Surgery is supposed to be the ultimate shortcut when it comes to weight loss: Let the doc put you under, and when you wake up you’re on your way to a brand-new body.

If only it were that simple.

Now, the FDA is finally starting to crack down on the companies that promote one of the most common weight-loss procedures, the adjustable Lap Band that squeezes the stomach so you can fit less in it.

When your stomach holds less, you eat less… and when you eat less, you lose weight.

For many people, that’s all they need to hear. If their insurance covers it, they’re on their way to a new life that’s a lot more difficult than any of them ever would have guessed.

That’s because while the billboards and TV ads promise quick and easy weight loss, they don’t really talk about risks. And they barely even mention that this is a major surgery with serious side effects, up to and including death.

In some cases, the Lap-Band needs to be adjusted. Some patients need two or more surgeries before it’s on right, and they face the risks of complications each time they go under the knife.

Once the band is in place, patients often experience difficulty swallowing, severe and miserable heartburn, and nausea.

Although the FDA’s recent warning was specifically directed at a series of clinics offering Lap-Band in Southern California, those warnings could have been directed at clinics across the country. Because no matter where you live, odds are you’ve seen signs and heard ads that conveniently leave out those very real risks.

And believe it or not, this is actually one of the “safer” forms of weight-loss surgery. Other procedures, such as gastric bypass, promise more dramatic results — but come with even more risks, including an even higher risk of death than the Lap-Band.

So forget surgery. You can do a better job on your own anyway — and as I told you a couple of weeks ago, it starts with just two days a week of an easy-to-follow low-carb diet. (Read about it here.)

Start with two days a week — but don’t end there. Turn that two-day lifestyle into an everyday habit, and you’ll lose weight the right way… and enjoy all the benefits of a thin, new you without the risks of surgery.

The mainstream is finally ready to admit you can beat diabetes without meds — too bad they’re still on the wrong
track!

Two new studies point to supposed cures for this disease that involve extreme and dramatic changes: in one case, an
ultra-low calorie diet that borders on starvation… and in the other, a risky surgical procedure.

In the first, researchers put 11 diabetics onto a diet of just 600 daily calories — all in the form of diet drinks and non-starchy vegetables.

After a week, morning blood-sugar levels had normalized — but the torture didn’t stop there. This went on for three
whole months (making me wonder just who they recruited for this study).

In any case, the researchers claim seven of the diabetics were cured, according to the study in Diabetologia.

And if three months of near-starvation isn’t extreme enough for you, another group of researchers is standing by with a study pushing stomach-shrinking surgery.

Their analysis of nine studies finds that 83 percent of gastric bypass patients were able to quit diabetes meds after surgery, along with 62 percent of those who underwent gastric banding.

But here’s the dirty secret about weight-loss surgery: In addition to a high risk of complications ranging from severe bleeding problems to kidney failure, the procedures aren’t very effective in the long run.

Many people who undergo these surgeries ultimately regain some or even all of the weight — even with a surgically
shrunken stomach.

The only reason it looks so good in the new review is that some of the studies in it followed patients for as little as a year — which is no time at all when it comes to diabetes.

Look at the long-term numbers, and it all falls apart: In one study included in the Archives of Surgery analysis, two-thirds of diabetics “cured” through surgery eventually lost control of their blood sugar in the decade following
the procedure.

Luckily, you don’t need to starve yourself or suffer through a dangerous surgery to beat this disease — just a commitment to a sugar-free, low-carb lifestyle.

Many diabetics who make a real and permanent switch dramatically reduce their need for drugs — and some no longer need any meds at all or even insulin.

Don’t wait for a diabetes diagnosis for this cure – make the change today, and you’ll avoid the disease in the first place.

I’m not done with diabetes yet — keep reading for disease risk where you might not expect it.

It’s no secret–diabetics can often win complete control over their condition by simply losing weight and watching what they eat.

So long, meds… and goodbye, insulin. It’s as easy as that.

