To wonder if this diet is the best approach for bariatric surgery candidates?

[sharkirasharkira]

I have a close family member who had bariatric surgery a few years ago and has had a whole host of problems, some very serious.

A friend has recently said that she is going to undergo the same surgery and has to go on the milk diet for liver shrinkage, as my family member did.

Just out of curiousity I researched this diet and I feel quite uneasy about it because it essentially suggests that you can have as much sweetener filled crap as you like, as long as it doesn’t contain any calories. So sugar free squashes, jellies, yogurts, diet sodas, etc.

Aibu to think that encouraging people who have weight issues to consume unlimited amounts of sugary tasting crap isn’t actually healthy in the long term? Even if it doesn’t contain calories, it still gets you into the habit of consuming unchecked amounts of sweet, sugary tasting things. Your brain doesn’t know the difference between sugary tasting and calorie free stuff, and real sugar. Wouldn’t it be better to educate people about eating healthy, natural food in moderation and limiting portion sizes to ensure that they are able to stick to healthy choices in the future?

I understand the need for these diets to shrink the liver prior to surgery but, from what I understand, the main function of this diet is to severely limit calories in order to put the body into the stage where is it is burning its stored glycogen. So in theory, couldn’t this be acheived by just sticking to a healthy (albeit very low calorie) diet, rather than just lots of milk with added sugar free milkshake syrup and lots of Diet Coke?

My family member had terrible issues because, essentially, she tried to keep eating the exact same way she had for years, albeit she was physically unable due to the surgery.

Aibu? I am only asking because I care about my friend and I don’t want her to suffer like my family member did. I’m also worried about how she is going to cope at work if she is essentially starving herself (fainting, dizziness, etc). If anyone can educate me further I would really appreciate it!

From my understanding patients do that for around 2 weeks before. To reduce fat around vital organs. I think that the surgery causes such as drastic change in how you eat (or should) a few weeks of sweetener isn't going to have that big an impact.

It’s easier for people to stick to, as in, they know exactly what they can and can’t eat.

^ that is huge. Plenty good reason.

I did this for 4 weeks before a gastric sleeve and I could have had all the diet/sweetened stuff but after two days of mixing sugar free milkshake mix with my milk, I was hating anything sweet and craved savoury.
It also shrunk my stomach and made me really really rethink food.

It might have helped that I was in the "I'm making a real life long change" mode in my head but it put me in the right headspace before and knowing that if I cheated I could not try again made a difference.

Other people who had the same surgery did do a food version but struggled to change their views around what they could eat and really had a big blowout just before surgery.
My stomach had shrunk from just the liquids so didn't and felt better for it.