Amanda interviews Dr. Ricardo Lopez
Topic: Segment 2 Bariatric Coaching
What type of Bariatric surgery is online Bariatric Coaching a good fit for?
Amanda: Welcome to our second segment of this interview on Bariatric Coaching and today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Ricardo Lopez (Bariatric Surgeon from Guatemala) and the topic today is on Bariatric Coaching, For what type of Bariatric surgery is online Bariatric Coaching a good fit?
Question to Dr. Lopez: For what type of Bariatric surgery is online Bariatric Coaching a good fit? Does it matter?
Dr. Ricardo Lopez: It doesn’t matter what type of Bariatric surgery has been or is going to be performed in any patient. Definitely, yes, any type of Bariatric surgery will have different processes, and if one is guided by a Bariatric Coach throughout the process, it is great, because when you go to your house after surgery, then some feel sad, questions and thoughts come up, such as “I don’t have that type of of liquid”, “I don’t have that brand of Jell-O”, “I don’t know what’s the meaning of a puree” “I don’t know what’s the meaning of semi-solid” and “How many days do I have to take liquids for”, “What’s the difference between a clear liquid and liquid?” and so on. These main questions start popping up and you don’t have your surgeon in your house, and sometimes, you don’t have your surgeon even on call, immediately. So, the first step is going to be about my recovery, the process of getting into your home and not starting wondering how it’s going to be there. Any Bariatric surgery we will need guidance, so Bari Better is the best option that will provide you assistance anywhere anytime on your recovery, despite the type of Bariatric surgery that the surgeon decided to do with you as a patient.
Amanda: We have clients who had all types of Bariatric surgery and at Bari Better, I always tell all my clients that we do not give medical advice. I always recommend that my clients have their Bariatric multidisciplinary team and follow up with their Bariatric surgeon, Nutritionist, Registered Dietitian, Phycologist. Some clients are newer to surgery, some have had their Bariatric surgery many years ago, and I tell them that it is very important that they keep in touch with their Bariatric team, since a lot of people end up following back to the old habits with support. I tell my clients to follow through, despite being one year or more after surgery and to go to their annual Bariatric surgeon appointment, Nutritionist, Phycologist, so they can have their labs done, food planning, check their protein/calories and food/liquid intake. You mentioned different types of surgeries, could you please explore further to our viewers and listeners, what is the difference between Bariatric surgery and Metabolic surgery? I hear this question a lot.
Dr. Ricardo Lopez: The main aspect of a Bariatric or restrictive procedure, is that we create anatomical changes in the stomach or anatomical changes in the small bowel in order to make the food not pass through a very important segment where calories or fat or some vitamins are absorbed. So, we try to make the food not to cross over those segments. So, we are going to limit the body to absorb some type of carbs and some types of fats and definitely, we are going to limit some absorption of some types of vitamins. So the body will react and will understand that we are on a certain type of diet and we need to make some metabolic changes in order to absorb the amount of food that we are taking. So, we are restricting the amount of food and the food we’re taking, it is over passing a segment in the small bowel, so that will give us more metabolic power in order to have restriction of diabetes, of hypertension, of hyperlipidemia and we call those changes metabolic surgery. And there are other types of surgeries, for example, as having a band, having a ring or having a sleeve gastrectomy, that will only restrict the amount of food that I take, but that food will follow the normal anatomical segments and the food will go through the exact same segments were carbs are absorbed, where fat is absorbed, so will not make any changes in the absorption. So, those will be the main differences between a Bariatric surgery itself (where I only need weight loss) and a Metabolic surgery (when I need weight loss plus the remission of comorbidities of obesity such as Diabetes, Hypertension, etc. One thing is important: every Bariatric or weight loss surgery is a metabolic process, but we have metabolic surgeries that have more power changing the metabolism in order to have remission of comorbidities of obesity, that’s the main thing.
Amanda: Great! Thank you for clarifying to our viewers and listeners, because people do come up with this question a lot, and it’s very important for people to understand the difference. I appreciate your time answering these questions, thank you!