But now, an Associated Press report shows how some diabetics who won’t lose weight the right way–through diet and exercise–are now reaching out for an extreme alternative: weight-loss surgery.

And this dangerous shortcut isn’t reserved for the fattest of the fat anymore.

In fact, some diabetics who turn to stomach surgery barely put a strain on the scales. They’re among the functionally overweight, people who are really just a few good months of reasonable eating away from a normal, healthy size.

And that’s just frightening.

At least one new study on the impact of weight-loss surgery on diabetics is recruiting patients with BMIs as low as 27 –-right in the middle of the “overweight” category, and nowhere near the “obese” range, much less the high levels of obesity you typically see in candidates for the procedure.

Diabetics are being led into operating rooms by doctors and surgeons who say there’s more to controlling the disease than just good dieting. These doctors–who collect huge fees for each stomach they shrink–claim that the surgery itself may cause a change inside the body that leads to normal blood sugar control.

One theory is that the newly bypassed digestive tract can help control the hormones that regulate blood sugar. In other words, they want you to believe that the expensive, dangerous surgery can do something that healthy dieting can’t.

But tens of thousands of diabetics who’ve lost weight the right way beg to differ. They’ll tell you the truth– because they didn’t need surgery, just a firm commitment to healthy lifestyle changes.

Many of them are now completely free of any sign of diabetes, and no longer use meds. And if they can do it, so can you–because a good diet can do more than help you lose weight. It can teach you how to eat.

Many patients who opt for surgery, on the other hand, never learn that lesson and wind up eating smaller portions of the same bad foods, more frequently. Others turn to high- calorie items like milkshakes.

And then, the weight starts coming back.

Surgery only works if you commit to a radically different lifestyle afterwards. But as long as you’re planning to make changes anyway, do yourself a favor and skip the surgery in the first place.

Learn to eat right. The weight will come off more quickly than you think… and then, you can take control of your diabetes–and maybe even bid adieu to your meds.

Your body will thank you. Your pharmacist, on the other hand, might not.

Obese folks considering weight-loss surgery might feel reassured when they choose a hospital that’s been labeled a “center of excellence.”

The truth is, these hospitals are no better than any other when it comes to complications and even deaths, according to a study published in a recent issue of the Archives of Surgery.

The study looked at 19,363 patients, 5,420 of whom had their procedures done at those so-called bariatric surgery “centers of excellence.” This is a label slapped on hospitals by a group called the Surgical Review Corporation after the place meets the group’s guidelines and sends out a check for the privilege.

Researchers found that 0.17 percent of the patients in these centers of excellence died, versus 0.09 percent in the other hospitals.

They also found 6.3 percent of the patients in the centers of excellence developed complications, versus 6.4 percent in the supposedly non-excellent hospitals.

If those numbers don’t look all that different, it’s because they’re not. It’s a statistical tie. Yet many insurers will only pay for procedures in hospitals given the “centers of excellence” designation.

The simple fact of the matter is you don’t need to choose between these different kinds of hospitals. Gastric bypass surgeries and similar procedures are potentially dangerous and often traumatic.

And in the end, the patient will need to learn the same sensible eating habits that would have kept him out of the operating room in the first place.

When it comes to weight loss, there is one recipe for success, whether you need to drop a spare tire or a whole car.

It means re-learning what you think you know about food. I have come to call it the Torture Chamber Diet. It is filled with low-fat foods that are high in carbs (sugar). These foods will, in the long run, only make you fatter and less healthy – and if you need any proof, just look around you at what a couple generations of “low-fat” dieting has produced.

Too often, people who opt for weight-loss surgery step out of the operating room and right back into “the torture chamber.”

Instead, focus on eating better and getting more exercise. Avoid those carbs, processed foods and “low-fat” foods. Eat sensible portions in balanced meals that include healthy fats and proteins along with fresh vegetables.

Keep at it, and you’ll lose the weight. I can guarantee it. Not only that, but you’ll learn a better way to live too.