Gastric Bypass Alternatives

Are there any gastric bypass alternatives?

Yes — Gastric bypass surgery is a fairly recent phenomenon, but obesity is not. Before weight loss surgery was invented, doctors recommended other ways to lose weight. Some of them worked more often than others, of course.

Although many more people are dangerously overweight than ever before, there have been individuals who struggle with this condition since the beginning of time. Some of those people have been able to lose their weight and regain their health without the invasive bariatric procedure. This page will search for possible alternatives.

• Fasting – one of the original gastric bypass alternatives

Although fasting is a major part of the post-gastric bypass diet, few doctors suggest water fasts for the non-surgical patient. There are exceptions, such as Dr. Joel Fuhrman, the author of Fasting and Eating for Health.  However, even doctors who believe fasting can help cleanse the system do not suggest water fasts for most obese patients. A fast that is not carefully supervised will simply be one more crash diet, and may even be unhealthy or dangerous for people with the usual complications of obesity. Juice fasting has gained some popularity, and this is also a part of the post-surgical diet, after the initial water fast.

No fast can be continued long enough for a patient to lose in excess of 100 pounds, so this does not appear to be a reasonable permanent solution to obesity. However, some obese patients may benefit from a short fast used for its cleansing properties, and closely monitored by a physician or naturopath who has experience with this form of therapy. If you consider a water or juice fast, be sure to talk it over in depth with your doctor before making your final decision. Never go on a fast without medical supervision.

• Low Calorie Diets

A low calorie diet is from 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day. The post gastric bypass diet may be around this calorie count, or lower, but the diet alone can be used, without surgery, as one of the gastric bypass alternatives. This is far fewer calories than most people now eat, and a low calorie diet plus exercise will help a patient lose weight.

This will not work if it simply means eating smaller meals but staying with the same foods one ate in the past. If the “normal” diet is poor in nutrients, reducing the portions will leave the patient hungry, will cause food obsessions, and may cause fatique, dizzy spells, and other unpleasant or even dangerous side effects. Nutritional counselling and behavioral modification should be strongly considered, if this is to be used as a permanent solution to weight loss.

Most surgery patients have already tried a low calorie diet, and most are required to go on one before surgery to be eligible for insurance coverage. If one is able to stay on a nutritious, no-sugar diet for the long term, it’s the most promising of the gastric bypass alternatives. Unfortunately, if this were easy, most weight loss surgeries would not be needed.

• Very Low Calorie Diets

The same suggestions apply to very low calorie diets, which may contain as few as 800 calories a day. The first weeks of the post gastric bypass diet would fit into this definition, which is one reason why patients are kept in the hospital for some time after their surgery. Very low calorie diets will cause fast weight loss, but they’re also the most dangerous of the gastric bypass alternatives.

Studies have proven that patients who stay on a nutritionally balanced 800 calorie diet can lose the majority of their excess weight in a fairly short amount of time. But studies also show that the majority of those patients will regain their weight soon after the end of the diet, unless they are very strongly motivated and have made permanent changes to their habits and behaviors around food. Unfortunately, the same can be said for post-surgical gastric bypass patients, who are forced to undergo a very low calorie diet in the months following thier surgery, but who can, and sometimes do, go back to their old habits and regain their weight.

• Diet Pills

When you consider how often diet pills have gone off the market in the past because of the adverse effects on patients or addictive qualities, one must be wary of the latest diet pill fad. There are several medications that have been approved by the FDA for use in weight loss for the obese patient, but few doctors consider these medications as a permanent solution to obesity.

• Behavior Modification Therapy

Changing the diet temporarily cannot be a permanent alternative to gastric bypass surgery. Most Centers of Excellence and insurance companies now insist on psychological counseling for candidates for weight loss surgery prior to the procedure. If  this is true for patients who have opted for gastric bypass, it’s doubly important for those who try to lose weight on their own. Food is always available, and habits must be changed if obesity is to be controlled. Finding a therapist who is an expert in behavior modification may take considerable research, but the counseling may be the one last push that’s needed to help you lose weight without surgery. The combination of a nutritious low-calorie diet and behavior modification therapy are probably the safest and most effective gastric bypass alternatives.