writegirl
Work in Progress
Well, I had my NUT appointment with Dr. Boyce's nutritionist and then a "what to expect/do/not do from one of his surgical nurses. A few things stood out. First, the nutrition guidelines for the DS patients has (finally) been updated (apparently they're still re-educating the surgeons on this) by the NUTs to acknowledge the higher protein and fat needs of the DS patient. In fact, the paperwork in the folder they gave us has not been "updated" to reflect the power point information given by the NUT. Some of you may recall that when I first met with the surgeon, I was told that BPD-DS patients required 60 grams of protein a day. Of course, now I know that is not at all the case. Well, today the NUT gave this rundown:
For BPD-DS and SADI patients:
>90 grams of protein in Phase I at or by 1 month visit, for both men and women, this needs to increase to at least 100-120 grams of protein by Phase IV.
It was funny because one of the other patients said "That's not what I was told in my consultation" and the NUT said "We're going to need to speak with Dr. Boyce again about this and she kind of shrugged, "But these are the updated guidelines."
The fat intake advice still needs a bit of tweaking, imo. The NUT advises <30 grams of Fat in Phase I "for all patents" and "slight increases for BPD/SADI patients through each phase to Phase 4."
They are requiring us to remain in Phase I for one month and Phase II for 4 weeks, Phase III for 2 months, and Phase IV is for 4 months and beyond.
Of course, they want to push the Bari-life supplements and foods and want me on it for 4 weeks prior to surgery. I ordered the multi-vitamin for BEFORE surgery only and the powdered multi for the few weeks just after surgery before I'm cleared to start taking pills. Then I am switching to the Vitalady regimen.
The thing that irritated me the most during this visit was the vitamin recommendations. Our NUT said that she actually went to a conference recently and they unveiled a published study on bariatric patients and the use of the BariLife vitamin regimen and that there is "definitive evidence that patients who use the BariLife vitamins are having fewer incidents of deficiencies."
In her defense, when questioned about that a bit she said "The thing is when and if there is a deficiency, we can adjust for that." I just don't know how they can adjust for it since she never said how. I am assuming she means by prescribing additional supplements. No mention of what happens if levels are too high in any area. No mention of differences in vitamin needs between each surgery other than advising DS patients to take (8 tablets or 3 scoops) as opposed to RnY and VSG (6 tablets and 2 scoops).
I also bought one week of the food stuffs, but I will probably not be buying more of it (unless I love them). I would rather make my own broths and cream of wheat add some Unjury to amp the protein than eat only this packaged stuff. Plus HELLA expensive!
All in all, I found the NUT advice on protein intake to be "close" to what the DS veterans advise, but the NUTS still need some convincing about the Fat intake advice. The vitamin coverage is wanting. If they are going to quote a study, I wish they would have provided it for us to read. Baby steps?
For BPD-DS and SADI patients:
>90 grams of protein in Phase I at or by 1 month visit, for both men and women, this needs to increase to at least 100-120 grams of protein by Phase IV.
It was funny because one of the other patients said "That's not what I was told in my consultation" and the NUT said "We're going to need to speak with Dr. Boyce again about this and she kind of shrugged, "But these are the updated guidelines."
The fat intake advice still needs a bit of tweaking, imo. The NUT advises <30 grams of Fat in Phase I "for all patents" and "slight increases for BPD/SADI patients through each phase to Phase 4."
They are requiring us to remain in Phase I for one month and Phase II for 4 weeks, Phase III for 2 months, and Phase IV is for 4 months and beyond.
Of course, they want to push the Bari-life supplements and foods and want me on it for 4 weeks prior to surgery. I ordered the multi-vitamin for BEFORE surgery only and the powdered multi for the few weeks just after surgery before I'm cleared to start taking pills. Then I am switching to the Vitalady regimen.
The thing that irritated me the most during this visit was the vitamin recommendations. Our NUT said that she actually went to a conference recently and they unveiled a published study on bariatric patients and the use of the BariLife vitamin regimen and that there is "definitive evidence that patients who use the BariLife vitamins are having fewer incidents of deficiencies."
In her defense, when questioned about that a bit she said "The thing is when and if there is a deficiency, we can adjust for that." I just don't know how they can adjust for it since she never said how. I am assuming she means by prescribing additional supplements. No mention of what happens if levels are too high in any area. No mention of differences in vitamin needs between each surgery other than advising DS patients to take (8 tablets or 3 scoops) as opposed to RnY and VSG (6 tablets and 2 scoops).
I also bought one week of the food stuffs, but I will probably not be buying more of it (unless I love them). I would rather make my own broths and cream of wheat add some Unjury to amp the protein than eat only this packaged stuff. Plus HELLA expensive!
All in all, I found the NUT advice on protein intake to be "close" to what the DS veterans advise, but the NUTS still need some convincing about the Fat intake advice. The vitamin coverage is wanting. If they are going to quote a study, I wish they would have provided it for us to read. Baby steps?
