Welcome to Weight Loss Diet - Information on Chicago weight loss surgery

At first, Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. joked about how he managed to shed more than 60 pounds.

"I got shots in the butt once a week for three months to boost my metabolism," he told a Chicago newspaper.

Then after weeks of speculation, Jackson revealed that he had weight-loss surgery. Contrary to some sources, he did not undergo a gastrointestinal bypass. Instead he had a laparoscopic Duodenal Switch (DS) procedure.

The dynamic young politician who represents Illinois' 2nd Congressional District recently spoke to JET and explained why he had weight-reduction surgery.

Having headed to Congress in 1995 at 220 pounds, Jackson says that his weight continued to balloon. His 5-foot-9-inch frame was carrying more weight than his knees could stand. At his heaviest, mid- last year, Jackson was nearly tipping the scale at 260 pounds.

"I had been on every conceivable diet," says Jackson, who at JET press time weighed 184 pounds. "I worked out twice a day with martial arts. Much of what constitutes a correct lifestyle I had been living. I'd been working on eating correctly. Nothing was translating into weight loss. As a matter of fact, I was getting bigger. The more I worked out. The bigger I got."

As the father of a daughter, Jessica, 5, and a son, Jesse III, 19 months, he had an increasing concern for his health as well.

Jackson reveals that he suffered from sleep apnea, which last year contributed to the loss of the life of 43-year-old NFL great Reggie White. On March 11, Jackson pointed out, that he turned 40.

Sleep apnea is a condition that repeatedly interrupts breathing during sleep and sometimes produces an irregular heartbeat. Over the long term it can lead to high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems.

"This is a critical age," explains Jackson, "where African-American men who are not at their ideal Body Mass Index (BMI), fat to muscle ratio, are having heart attacks."

He continued, "I want to be around for (the kids') formative years. Obviously, I'd like to be a father who is responsive to the needs of growing children with energy."

With sleep apnea and the resistant pounds, Jackson says, "I felt it was time I sought professional help."

Jackson had the laparoscopic DS procedure on December 13.

This minimally invasive laparoscopic technique involves removing part of the stomach and rearranging the intestine so that less food is absorbed. A small incision, about 3 inches, is made in the middle of the stomach at the bellybutton.

The DS is a combination of restriction and decreased absorption. To assist in preserving adequate nutrition, a daily multivitamin tablet is prescribed.

Robert A. Rabkin, MD, FACS, developed the laparoscopic DS in 1999. The average cost is roughly $30,000.

Rabkin performed Jackson's surgery last year at San Francisco's Pacific Laparoscopy, where Rabkin serves as director.

Laparoscopic surgery involves operating through small incisions using a long slender camera and lens system to view the internal organs. It allows for a quicker recovery time, less pain, and minimal scarring.

"Patients are generally out of bed, walking around that night of surgery," says Rabkin. "They stay in the hospital 2-4 days. When they go home, we expect that they are running around and doing everything they normally do other than we don't want them to do stomach crunches. But they can get on an exercise bike and we do encourage them to exercise."

Rabkin performed the same procedure several months earlier on Jackson's sister, singer Santita Jackson. Pacific Laparoscopy is one of the few programs worldwide to offer this laparoscopic technique. It has the largest series in the world of laparascopic DS patients.

Those who instantly qualify for this weight-reduction surgery often have a BMI of 40 or higher; this would place such a person in the Morbid Obesity III category.

Jackson's BMI was 37, which placed him in the Obese II category. Sleep apnea was the "co-morbidity that pushed my Body Mass Index over 38," says Jackson. "And while I carried the weight not like someone who qualified as morbidly obese, there was no doubt in my mind or my doctor's mind that I was obese."

Rabkin says that a person qualifies for the laparascopic DS "if the body mass is over 40. If the Body Mass Index is only 35 to 40, they are still a candidate if they have diabetes, sleep apnea or some other life-threatening condition."

While many wonder why Jackson would take such a drastic measure by having weight-reduction surgery, he maintains that the procedure is "not just weight loss surgery" for him.

"The surgery itself completely cures the sleep apnea, which you can die from," says Jackson. "I don't want to mislead people into thinking my new 'weight-loss thing' is not to be on a diet or not to do exercise but just to go to surgery.

"This is not the fountain of youth here. This is not, 'I can't fix my problem. Let me go have surgery.' No, this can help, but the goal is the long-term maintenance and the correct lifestyle that is associated with it."

After Santita underwent the procedure, Jackson says he decided to do the same, even though he thought about weight-loss surgery many times before.

"The procedure and process that I had was the same that my sister had," explains Jackson. "She's lost about 170 pounds and is still losing. I told her that I was looking at some form of surgery before we were able to convince her that she needed a quantitative and qualitative lifestyle change. She basically led the way. I felt ashamed to tell members of my own family that I was thinking the same thing."

Shedding the extra pounds has made Jackson feel and look like a new man.

"Now I can do martial arts much more efficiently. Yoga. I can stretch much better now," he boasts. "My joints don't hurt. My lower back pains are gone. Taking 60 pounds off my knees has completely changed everything. My appearance. I can wear a hat. I can wear hats that I couldn't wear before. My head has shrunk. My neck has shrunk."

He says that weight loss for him has been both physical and psychological.

"One of the things that I've even considered is that people who are overweight are discriminated against in our society," says Jackson. "And I didn't appreciate it until I lost weight. With all the compliments that I get from people now, I'm like, 'Well, what did you think about me before?'"

Jackson says that he has been "personally" taking a lot of his friends to meet his doctors.

"I'm an advocate now for forthright conversations about weight and health. I have friends who are clearly prosperous, but too big and undisciplined, and they will not be here long. I'm not holding my tongue, saying, 'I'm going to their funeral,' and then cry and say, 'I should have told them.'"