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Weight Loss Exercise

Weight Loss Surgery Risks and Side Effects

There are a few weight loss surgery risks you need to be aware of if considering any invasive methods to lose weight. Bariatric or weight loss surgery offers many benefits and can help patients lose up to fifty percent of their excess weight within 6 months after surgery. In general, patients also enjoy improved blood sugar levels and have lower incidence of stroke and heart attack after weight loss surgery. However, there are always risk factors associated with any type of surgery, and weight loss surgery is no exception.

Weight Loss Surgery Risks and Side Effects

When talking to your doctor, ask him or her not only about the benefits but also the risks and side effects of weight loss surgery.

Weight Loss Surgery Risks – Vomiting

Vomiting is common in restrictive weight loss surgery where the stomach is made smaller. Eating too much food or not chewing it well can lead to vomiting.

Weight Loss Surgery Risks- Complications

Weight Loss Surgery Risks and Side Effects

Patients who undergo weight loss surgery run the risk of suffering from complications that may have to be corrected. A few of the most common complications include infections, stretched stomachs outlets, and bleeding. Weight loss surgery where the stomach is stapled off can result in a potentially fatal leak from the staples used to decrease the size of the stomach.

Gastric bypass patients are known to get pulmonary embolism or blood clot to the lungs. In the case of gastric banding surgery, the gastric band can migrate or move from its original placement. The band can also erode and wear into the stomach.

Weight Loss Surgery Risks – Gallstones

Another risk faced by obese patients who undergo weight loss surgery is the development of gallstones. More than a one-third of bariatric surgery patients develop gallstones. Gallstones form in the gallbladder or bile duct and are composed primarily of cholesterol, calcium salts, and bile components.

Rapid weight loss can cause a person to develop gallstones.

Weight Loss Surgery Risks – Dumping Syndrome

“Dumping” takes place when the the stomach contents pass too quickly through the small intestine. The syndrome is a side effect of malabsorptive surgery where the absorption of food nutrients is restricted. Symptoms of dumping include nausea, extreme weakness, excessive sweating, and even diarrhea.

Weight Loss Surgery Risks – Nutritional Deficiencies

Tampering with the digestive system can lead to nutritional deficiencies caused by the inability of the patient to absorb food nutrients efficiently. This may lead to anemia, osteoporosis, hair loss, or muscle wasting. To avoid the risk of nutritional deficiencies after weight loss surgery, you should take vitamin and mineral supplements.

How to Avoid Possible Risks of Weight Loss Surgery

Surgery is always accompanied by multiple risks, and obese individuals are at greater risk than most of the population. Fortunately, hospitals and medical teams are now held to higher standards to reduce the risks of weight loss surgery. Newer techniques in surgery such as laparoscopy and minimal invasive surgery have reduced many of the risk factors significantly, such as infection and bleeding.

Severely obese patients have always been considered risky but taking appropriate precautions helps ensure that the surgical procedure can proceed safely. Weight loss surgery patients are also thoroughly evaluated to make sure that their heart and lungs are functioning well. Before going into surgery, any medical conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure must be under control and beware of these weight loss surgery risks.

Related Blogs

  • Related Blogs on Bariatric Surgery
  • Related Blogs on Bile Duct
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Weight Loss Exercise

Raw Food Children: Is It Safe?

If you are a parent who wants to switch to raw food children are going to be a question for you. Do you want your children to follow a raw food diet? How will you get them to eat it? How will you deal with opposition from others? And most importantly, is a raw food diet safe for kids?

If you believe that raw is the healthiest possible diet out there, then you probably would like your children to join you in it. You want what is best for them and a high raw diet is certainly healthy. But 100% raw can be another matter.

Kids have different dietary needs than adults. They require more calcium, in particular, in order to grow strong bones. It is hard for raw food children to get enough calcium on a raw vegan diet. Therefore, if you want your kids to be 100% raw, you should consider including raw (i.e. unpasteurized) milk, cheese and yogurt in their diet.

Raw milk products have their own risks, including the possibility of carrying salmonella and other food poisons. Remember there is a reason why pasteurization is carried out. You may also find that it is not possible to buy unpasteurized dairy products in your area, because it is illegal to sell them in some jurisdictions. You may still be able to buy direct from the farm.

If you cannot buy raw milk products or if you decide against them for safety, you will need to consider giving your kids some non-raw items whether those are pasteurized milk products or calcium supplements. The result of inadequate calcium in childhood can be very serious, including stunted growth and rickets.

With children under 5, you will also need to consider the size of their stomachs. Small kids cannot eat as much fiber as adults, which is probably one of the reasons that kids often refuse a lot of vegetables. They need higher calorie foods including a certain amount of fat. Fruit alone would likely not contain enough minerals and other nutrients. Again dairy products can help out, as can nut milks and nut butters.

Kids don’t like sudden changes and your best option will be to have them transition slowly from a cooked diet. You can begin with offering more of the raw foods that they like, such as bananas, and adding slices of finger foods like cucumber, celery and peppers to their plates. They may enjoy helping you prepare the food, creating interesting shapes when cutting.

Smoothies are popular with kids and can be the basis of many meals and snacks. You can add green vegetables to a fruit smoothie and they will probably still like the taste but you may have to serve in a cup with a lid so they don’t see the color.

You will almost certainly find that most people will think you are crazy or cruel for trying to raise raw food children, unless your kids are seriously overweight, when people may be more sympathetic because they will assume you are doing it for the weight loss aspect. But most people think of raw food as a stupid fad. This will probably include the children’s grandparents, other family members and possibly their other parent. So be prepared for some opposition, and be sure to have plenty of facts and figures to use in your defense.

We are not medically qualified and every individual has different nutritional needs. Before encouraging your kids to go raw, you should speak with their doctor and check that it is safe for them to become raw food children.

Raw Food Diet

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