Healthy alternatives to bariatric surgeries

  • Published
  • By Airman Cortney Hansen
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  Active-duty Air Force Global Strike Command servicemembers are eligible to receive elective surgeries at their own expense upon approval of their squadron commander and the Medical Group commander.

An elective surgery can be defined as a surgery that is chosen by a patient and deemed beneficial but not essential.

"If you can choose when you want it, how you're going to get it and where you're going to get it, it's considered an elective surgery," said Lt. Col. Dale Grey, 341st Medical Operations Squadron commander and chief nurse.

In accordance with chapter 3 of AFI 44-102, bariatric or weight-loss surgery will not be approved for any active-duty member under any circumstances.

"You wouldn't be able to sustain in a deployed environment because when you get a banding or stapling, you're taking a stomach and reducing it to a very small circle," Colonel Grey said. "You're MRE wouldn't fit in there, and plus you would have to eat so many small meals a day. It's just not conducive to a deployment. Bariatric surgery shouldn't be a quick fix. It should be a well thought-out process."

There are healthier ways to lose weight without receiving bariatric surgery, and the best way to do that is to eat a healthier diet that consists of fewer calories and to exercise more.

"I believe there are three steps to losing weight: set a goal - a realistic one, plan to exercise and eat healthy consistently," said Kirk Clark, an exercise physiologist at the Health and Wellness Center. "The only long-term weight loss solution is to decrease calorie intake and increase calorie output."

The Health and Wellness Center provides various alternatives to weight loss surgeries.
"We offer a class called the Right Weigh which offers strategies to help change people's lifestyles and create a calorie deficit," said Jacqueline Maillet, a health promotion dietician at the HAWC.

The HAWC also sponsors the Largest Loser program which is a program designed to help Team Malmstrom lose weight, and gain education on healthy weight loss solutions. The 2011 Largest Loser program's registration will take place at the HAWC Jan. 26-28 with the initial weigh-ins beginning Jan. 31 and continuing until Feb. 2.

"Before even considering bariatric surgery you should ask yourself some questions," Colonel Grey said. "Have you eliminated all the natural ways of losing weight without going to surgery? Have you changed your eating habits? Have you increased your exercise? Things like that."

Bariatric surgery is only one of various ways to lose weight, so members are encouraged to find motivation to lose the weight naturally instead of resorting to a "quick fix" for a weight loss problem.