Shame and embarrassment? That’s what I hear people say they feel when they have regained some weight and gotten off track. Not only do they feel ashamed and embarrassed, then they steer away from their support because they just don’t want to face them. That’s the worst thing you can do! Not only that, they stop getting on the scale too. A pound or two slowly becomes 10 or 20, then those add up to 30 or 40. Ignoring it and hiding doesn’t make it go away. It just compounds the problem. There’s no shame in being human. There’s no embarrassment in owning up to making some mistakes.

I read the following interesting article about probiotics and how they help the WLS patient. We’ve known for a long time that probiotics were helpful but this was the first that I’ve seen it addressed specifically focused on WLS patients and how it can even increase weight loss. We know that, even though it’s not a pleasant topic, constipation is a reality with the high protein eating that we do as patients. One of the added benefits of taking probiotics is not having this issue, but then to have a bonus of added weight loss . . . well ,who wouldn’t want that? I don’t want people jumping on it like a quick fix though. That’s not what this is about. Remember, we don’t want to ever be in that diet mentality again to try everything we can to lose at any cost. Our health is not a “cost” we want to pay! With probiotics, it’s a good thing for your body and whether it’s being taken in via yogurts or the probiotic supplements it is restoring the natural bacteria but an even bigger bonus in my book was the B-12 findings. Where most WLS patients would tend to start losing B-12 or require higher supplementation, the probiotics aided in maintaining the B-12 levels. What a great plus! Well worth doing some more research into these findings.

We all know food addiction far too well and the effects it has on our bodies and our lives. It’s a real eye opener to see it compared to a drug addiction as severe as cocaine or heroin! When you stop and think about it though, as hard as we all tried to lose weight on our own, spent all those years and all those dollars on diet products, diet programs and anything we could imagine just trying, trying, trying to get the weight off and get back to a healthy place in our lives the food still was winning out. It had it’s hold on us in some form or fashion and it not only affected our bodies but or minds as well. Just like a drug addiction, the battle of giving up that guilty pleasure seemed too much at times didn’t it? I mean, even when we have finally come to the decision that we’ve had enough and we’re going to do something as drastic as having major surgery to lose weight and reclaim our lives (drug addicts don’t have that option), do you know what one of the most consistent worries is that I hear? Am I never going to be able to eat things I love again?