Al Roker Gastric Bypass Surgery: A Celebrity Diet?

Al Roker gastric bypass surgery is one of the latest in a long lost of celebrity weight loss surgery attempts that have made the news and have raised awareness about obesity surgery. Roker, a weatherman and Emmy-award-winning broadcaster on NBC, has been very frank about his battle with obesity in the few years since his own gastric bypass operation. In fact, Roker has repeatedly written about it, spoken about it on television, and has even incorporated healthier meals into his food shows as a result of his experiences.

Roker has become increasingly concerned about the wide-spread phenomena of obesity in our society, especially among children and young adults. In an effort to raise awareness, Roker has used his own celebrity to draw attention to obesity surgery in general and to gastric bypass operations in particular. Through news reports, Roker has described both restrictive and malabsorptive obesity in his news reports. Restrictive weight loss surgery reduces the size of the stomach so that patients can consume less food while still feeling hungry. In bypass or a malabsorptive operation, the stomach is attached to the lower part of the smaller intestine, so that food’s caloric and fat value is less absorbed by the body. Most people - including Roker himself - who have obesity surgery have a combination of the two types of surgery. Roker has been very frank in outlining the risks and drawbacks of the weight loss surgery.

Although Roker lost significant weight through his own surgery, he has often noted in his reports that the obesity surgery is really just the beginning of a lifelong commitment to better health. Although patients do lose wight quickly with weight loss surgery, they must have a true commitment to conquering obesity in order to prevent a regaining of some of the weight after the operation.