FDA Assisted Bulimia: Agency Approves Aspire Bariatrics to Fight Diabesity

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An image of a young woman on her knees throwing up in a toilet.
Diabesity refers to the poor health impacts of obesity and diabetes together. The global epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes are significant public health crises. Diabesity is also a frustrating, seemingly hopeless condition for approximately 350 million people globally. There is a SANE answer to the diabesity epidemic, but nothing is more inSANE than what Aspire Bariatrics wants to do about it – and to you, if you let them.

Aspire Bariatrics has designed the AspireAssist to help you and millions of people like you lose weight. All you have to do is let a surgeon implant a tube in your stomach, so you can pump your breakfast or lunch, or dinner right into the toilet. This is no joke. And what’s even more inSANE is that the FDA has approved it for obese individuals who have had no success losing weight with non-surgical methods.

Would you choose something as inSANE as this Aspire Bariatrics device to lose weight and reduce your risk of diabesity, when there is a SANEr way?

Aspire Bariatrics: helping or hurting diabesity?

AspireAssist is an invasive procedure in which a tube is surgically implanted through the abdomen, above the belly button, into the stomach. The tube is connected to a “port valve” that patients can open to drain food. Twenty to thirty minutes after a meal, the patient hooks a pump to the port valve and drains and dumps the food into the toilet.

The process takes just 10 minutes and removes as much as 30 percent of the calories just consumed. Does this sound suspiciously like bulimia to you? If so, you’re not the only one who thinks so.

Is Aspire Bariatrics promoting bulimia?

Critics fear that Aspire Bariatrics has created a device that may trigger eating disorders because they say AspireAssist mimics bulimia. Bulimia nervosa is a serious, often life-threatening eating disorder. Those who suffer from bulimia may eat extremely large amounts of food and then get rid of it by self-induced vomiting or using laxatives. This is called the binge/purge cycle, and it is a psychological condition that is difficult to break.

Bulimia is also a compulsion that can be triggered by a variety of factors, and a bulimia-simulated device, such as AspireAssist, might just be the thing that pushes millions of these individuals over the edge. In “Comparative Effectiveness Review No. 160”, published in Management and Outcomes of Binge-Eating Disorder, researchers discovered that binge eating could be as high as 25 percent in those who had undergone bariatric surgery.

Is it that much of a stretch to believe that AspireAssist, a device that lets patients “throw up” through a tube rather than through their throat, would trigger a bulimia outbreak while not doing anything to help the diabesity epidemic?

Critics angry at Aspire Bariatrics and the FDA

Critics are angry at the FDA and at Aspire Bariatrics. Many believe this device will lead to eating disorders, and AspireAssist is little more than “mechanized bulimia.” Of course, the FDA says Aspire Bariatrics’ new creation shouldn’t be used on people who have eating disorders. But will those with eating disorders care what the FDA says? Or will this device actually cause people to develop an eating disorder who wouldn’t have done so without the assistance it provides? Are we willing to take that chance?

Aspire Bariatrics triggering eating disorders?

Eating disorders are psychological conditions with serious physical and emotional symptoms focusing on body image and weight. They are not a dieting “choice” but a serious, life-threatening illness.

The most common eating disorders include:

  • Anorexia nervosa (voluntary starvation)
  • Bulimia nervosa (binge eating and then purging)
  • Binge-eating disorder (binge-eating without purging)

Upwards of 30 million people in the U.S. suffer from eating disorders, and it affects both genders. Eating fewer calories than your body needs, or eating and then purging it all up, can affect every organ system in the body. Common health consequences of eating disorders include:

  • Electrolyte imbalances
  • Irregular heartbeat
  • Blood sugar fluctuations
  • Constipation
  • Kidney failure
  • Anemia
  • Bloating
  • Dehydration
  • Heart failure

Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, with at least one person dying every 62 seconds from this disorder.

