feel well and strong with a sense of well-being?

SIMPLE FORMULA FOR DETERMINING HOW MUCH PROTEIN YOU SHOULD HAVE DAILY:

 Now, for a simple formula for determining how much protein you should have daily to continue to lose weight, I use the formula developed by Sally Myers RD who regularly contributed to "Beyond Change," a publication devoted to folks who had bariatric surgery for weight loss. 

Take your current weight, say 240 lbs. Subtract 120. Take the difference 120 and divide that by 4. That gives us 30. Take the 120 and add the 30 = 150 grams of protein daily. OK. Not 240 lbs? How about 200 lbs? Then, the answer is 140 grams. OK. Not 200 lbs? What about 160 lbs. and still wanting to lose a few more lbs? The answer is 110 grams.

Do you think it is hard to consume this much protein? It is. 

A SIMPLER METHOD TO DETERMINE HOW MUCH PROTEIN YOU SHOULD HAVE DAILY

Another method utilized by some folks is to take their current weight and divide in half. That amount becomes the amount of protein to have daily. Yet, for the same folks who promote this method, they continually talk about “Getting Back on Track.?

For myself, I’m struggling to get my protein amount up to the amount recommended by Sally Myers, MD. I’m getting better at it; but, I do have vibrant health now, although I’ve had real issues take out chunks of years. But, I’ve lost 150# and have kept the weight off. I’m still working to get rid of the last 30 lbs. So, I’m still striving to get my own protein level to the amount recommended for me by Sally Myers. 

MY PERSONAL TESTIMONY TO GREEN SMOOTHIES

Now that I’ve added green smoothies to my daily diet, I believe I’ll be able to do get rid of this last 30 lbs! Read what I wrote at my group website, and consider your sources before you pick up the cheese bar. Instead, use Isopure, Any Whey, or Unjury Whey Protein Isolate. Any Way which is a protein blend. You can also mix 2 scoops Any Way, Unjury unflavored, or even Isopure's Vanilla into your green smoothie and think you've died and gone to Heaven, because the flavor is so delectable, nourishing, invigorating, and simply delicious. You would blend the mixtures using your Magic Bullet. Hope all this info helps. 

Blessings, Christine Gibson, MS, MA, Bariatric University Support Group Coach, Obesity Help Support Group Coach, Obesity Help Support Group Leader.

Greetings everyone.   My support group meeting was last night. I had expected 7 people, who had let me know they were coming. One person called letting me know she was very ill. I heard from one other person last night who left a message that she couldn’t come. She also sent an e-mail saying, “Don’t give up on me.?
No, like Abba, Father, our Father, and our Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Who is His Son, I will never give up on her. But, will she give up on herself? 

I arrived at 6:00 p.m. The support group meeting was to start at 7:00 p.m. Finally, around 8:00 p.m. after being there for 2 hours alone, reading the current OH magazine and gaining such valuable information from it, I cleared off the white board. I cleared off the chalk board. I put all my stuff I’d brought into my box, closed down the heat, turned off the lights, picked up all my signs, and preceded to commence to drive home not that happy. Then, as I was turning onto the street, along came one, solitary car with one occupant, heading to this meeting. I turned around, re-opened the room and I commenced working with her, giving her the valuable instruction on “Let’s Talk Protein.?

First, I asked her to read what was on a singular page of instruction on protein, which I’d retrieved from our Leader Board with OH. Silently, we both read it. I asked her what, what she read, meant. She didn’t know. Well, until 5:00 p.m., I hadn’t known either. Isn’t it amazing how we can read things and not understand them? Here I’d been working all day putting my program together. In fact, I’ve been concentrating on this subject for way over 4 years thinking I understand what I’m learning, but learning that my understanding is only according to my current awareness. Then, the words of beautiful instruction showed forth from the writing about protein on that singular piece of paper. We examined the protein containers I brought in. We found which container was the preferred container for folks who are maintaining their weight and which was the correct product for those who still want to lose weight. OK. Good for so far.

Then, I commenced the instruction of assisting her become her own best advocate, knowing how to do simple math (multiplication and division of really simple numbers), helping her gain great clarity about the following.

(1)     Learning how to calculate with understanding how much protein she must consume daily based upon her current body weight in order not to waste her muscles, have her hair fall out, or have other bad things happen to her, like death;

(2)     Learning how to calculate with understanding the amount of protein she must consume if she wants to continue to lose weight as well as the best resources for her.

(3)     Learning how to calculate with understanding the precise amount of protein she must consume to maintain her weight with health for her brain, her body, her mind, and her internal organs. Prayer will take care of her spirit. Knowing how to use her tool, learning to eat and drink for health is up to her.

(4)     Learning why she must add exercise into her daily schedule.

(5)     Learning how often she must eat for health.

(6)     Learning how to refute the poor or just plain unhealthy information floating around professional resources available to all of us.

Grumbling but with good humor, she got out her calculator. She fumbled with it, wanting to put it away and relying on me with my two masters degrees in finance and economics besides all the instruction and training I’ve received from ObesityHelp.com to do all the work. But, with encouragement and humor, she got over her fear and began to learn how to use her tool provided her back in 1985. However, this was a stapling procedure of some type. But that doctor who did the surgery is dead. She thinks she can’t find out anything about her surgery because he is dead. She had a revision procedure in 2002; yet, that unknown and not understood revision was from a doctor who is a great surgeon but doesn’t understand that we are what we eat. I had the same surgeon and he did a great job in the surgery room providing for me a tool. She’s not been able to get any helpful information from him either.   He leaves it up to us to figure out how to use our tool: that is not his concern. 

2 ½ hours after she arrived, we closed the teaching down. She walked out with great buoyancy and understanding of precisely what she needs to do. She walked out with great understanding and motivation. She walked out knowing precisely her best protein sources. She is a winner! Likewise, I learned a lot about protein, learned a lot of what I thought I knew and understood, and didn’t understand. I now know differently.

I know what I have to give to others is very valuable and will really help each and everyone who has had weight loss surgery or is contemplating it. But, if no one shows up, who will know? I’m glad she arrived when she did. Otherwise, she would not have benefited. I would not have benefited either.

So, dear reader, I ask you, will you give up on yourself? You had your weight loss surgery to help you; yet, are you continuing to operate in old patterns? Support group meetings are a bother aren’t they?   Nothing much happens there, right?
 
For myself, I will be approaching the other support groups seeking to find an audience who will want to learn what I’ve been learning. My health speaks volumes for what I am doing. Now, with the greater understanding I’ve gained through the teachings and interactions on Saturday mornings as well as my preparation and teaching last night, my health can do nothing but become even greater and I’m going on 72. I do know that my own health is worth the effort to understand and present the best of what I’ve learned about this weight loss surgery tool to others, because I benefit as well. But, an empty room can be so deflating.
 
Blessings, Christine Gibson
The light of the eyes of him whose heart is joyful rejoices the heart of others, and good news nourishes the bones.  Proverbs 15:30

How much protein should I be eating every day?  That subject came up yesterday on another part of OH.  The person who wrote in is concerned because her hair has not been coming back in, and she is 2 years post RNY!  What gives?  I decided, i needed to get the North West Weight Loss Surgery Support Group Blog site off to a good start.  Our first blog, will be to talk about protein.