Anyone who is awake knows that fried food is not a healthy dietary choice. A high-fat diet is believed to be a contributing cause of diabetes, heart disease, overweight, and obesity. But Americans continue to fill their plates with fried foods because we’ve developed a taste for them and because food manufacturers make products that taste good and are affordable.
Overweight individuals who have undergone bariatric weight loss surgery to control their weight are encouraged to follow a high-protein, low-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. This has been shown to work effectively with weight loss surgery to reduce and control weight over long periods of time. Living in a world where high-fat foods are ever present, the surgical weight loss patient is often tempted to indulge in fried foods, thinking that small amounts of fried foods won’t negatively affect their diet or health. However, eating fried foods, even in small amounts, can have catastrophic consequences for gastric surgery patients.
In general, fried food is bad for us simply because of the nature of its nutritional makeup. Consider this: A 6-piece serving of chicken fried steaks contains 401 calories; 16 grams of protein; 8 grams of fat; 57 grams of carbohydrates. The FDA estimates this at 3 1/2 starch/bread servings and 1 lean meat serving. It’s easy to see how much of an “obese nation” we’ve become when you consider that many children are switching from bottles to fast-food fried chicken pieces.
These nutrition facts indicate that chicken fried steaks are a high-fat carbohydrate. When a person who has undergone gastric malabsorptive surgery, such as gastric bypass, eats carbohydrates that are high in fat, they are at imminent risk of dumping syndrome. Gastric dumping syndrome, or rapid gastric emptying, is a condition in which ingested food bypasses the stomach too quickly and enters the small intestine largely undigested. The syndrome is most often associated with gastric malabsorption surgery, specifically gastric bypass surgery. The symptoms of dumping syndrome can manifest immediately after eating or within three hours after eating. Symptoms can include nausea, vomiting, bloating, cramps, diarrhea, dizziness, and fatigue. Symptoms go away as insulin levels return to normal. Many patients who experience dumping find comfort lying down or drinking fortified water or energy drinks served at room temperature.
Dumping syndrome is not only physically uncomfortable, it can be unpredictable and embarrassing. Many patients experience profuse sweating that can be embarrassing and difficult to explain to those unaware of the condition. At other times, a patient may become confused and disoriented, which may look like intoxication or diabetic distress to someone unfamiliar with the signs and symptoms of dumping syndrome.
Therefore, the consequences of eating fried foods after gastric weight reduction surgery are twofold: immediate risk of dumping syndrome and long-term risk of weight gain and the diseases associated with a high-fat diet.
Gastric surgery patients, specifically gastric bypass patients, can successfully avoid dumping syndrome by eating a diet of carefully selected lean proteins combined with fresh, low-glycemic fruits and vegetables. Patients are instructed to avoid simple sugars, simple carbohydrates, and high-fat carbohydrates and to avoid drinking fluids with meals. At the start of weight loss surgery, patients are instructed to follow a high-protein diet after surgery.