There are thousands of vitamins and supplements to choose from, but are they good for you? In this article you’ll learn how to analyze any vitamin supplement to see if it’s right for you after bariatric surgery.
If you’ve had bariatric surgery you already know you need to take your vitamins. Everyone in your entire world has told you that a million times.
Your surgeon told you, your nurses told you, your dietitian told you — EVERYONE has told you. But being told “you need to take vitamins after bariatric surgery” really isn’t helpful. The intentions are good – they want you to realize you need vitamins.
Bad Advice:
“Take vitamins after bariatric surgery”
Why is this bad advice? You ARE supposed to take vitamins after bariatric surgery, right?
The problem is that all vitamins are not created equal, and not all vitamin products are designed to serve everyone’s individual needs.
Vitamins: Substances that your body needs to grow and develop healthily.
But how much?
“Take vitamins” is an incomplete directive to ANYONE, especially bariatric patients, plus vitamins come in numerous forms and quantities…
“Take vitamins” could mean 10 IUs of Vitamin D, or it could mean 3,000 IUs of Vitamin D. In both scenarios you’re technically taking vitamins, get it?
There are many types of specialty vitamins
There are prenatal vitamins, adult vitamins, senior vitamins, women vitamins and, yes, bariatric vitamins.
All of these different subcategories are designed to serve a very specific population.
For the purpose of this article, we’ll zero in on Bariatric Vitamins. Bariatric Vitamins are specifically tailored to meet the needs of bariatric patients. After bariatric surgery your body has needs, and those needs are different than non-bariatric people.
So what makes a vitamin product a “bariatric vitamin product?”
Unfortunately, the label – if a company wants to call its product a bariatric vitamin they can, there isn’t any certification for bariatric vitamins. So that’s unfortunate but true. You need to know that there are companies out there trying to trick you into buying their products.
What makes GOOD Bariatric Vitamins?
The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) has contributed in a massive way to help you in this regard. The ASMBS has published a series of nutritional guidelines over the years which serve to act as your baseline recommendations for vitamins and minerals after bariatric surgery.
Here’s what they’ve most recently determined is adequate:
The values for each vitamin and mineral is what all bariatric patients should strive to meet for their total daily vitamin and mineral intake.
Normally all of these nutrients in those correct amounts can’t be captured in one single supplement. It will typically require several different supplements to hit all of these targets.
That’s what makes Bari Life’s Complete Formulas (Tablet and Powder) so unique. Truly everything that bariatric patients need for vitamins and minerals to prevent deficiencies can be found in one single bottle…
Why should you care about bariatric vitamins?
Short answer: Because they are the key to your long-term health after bariatric surgery.
If you don’t follow a vitamin regimen that complies with the ASMBS Guidelines you will probably develop a vitamin deficiency. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.
Vitamin deficiencies happen to thousands of patients every year and when they develop they are not always reversible. Take Osteoporosis, or thinning bones, for example. Osteoporosis is a disorder that can be a side-effect of a calcium deficiency. There is evidence that Osteoporosis is not entirely reversible, so once it sets in all you can do is slow it down.
How does Osteoporosis form? When bariatric patients do not receive enough calcium through diet and supplementation that doesn’t change the fact that the body needs calcium to function. It needs to get it from somewhere.
So if there isn’t enough through diet and supplements, where can it look next?
Bones.
Your bones are chock-full of calcium and they are ripe for the picking. When there isn’t enough calcium from diet and supplementation it’s possible that your body will pull calcium from your bones and treat them like a calcium repository.
You’d never know this is happening, by the way…
There are no externally visual signs that your bones are thinning, you don’t look different and in the early stages, you won’t even feel different. So how do patients figure out that they are developing this disorder? Normally when they have an accident and they break a bone (or many bones).
What about regular blood work?
You should get your blood levels checked at least once a year, but labs won’t always detect a calcium deficiency because your body is getting calcium from your bones, remember? So everything can look perfectly fine from a calcium standpoint.
Take Amy for example, a Bari Life customer. She was on Bari Life’s Complete Formula for a while but then she wanted to try some other options. After doing some research she settled on a new supplement that had no calcium whatsoever, but she didn’t check.
3 years later Amy had a terrible accident. Going into her 4th surgery her orthopedic surgeon actually couldn’t perform the repair that he had planned on. Unfortunately, the surgeon was not able to do the repair because her “bones were mushy” as he put it.
Her bones were not structurally stable enough to make the repair due to the Osteoporosis.
Before her accident, Amy thought she was doing what she was supposed to in order to keep herself healthy. She thought her new vitamins were good for her…
It wasn’t until her accident that she realized she’d been neglecting her calcium.
Prevent deficiencies with a Regimen Check
Evaluating your bariatric vitamin regimen can be complicated and hard work because just about every company out there wants you to think they are the best. It’s confusing and you don’t know who to believe.
The ONLY way to make sure you’re keeping yourself healthy and fending off vitamin deficiencies is to do a Regimen Check. In a Regimen Check, you need to compare what you are currently taking (total amounts of every nutrient) to the ASMBS Guidelines.
