Obesity in America has reached epidemic proportions and instead altering the behaviors that resulted in obesity, an increasing number of patients are opting for risky bariatric treatment. Since the beginning of time there has been a simple formula for losing weight: eat less and exercise more. That's it.

But effective as that treatment is, it requires more discipline that most people can muster so they turn to "magic pills" offered by Nutri-System, Jenny Craig, and many others who are happy to take your money. Certainly many people have lost weight with these programs but the question you should be asking is whether or not these people were able to keep the weight off for an extended period of time or was it a flash in the pan - lost 20 pounds in 3 months and gained it back within a year? If you dig a little deeper, you're likely to find the efficacy of these solutions to be lacking long-term.

At least Nutri-System and Jenny Craig are not life threatening. Some overweight patients turn to bariatric treatments such as bariatric surgery and an alarming number of them are dying. Newly released statistics on patients who underwent bariatric surgery reveal that nearly 1 in 20 were dead within 12 months. Are you willing to take that enormous risk to shed excess weight?

Bariatric surgery is incredibly dangerous and you should consider the possible consequences carefully. Considering the number of bariatric surgeries performed each year is nearing 50,000, the number of deaths is in the thousands and that's no joking matter. The simple eat less and exercise more formula is more effective in the long run.

The capitalism of Americans is resulting in throwing common sense aside to make money. Doctors are in business to make money and they make a lot of money performing bariatric surgery. Whether it's really the best option or whether it's effective often become secondary considerations to making money. Some medical professionals even consider bariatric surgery barbaric. Do we cut off the heads of mentally ill patients they argue? No, of course not but we'll remove entire sections of people's digestive tracts so they might possibly lose weight.

You can't totally blame the surgeons though. Ultimately the patients are the ones electing bariatric treatment through life-threatening surgery. It's inexplicable why patients would risk their lives when all they really need to do is stop eating as much and start exercising more. But it's much easier and quicker to get bariatric surgery and the society we live in today wants results now regardless of the cost.

Still, it's a fact that major surgeries mean huge profits for the parties involved with the surgery which includes hospitals, surgeons, and anesthesiologists too. It's estimated that 3 of 5 heart bypass surgeries are done without medical justification and the numbers may be even worse regarding bariatric surgery. Consider alternative bariatric treatments before you choose to allow surgeons to cut out part of the vital organs and tissues you were given at birth. Considering thousands of years of human evolution, there's a good chance you were given these vital organs for a reason - because they are necessary for the proper functioning of a healthy human being. Bariatric is alarmingly similar to barbaric, isn’t it?