BariatricEating.com Health & Nutrition
Rant - Vita-meata-vege-min
Vita-meata-vege-min
- "Do you poop out at parties? Are you unpopular? Well, the answer
to all your troubles is in this little bottle - and, it's so tasty too!"
- Lucy Ricardo
I am going to explain vitamins to you. It’s simple, so pay attention and I can keep it short and sweet.
The human body needs vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and amino acids in order to run. When a healthy normal person eats, the food is broken down into a tiny particles in the stomach that are absorbed in the intestines and the nutrients are taken throughout the body.
Vitamins are not made by the body so they have to come from the foods we eat. If a person eats lean meats, leafy green vegtetables, colorful fruits, and whole grains, they are providing their body with all the materials that it needs and their body is strong and fights off disease. If the body lacks certain nutrients, this is called a deficiency; the greater the deficiencies the greater the potential for sickness. Hair falling out is just on the outside!
Morbidly obese people do not eat right - period. If we ate right we wouldn't have been morbidly obese. The typical morbid obese persons diet is full of fast food, processed pre-made and frozen convenience foods, sugar & high fructose corn syrup, and empty white flour carbs; all of which are devoid of nutrients. Even before we have bariatric surgery a very high percentage of us have nutritional deficiencies.
Once we have surgery to reduce our stomach to the size of a lemon, eating a lot less of the same crap food we have always eaten really makes the situation worse. So our deficiencies get worse. Even if we turn over a new leaf and eat healthy food, we can’t put enough food in our pouch to give our body all the stuff that it needs. ATTENTION Lap-Band, and Gastric Sleeve people! Don't think that this does not apply to you as you were Morbidly Obese as well, ate crap food, and can't eat enough food to stay healthy even if you eat properly as a post-op!
I know what all of you say about vitamins when you come into our store, when you meet us at a support group meeting, or say in the email that you write to me – and I would bet that half of you don’t take vitamins at all. None, not even Flintstones, zero, zip, nada, nothing! You fib to your surgeon and nutritionist, but you don't even try and hide it from me; some of you even laugh about it. (I am always astounded by this. Why boast to me that you are stupid? Yep, stupid. Can you think of a better word for someone who has had major surgery to stop uncontrolled eating by having their stomach altered and doesn't take care of this precious second chance by at least taking even a silly cartoon character chewable vitamin each day?)
It isn’t until your hair falls out that most of you do something about it. What do you think is happening on the inside leading up to the hair loss, the fatigue, the under eye circles, the bleeding gums? Do ya think that maybe things are happening to your heart, your kidneys, your brain, your blood and its ability to carry life throughout your body?
Just take the freakin' vitamins; if you are going to take vitamins, you might as well take ones that are developed for people who have had our surgery. We don’t weigh 40 pounds, we aren’t pregnant – we had bariatric surgery. Take bariatric vitamins. Why is this difficult?
Multivitamin, B vitamins, Iron, and Calcium Citrate – just do it!
"Do you pop out at parties? Are you unpoopular? Well, the answer to all your troubles is in this bittle lottle!" - Lucy Ricardo
Ciao, Susan Maria
Susan Maria Leach is the author of Before & After – Living & Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery (HarperCollins Publishers 2007), both a memoir and a cookbook – an intimate account of her own transformation as well as a guide for those who have undergone or are considering the procedure. As she has learned in the more than 7 ½ years since her own RNY procedure, weight-loss surgery is not an event with a finish line or a goal weight – it is the beginning of a new way of life.
She is also President of BariatricEating.com & BE Inc., and an officer of the Corporate Council of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery.
Copyright
© BE, Inc. 2011 - Susan Maria Leach. All rights reserved.