Simple triggers of eating disorders

The causes of eating disorders are complex and unique to each patient, which makes the disorder especially difficult to treat. There is a genetic component to many eating disorders, which can then be triggered by specific circumstances. For instance, some young women develop eating disorders after being teased and bullied in school about their weight. Others, like the late Princess Diana, told author Andrew Morton that her bulimia was triggered when her then-husband made an offhand joke about her becoming a bit “chubby” a few weeks before their Royal wedding engagement.

Living in this thinner-is-better culture, confronting a weight stigma around every corner can also spur their intense desire to be thin until one day, they purge their dinner, and it feels so good. They’re in control. This is something they can do. They may not be able to control anything else in their life, but they can control their food intake and their weight.

This perceived lack of control and the need to regain control, many experts believe, is one of the biggest triggers for eating disorders. But there is another one. Research has shown that having a history of dieting can lead to binge-eating disorders, and many people who suffer from anorexia report that their disorder began with an attempt to strictly restrict their caloric intake (crash dieting).

Knowing this, can the FDA and Aspire Bariatrics really think that this “vomiting-assist device” couldn’t cause or intensify eating disorders?

Aspire Bariatrics ignores critics

That’s exactly what they think. Aspire Bariatrics says their device will not lead to eating disorders in part because patients have to chew their food too thoroughly to binge. The tube is about the size of a straw, so if they don’t chew their food enough, the food will get stuck in the straw.

Aspire Bariatrics says there are benefits to AspireAssist other than the draining/dumping/bulimic ones. They say this device makes patients eat slower because they have to chew so long; as a result, they feel full faster, which may make them eat less food. They also get tired of chewing and stop eating.

There are some risks involved

There are some risks to this procedure, however. The port valve can cause infection because…well…you’ve got a gastrostomy tube leading from your skin to your stomach. The tube can also leak. Other risks include bleeding, nausea, vomiting, and sores inside your stomach.

These are all risks to your health that also actually do nothing to reduce your risk of diabesity.

Is this Aspire Bariatrics device worth it?

In clinical trials of this device, which lasted just one year, participants lost an average of 12 percent of their starting weight. That’s not much when you consider that this is an invasive surgery. You have a tube inside your stomach, allowing you to “purge” your meal into the toilet, which will not lead to impressive weight loss. Plus, it’s probably not going to do that much to prevent diabesity. Is it really worth your time, trouble, or dignity?

In addition, no one knows the long-term effects of AspireAssist because, of course, they didn’t test it thoroughly enough. The FDA thought that a small clinical trial of only 17 participants was enough to give their approval to something that will have little effect on either weight loss or diabesity while perhaps triggering eating disorders.

Do you really want to pump food out of your own stomach after every meal? Are you ready to risk infection of your abdomen and stomach area? Is chewing each bite of food for ten minutes or more something you really want to do?

And here’s the most important question:

Do you want this inSANE Aspire Bariatrics device, or would you want something a lot more SANE to help you lose weight and keep it off?

Time to end diabesity and the dieting inSANEity

Diabesity has reached epidemic proportions worldwide. The Centers for Disease Control reports that about 90 percent of those who are obese will develop diabetes. It is a disease that comes with a number of health complications, such as heart disease, kidney failure, blindness, high blood pressure, and nerve damage.

Obesity is the biggest risk factor for type 2 diabetes, and yet, despite this threat, the obesity rate worldwide keeps climbing. Why? Haven’t we been told about the health complications of obesity and diabetes? Of course, we have. You’d have to have lived in a cave the past couple of decades not to hear doctors on daytime talk shows, and news programs talk about the risks of obesity and diabetes – and now, diabesity.

And what did you do about it? You tried to lose weight, of course, …over…and over…and over again. You’ve probably been on more than 20 diets, but none of them lasted long. On some of these diets, you were hungry all the time and weak. You were grumpy and craved carbs all the time. You lost weight, sometimes a LOT of weight, but it took a lot of suffering to accomplish. When you finally fell off the diet, you gained all the weight back incredibly fast – plus an extra 15 pounds.

