About a year ago, we began to hear more and more about the potentially fatal risks associated with gastric bypass surgeries, snatching away much of its "quick-fix, cure-all" allure. Researchers have identified a new and potentially very dangerous side effect: A severe hypoglycemic reaction that may require emergency treatment.

The study features details of three non-diabetic gastric bypass patients who experienced such high insulin levels after eating their meals, their cognitive abilities became impaired and, sometimes, blacked out. In two cases, those blackouts led to two car accidents.

After their bypass surgeries and significant weight loss, patients developed postprandial hypoglycemia (low blood sugar after meals) that failed to respond to any dietary or medical treatment. Eventually, the condition required partial or full removal of their pancreas.

Researchers blame their patients' severe hypoglycemia on what's called the dumping syndrome, a condition that occurs when the small intestine fills up too quickly with undigested food from the stomach.

As I've said before, when you use the wrong tool to "cure" any medical condition -- especially when it's a lifestyle medical concern like obesity -- you're virtually guaranteed to have problems. Of course, that hasn't stopped people, like the former half-ton man, from doing it anyway. People forget it didn't take them a day to gain all those extra pounds, and it will take considerably longer to lose it safely and smartly.

Some guidelines for normalizing your weight naturally:

• Modify your diet based on your body's unique nutritional type.
• Reduce, with the plan of eliminating, grains and sugars from your daily diet.
• Treat the emotional issues that brought your health to this low spot by learning a valuable, effective and non-invasive tool like the Emotional Freedom Technique.
• Get moving on an exercise plan today!

EurekAlert October 12, 2005