Question:
Someone asked me the other day why I had to watch what I ate because a good portion

of what I eat is not absorbed, so why be good? I really could not give them a good answer. I have been VERY good and will continue to be so but can someone give me a really good answer?? How much of the food we eat gets absorbed?    — Pizofret (posted on February 15, 2003)

February 15, 2003
Good question...I heard we absorb somewhere between 1/3 and 2/3 of what we eat...but it depends on whether you are distal, proximal or medial bypass...any answers!!!! ~CAE~
   — Mustang

February 15, 2003
Because we only absorb a portion of what we eat, we run a higher risk of malnutrition. Therefore, it is imperative that we put good fuel into our body. You'll get more nutrients out of nutritious food rather than junk. As far as calories go - the rules never change - consume more calories than you expend and you will gain weight.
   — jnc

February 15, 2003
I was told by my doctor that all the calories we eat are absorbed. the only thing that is not is the vitamins and nutrients. she said the part of the intestine that was bypassed was the part that absorbes the nutrients. she told me that all of the fat calories and carbs all count towards weight loss or gain. with the RNY it is the smaller pouch and the dumping from the fat and mainly suger that will train us to eat right, this is only a tool. the DS surgery allows one to eat much more because it does have a high malabsordtion rate and alot of the food does not count.
   — terri R.

February 19, 2003
I think we *do* have calorie malabsorption from the RNY, that's *why* they bypass a portion of the intestine. If it were just to cause dumping--which doesn't happen in everyone anyway--it wouldn't make sense to do something that we know can cause malnutrition. I asked my surgeon whether the malabsorption was selective for any particular nutritient (between carbs, fats, protein) and he said he didn't know. On these boards a lot of people are convinced that we malabsorb fats and proteins but not carbs; I'm not sure whether that's the case. I also asked the doctor about another common statement on these boards, that malabsorption (of calories) decreases over time, and he said that was true. As we get futher out from surgery the intestinal villi will grow longer and get more efficient at absorbing food. This is one of the reasons that many people fight a regain a couple of years out from surgery. I do think that the answer about getting the maximum nutrition from the fewest calories--which is certainly good advice for *anyone*, WLS post-op or not, is probably the best all-around answer.
   — Celia A.