If that sounds daunting, don’t worry. Below we are going to give you the tools and show you how to execute a complete Regimen Check using two very easy methods.
Method #1: Manual Check
In a manual check, we are going to take to pen and paper.
Step 1: Download the Vitamin Worksheet below
Step 2: Gather all of the vitamin supplements you take right now
Step 3: Fill in each field for every single vitamin on the worksheet for Supplement #1, Supplement #2…etc.
Step 4: Add up each row to find the total amounts of vitamins you’re getting from your whole regimen
Step 5: Match against the ASMBS Guidelines in the final column.
Free Vitamin Worksheet Template
First, you need to print out the Vitamin Worksheet and gather all of the supplements you take. Next, you need to pull the values of each nutrient from each supplement and add them to the right nutrient in the respective column for each supplement.
Once you’ve done that add up everything across the row so you can match your Total Regimen against the ASMBS Guidelines.
If something doesn’t match and your totals are low in some levels either talk to your dietitian or look online for bariatric supplements to fill that weak point in your regimen.
The Result: You identified a weak spot in your regimen that could be causing a vitamin deficiency to develop!
Method #2: Bari Life’s Online Vitamin Calculator
In Method #2, you get to kick the pen and paper to the curb because we’re going to do all the math for you.
Bari Life’s Online Vitamin Calculator is the only bariatric vitamin evaluation tool in the world. It’s super simple to use and it does all the math for you.
Once you’re in the calculator all you have to do is enter in all of your values from all of your supplements. Once you’re done with entering in all the necessary information at the click of a button a report is generated that will reveal your entire regimen.
We make it painfully clear where you need to add vitamins to your regimen. You can then print out your report and show it to your dietitian if you need some help.
Click here to get started:
Whether you use the manual method or the online method it’s extremely important that you set aside just 10 minutes to do this simple exercise. Your health is heavily dependent on getting the right nutrients after bariatric surgery so do yourself this one favor. Either download the manual worksheet or go to the Online Vitamin Calculator and get on the right vitamin regimen.
Best Bariatric Vitamins to Meet the ASMBS Guidelines
The best bariatric vitamins should make it as easy as possible for you to meet all of the ASMBS Guidelines. That means every single nutrient. What a lot of supplement companies will do is say that they “Meet the ASMBS Guidelines for Multivitamin.” What they mean by this is for the values contained in a multivitamin, the levels match the ASMBS Guidelines. They forget to mention that they have zero calcium or zero iron…etc.
In order to stay healthy post-op you need a complete formula.
Bari Life’s flagship products are its Complete Formula products. This means they have everything you need inside to meet the ASMBS Guidelines. No additional supplements are needed. When you have a one-bottle solution you save time and money and you gain peace of mind and confidence that you’re giving your body the nutrients you need.
The Complete Formulas are available in an easy-to swallow tablet form or a powder that you mix in water.
We also have a Complete Duo that meets your bariatric vitamin needs after gastric bypass and vertical sleeve gastrectomy surgery. The Complete Duo is made up of two products:
- Just One: A bariatric multivitamin with iron (does not include calcium) to cover all of your multivitamin and iron needs. Gastric Bypass and Vertical Sleeve patients take one (1) non-chewable vanilla scented tablet to get all multivitamin and 45mg iron each day.
- Note: This tablet (Just One) is similar to the all-in-one bariatric vitamin tablet formula except Just One doesn’t have the calcium. That’s why you only have to take one (1) of these. When you take the all-in-one tablet formula you have to take six (6) tablets because that formula also includes all of the calcium you need. When you take Just One you get your calcium from the second product in the duo….
- Note: This tablet (Just One) is similar to the all-in-one bariatric vitamin tablet formula except Just One doesn’t have the calcium. That’s why you only have to take one (1) of these. When you take the all-in-one tablet formula you have to take six (6) tablets because that formula also includes all of the calcium you need. When you take Just One you get your calcium from the second product in the duo….
- BariBursts: Watermelon flavored Calcium Citrate chews are paired with Just One to give you the complete bariatric vitamin formula after your Vertical Sleeve or Gastric Bypass surgery. You need to take three (3) BariBursts to get 1500mg calcium citrate each day. If you prefer to only use one product and only open bottle to meet all of your bariatric vitamin needs then we recommend our all-in-one bariatric vitamin powder or tablet formulas from above. Shop the Complete Duo below:
In the End, It’s Your Health — It’s Your Responsibility
No matter how well you think you are doing with your vitamins you can never be too sure. Deficiencies happen even if you are taking all the right types and amounts of vitamins.
This is why the importance of getting your blood levels checked annually cannot be overstated. Get your labs checked every year. Period.
Bariatric vitamin deficiencies are easy to prevent but very difficult to treat. So stop them from developing in the first place by auditing your own vitamin regimen to make sure you’re taking care of yourself and take some time to evaluate your vitamin regimen now.
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What’s your take on bariatric vitamins? Let us know in the comments below!
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I would love to take the “Just One” vitamin, however I don’t need the iron. Is it possible to create this vitamin minus the iron. I would be happy to take one tablet vs the 5 I take everyday. Thank you for the worksheet. I will definitely use it.