Gastric bypass surgery has become wildly popular. When obese patients can’t lose weight with diet and exercise, doctors don’t hesitate to perform the procedure.

They make it sound wonderful, like your appetite and excess weight will magically disappear.

Over 220,000 Americans have these surgeries each year. That’s up more than 30% from just five years ago.1

In the procedure, surgeons reduce the size of the stomach. After the surgery, food goes directly into the small intestine. Fewer calories are absorbed. And the patient feels fuller faster.2

It all sounds great to someone desperate to lose weight.

But there’s something doctors don’t warn their patients about. A new study reveals a hidden–and potentially deadly–danger.

Researchers in Sweden analyzed the health records of almost 40,000 gastric bypass patients. They compared their records to the same number of people who had not had the surgery.

They adjusted both groups to make sure they had similar health backgrounds, aside from the surgery.

It turned out that the people who had gastric bypass had a far higher incidence of bone fractures. They were about 30% more likely to break a bone. And the risk increased over time.

The researchers theorized that there were two reasons for the fractures… Patients became more vulnerable to falls. And their bones lost strength after gastric bypass because they carried a lighter load.3

Dr. Kristian Axelsson is a doctoral student in orthopedics at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. He was a lead author on the study.

With gastric bypass “the risk of fractures increases and also seems to increase over time,” he said.

He added that doctors need to “institute measures to prevent fractures” in people who have weight loss surgery.

The study recently was published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

A Better Way to Lose Weight

Falling and breaking a bone is a major health concern as we age. Falls are the leading cause of accidental death in people over 65.4
If you are obese, you should consider gastric bypass only as a last resort.

Outside of fractures, the surgery risks include blood clots in the legs, breathing problems, heart attack or stroke, and infection.5

There is another proven way to lose weight. It is safe, effective, simple, and requires no surgery. It’s worth trying before going under a surgeon’s knife.

It is called mindful eating. Simply put, it is eating your food slowly and deliberately, while thinking about the act of eating. A major study in Japan found that mindful eating was an effective way of “regulating body weight and preventing obesity.”

5 Steps to Mindful Eating  

Here is how you do it…

1. Follow the 20-minute rule. Before you start eating, set any kind of timer for 20 minutes. This is the minimum amount of time eating a meal should take. Your brain takes that long to recognize you are full and send satiety signals.
2. Focus on your food. When you sit down to eat, you should be free of distractions. Turn off the TV. Put your cellphone or tablet out of reach. Don’t read at the table. If you’re eating with someone, eat silently for the first five minutes. When you do talk, try to keep the conversation focused on the meal.
3. Eat like a food critic. Food critics don’t rush through a meal. Instead, they savor and think deeply about the food they are eating. Study the visual qualities of the meal. Note the colors and textures of what’s on the plate. Concentrate on the aroma.
4. Make your first bite small. Pay attention to the first flavors you experience. As you chew, note how the food feels in your mouth. The flavor of what you’re eating will change as you chew.
5. Chew your food thoroughly. Chew each bite at least 10 times. Chewing begins the chemical process of digestion. Enzymes in your saliva break down the food. This helps food pass through your intestines and you feel fuller, quicker, making it easier to eat less.

If you already have had gastric bypass surgery, make sure to take care of your bones. Do high-impact exercise three times a week. This will help compensate for the lack of weight your bones now bear.

These exercises include anything in which both your feet are off the ground at the same time. Sprinting, jumping, calisthenics, jumping rope, playing basketball, and volleyball all help keep your bones strong.

Editor’s Note: There are other easy ways to be thinner without going hungry…

Like the secret “switch” you can flip that tells your body to burn fat instead of store it… The little-known chemical one doctor says makes your body demand unhealthy high-calorie foods… And how to shed pounds of body fat—without cutting back on the foods you love.

Discover how to unlock your fat-burning potential HERE.

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References:
1 https://asmbs.org/resources/estimate-of-bariatric-surgery-numbers
2 https://asmbs.org/resources/metabolic-and-bariatric-surgery
3 https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-08/uog-tpi081318.php
4 https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/geriatrics/falls-in-the-elderly/falls-in-the-elderly
5 https://asmbs.org/resources/metabolic-and-bariatric-surgery