At first we are told that we absorb half of all our intake of food, vitamins and such. Is that still true 2 yrs our or more???? I mean if I am taking in 1200 calories a day what is my body absorbing!

Thanks!

Good question Paige. I look forward to the answers :)

I'm looking forward too Buffy...not sure I know, but I have heard that our bodies possibly "adapt" to their new way of life..I think I heard this @ a wls seminar a few years back (went with a friend). After all that's why WLS is called a "TOOL"...I am not sure that the Drs REALLY know the answer to this...they can speculate...well maybe they know now, BUT they didn't 5 yrs ago...

BTW, Paige, you were talking to me, right???? (I am a smart one, after all!) lol!

the fast and easy answer is that it appears we absorb most or all the calories but never fully adapt to absorbing the vitamins,minerals and nutrients.

I will comment on this later when I am not at work.

Ok no one else has answered so either I got it right or ?

Here is what I have found out after my long search on nutrition as someone who desired to be an endurance athlete. I think all of us have discovered that our bodies have no trouble absorbing the calories contained in the foods we eat as we gain weight just as easy as the rest of the population. Yet we have trouble when it comes to the vitamin and minrals. I would guess that this has as much to do with the way our system has been replumbed as it does with the way the elements are extracted and absorbed. It seems that the calorie content of the food is a simple process and is absorbed quickly before it has left the pouch and shortened intestine. It also seems that the vitamin and nutrient content being more complex does not get absorbed effectively in our system with its modified reconstruction.

As far as our bodies adapting over time I beleive they do to a certain extent. They adapt to many things over time and in my case it was a good thing. I honestly feel that because I pushed my body so hard athleticly that my body ended up tolerating foods and supplements that prior would have caused me to dump severely. Until my body did adapt I was having a very hard time completing even training rides for the events I was trying to do. As it is I have to eat and drink more often when riding than most or I suffer greatly. I can tell also that I am absorbing vitamins more effectively but part of this is because of the type of supplements my nutritionist has me use while training. Some of them are high in vitamins and electrolytes and vitamin B in many forms is one of them. So the only way I can explain my ability to consume the carbs I do to compete is that my my body has adapted to cosume what it needs. I still have to work harder at it but I have found a way that appears to be succesful. The down side to this is that I also have to be sure that I am burning more calories than I am consuming(which holds true for everyone) my diet is very structured but I have difficulty adjusting it sometimes when my training is interupted.

Dont know if this answers your question or not but hope it helps.

Gosh Damon...thanks for doing all of the typing. Whew!

I'm late getting here to this thread, but I had asked the same question to my WLS nutritionist and she said, basically, the same thing.

We had a thread on this that Kaye started a while back...let me see if I can find it!

O Yes Ameila I was talking bout you ya know it lol...........BUt thanks Damon I know in the beginning I remember hearing that we only absorbs have our nutrients I just assumed it was the food to but I so notice we can gain weight so I knew that wasn't so. And as for the vitamins I still OD on those so I was just wondering. I can swallow pills now as long as there not over the size of say an advil. If they are I mis in withshakes or whtever. I still do the chiclren chews and all cause I know I am 2 yrs out but stuff still gets hung and that is the worst feeling so I stil chew chew chew. I guess it's a good thing means I have done well at not stretching my stoma out. Other day I took a tylenol thinking would be ok, I was laying in the flor at work sretching cause it felt like it was sideways in my stomach stuck, gah I had that LOL............But again Thanks!!!!!

The body does adapt over time to absorb more nutrients in any type of gastric or bowel resections.

The villi in the intestine---hair like structures that are responsible for absorbing nutrients---undergo hypertrophy--meaning they become thicker---thus they absorb more readily

but you do have to remember that vitamins and minerals require certain environments to be absorbed in the first place

examples:

• iron must have an acidic environment--hence most of us take it with vitamin C
• some vitamins must have fat to be absorbed--A,D,E,K--without fat--they pass on through
• calcium carbonate requires an acidic environment also---hence we should always take calcium citrate
• calcium and iron counteract each other---so we should never take them at the same time

Another really interesting post for this pre-op newbie to read, especially about the type, sequence, and combinations taken to promote absorbtion.
I'm sure there must have been some discussion of liquid vitamin supplements along the way. I know they can be pricey but are they absorbed any better than solid varieties?
Thank you

Nana--
I've had severe issues in the past with malabsorption---vitamin levels being too low--oter med levels off ---so I go with liquids in everything---if I can find them---others do fine with what they are taking

your lab work is the true test

I have a blog post about Nutrient and Medication deficiencies after weight loss surgery---I have pdf file of the article I cited from Medscape if you are interested

if so pm me your email and I can send it to you....

Thanks for asking this question Paige.
And Damon... wow... sounds reasonable.
Sure appreciate your diligent answer!

I found this a very interesting subject since I am still pretty new to all this. I never thought about not absorbing calories. I just assumed that eventually I would absorb them normally so I shouldn't count on not absorbing them now.

bama,
Thanks for the info. It will help me in deciding if I'm taking things in the right combinations.
jeanie