Yesterday I received an invitation to attend a vegan cookery-cum-lunch session being held for a charitable cause.  Is it fashionable or healthy to be a vegan?  It’s certainly a healthy trend but if it has to be fashionable to be healthy, so be it.

A vegan is one who avoids all animal products – clothes, foods, accessories, furnishings, etc.  I’m not sure how many people in this world or in India are completely vegan, but I know a lot of people are followers of vegan food habits.

A vegan diet eliminates all animal foods – meat, poultry, fish, egg, dairy, animal fats and sometimes even yeast.  So many non-vegetarians and vegetarians who take dairy products in their diet wonder if a vegan can be well nourished.  Fortunately, vegans do get all the nutrients from a variety of plant foods like cereals, pulses, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices.  The only nutrient lacking in a vegan diet is vitamin B12.  This can be obtained thru supplements.  A vegan’s diet can be very healthy, if all the foods are taken in the right proportion. Studies have shown that vegans who eat right have lesser chance of getting lifestyle-related diseases like adult diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, etc.  It’s also easier to shed weight with this diet.

Try it sometime for a few days and you might feel the difference.

Bariatric surgery, aka weight loss surgery, sometimes called metabolic surgery, is becoming more common these days than where it was 10 years ago.  Bariatric surgery is done in 4 different ways but sleeve gastrectomy (where a slice of the stomach is removed to reduce its size) is being used more frequently now.  A shrunken stomach holds less food than a normal sized one.  So it goes without saying that food intake is much reduced and as a result, weight plummets down.

Bariatric surgery is performed on obese patients of BMI (Body Mass Index) more than 35.  More recently, doctors have observed that bariatric surgery where gastric bypass method is used, not only brings down excess weight but also reduces or reverses diabetes.  Somehow the pancreas seem to function effectively after the surgery and this brings down the blood glucose levels.  However, more cases need to be studied before it can be advised as a routine procedure for diabetic patients.

If your BMI is greater than 35, and your looking to lose weight and keep it off permanently, bariatric surgery can be one of the options.  There would be life-long dietary restrictions after bariatric surgery.  Think about it, discuss with your family members and speak with a bariatric surgeon before you decide to have a bariatric surgery.