Wellness Journeys: Bypassing the Issues
The surgical solution to weight management would seem to be the end of the journey for those looking for a final chapter to their weight loss story. Often the surgical approach is like beginning another story with the ending not always so happy. Let me tell you the story of "Tricia."
Meeting Tricia for the first time.
One unusually blustery day Tricia called for an appointment. The weather would be a foreboding of the volatile emotional state in which Tricia found herself. Her complaint was this: she wanted to lose weight. Ordinarily this would be a most wonderful announcement, but in this case it signaled the end of a system of denial. Tricia was very angry about this, almost a sense of betrayal. Less than 5 years ago, Tricia had had gastric bypass surgery. But before that, she had the 'lap-band' surgery. Yes, she had managed to lose 130 pounds twice and regain it twice. The problem was that she had regained the 130 pounds plus another 40.
How did she do it?
The short answer to this is ice cream. But there were others like pudding, mashed potatoes and milk shakes. In the immediate post operative 'honeymoon,' Tricia did the requisite nutrition, exercise and mental-health classes. She lost the weight, and that should have been the end of the story. The problem was that Tricia stayed angry. She was angry that she had to come to this in order to lose the weight. She was angry that she was passed over for the promotion at work. She was angry that romance never came her way. After all she had been through—twice—all the promises she'd made to herself, life didn't become the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
So the smooth creamy foods became her promotion, lover and her mind-altering substance. With these types of foods, there is little resistance in the surgically altered stomach. They are able to slide past the small pouch and move into the small intestine. The problem is this type of feeding is continual, perpetual. If solid food is over-eaten, vomiting is the result. This is not the case with these liquid, smooth foods. They slide right on through, over and over again. Eventually the weight returns with the resultant metabolic syndrome.
What does she want to do now?
Our very first problem is to determine how willing Tricia is to change her way of relating to her anger and her relationship to food. This is the first line in the defense to any addiction-willingness to change. Einstein said it best: 'You cannot solve your problems with the same level of thinking that created them'. Progress can be made even in someone who has surgically altered their stomach, but the deeper alteration has to be made in Tricia's relationship with anger. While the subject of nutrition would seem to be confined to 'food,' emotions feed and fuel our intentions. This requires us to address this type emotional/spiritual dialogue if we attempt to make an attempt to recover from this most destructive eating pattern.
Tricia was willing to admit her situation was even more desperate than when she undertook the surgery. Her current level of despair had made her willing to do whatever it took to change this fatal progression into obesity and metabolic disease.
Moving from the problem into the solution.
Trish had finally made the resolution to change her dietary habits. Drinking 3 to 4 liters of water a day, consuming soft protein sources in small amounts, and journaling her anger were just the beginning of the intervention. Including vitamins, exercise and exploring the triggers to her anger would be another step in confronting her negative state of health. As we attempted to balance her food intake, it was important to balance her emotional/spiritual expenditures.
Faster than she expected, these small changes resulted in some immediate improvements. Her indigestion disappeared; the bloating was gone. The cravings were a little more difficult to erase, but were decreasing in frequency. Amazingly, she was now seeing her weight diminishing. The sense of betrayal which fed her anger was abated, opening up other avenues of expression.
It would take 18 months for Tricia to lose 140 pounds. She now says that had she known about insulin resistance and weight loss, she would have never had the surgery. Tricia has maintained her weight loss within 20 pounds. When she sees her difficulties returning, she addresses them by journaling and returning to the office for counseling.
This is my invitation to you, give it one more try. Call or write for a consultation.
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