I'm sorry to have to disagree Jedswife. Whether he looses weight through gastric bypass or LC'ing, the speed at which he loose will be similar. The surgery does not make him immediately better; it simply forces him to eat small portions of LC food. Good results could potentially be achieved just as well with LC'ing, without having to butcher his insides.

But of course, doctors don't recommended Atkins for kids. It's not good for growing kids they say. Much better to chop up their stomach. Even if the long term consequences of WL surgery are unknown, it's got to be better than that "fad" diet.

It's thinking like that, that has totally turned me off doctors. I was forced to realize that, educated and intelligent as they are, they are still relying on facts "everyone knows". Everyone knows that Atkins is bad for you; therefore WL surgery is safer than Atkins. And that's giving them the benefit of the doubt. Worst case scenario is that they push WL surgery because it's so damn lucrative.

When I watched Supersize me, there was a scene that stayed with me. A man was about to have WL surgery. Turns out that he would drink 1 gallon to 1 1/2 gallon of soda each day. He was diabetic (duh....really?). The surgeon said proudly "Gastric bypass is the only known procedure to cure diabetes". Maybe it's just me, but I noted the careful use of the term "procedure". Technically he's right. What he carefully didn't say was that LC'ing cured diabetes as well, only it's not lucrative like "procedures". What made me sick is that people hearing that will immediately assume that WL surgery is the only thing that cures diabetes. Clever bit of marketing there.