You’re tired of the dieting rollercoaster, but you don’t know where to turn. One place you don’t want to turn is Aspire Bariatrics. It will neither help you lose weight permanently nor prevent diabesity. There is a SANE Solution that will help you safely and easily lose weight, without hunger, without counting calories, and without having a tube surgically implanted in your stomach.

An image of a young smiling blond woman holding a small chalkboard that reads "YES."

The SANE way to fight diabesity

If you blame yourself for not being able to lose weight or feel guilty or ashamed or any other negative emotion about your body – STOP. You are not in any way to blame for your condition. Obesity is a disease, just like diabetes or heart disease. It was not caused by your lack of willpower or laziness, or gluttony.

Science has proven beyond doubt that obesity is caused by hormones that are not functioning properly. Forget what you learned about counting calories. Here’s how it really works:

  • Your hormones send signals to your metabolism that you need to burn or conserve energy to maintain or burn your fat stores.
  • The quality of your diet affects your hormones.
  • If you eat a poor-quality diet, your hormones do not send proper signals to your metabolism. This elevates your setpoint, making your body think it needs a higher amount of fat to survive.
  • No matter what you do, how many diets you try, or how much weight you lose up front, your body will always try to go back to your setpoint weight.

Change the setpoint, lose weight easily, fight diabesity

The only way to permanently lose weight and keep it off is to lower your setpoint weight. You do that by eating high-quality diet foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. Choose plants that you could gather and meats that you could hunt. Cut out starches, processed foods, and sugars as much as possible.

This will reprogram your setpoint and metabolism to burn fat like a naturally thin person.

No effort, no hunger, no diabesity

Best of all, you won’t be hungry. You see, many studies have shown that eating SANE foods is so much more filling than inSANE foods that you will feel pleasantly full while unconsciously eating fewer calories! That’s because SANE meals are filled with water, fiber, and protein, which are very satiating. You will also stay full longer.

They are real foods, too. You’ll eat high-quality, mouth-watering proteins, such as salmon and ham, chicken, and grass-fed beef. Chow down on a variety of non-starchy vegetables — carrots, asparagus, broccoli, celery, and more – or whip up tasty and hormone-clearing green smoothies. Enjoy a variety of whole-food fats, including coconut, cocoa, and chia seeds. For an occasional snack or dessert, eat a few strawberries, blueberries, or other low-fructose fruits.

The calories you do eat from high-quality foods will heal your body and clear your hormonal clog, making it do what it was designed to do – regulate your calories for you. Yes, calories are a factor in weight gain and loss. But your body counts then, not you! As soon as you heal your hormones and lower your setpoint by eating SANE foods and living a SANE lifestyle, your body will regulate your calories, and you’ll never have to think about your weight again.

Savoring your food. Feeling pleasantly full. Losing weight easily and effortlessly without counting calories or even thinking about them. That’s a lot better than having a tube surgically implanted in your stomach. Wouldn’t you agree?

Wouldn’t you rather be SANE than inSANE?

Next step: Avoid Aspire Bariatrics and fight diabesity With SANE

There is much more to the SANE lifestyle. Getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night, reducing stress, staying hydrated, and performing eccentric exercises are other important factors in lowering your setpoint.

Ready to finally break free from the yo-yo dieting rollercoaster that can lead to diabesity? By balancing your hormones and lowering your body’s set-point weight, SANE is the solution you’ve been dreaming of.

Want to know the exact foods and serving sizes scientifically proven by over 1,300 peer-reviewed research studies to boost metabolism, burn fat, and enjoy virtually effortless weight loss like a naturally thin person?

Begin your exciting journey to lasting, healthy weight loss today. Download the free SANE metabolism boosting food list, cheat sheet, and “Eat More, Burn More” weight loss program by .