A.F.MomDiane,
I think when history looks back at our age- it will be the age of the knife and pill.
Two hundred years ago, they'd be bleeding us with leeches, and chopping off limbs, or maybe sequestering us in special places ( asylums?).
With the exception of bacterial infections (and not so much any more), there are very few diseases that are actually cured- they are either managed by pills, or chopped away by surgery. How many times have you heard of women that have their breasts removed because they have one of the BRCA cancer genes- only to have it turn up in their uterus or cervix, or lung- because it isn't really cured- mostly some of the symptoms have been alleviated.
Personally, I decided against having gastric surgery on 3 occasions. The first time was 30 years ago when they were chopping out part of your intestine. That surgery left you with vitamin deficiencies (because vitamin synthesis occurred in the part they removed- but the doctors didn't know that until people had the surgery and started to get bizarre vitamin deficiency diseases ), and chronic diarrhea. The second time was about 25 years ago when stomach stapling became all the rage- my doctor was pushing me to do it, but most of the banned foods were the very things I ate the most. Also, I am a volume eater- I am just as happy eating volumes of lettuce as volumes of Crispy Cremes- and eating little shot glasses of food just didn't appeal to me mentally. The last was when I was first diagnosed- the doctor told me about lap-band and roux n-y. I asked her if it would cure the diabetes- she told me no. It would make me eat so little that my sugar level would go down (You do have to eat protein first) and then as I lost weight, my insulin resistance would drop. Some of the food restrictions have changed- but not a lot. And I could even regain any weight I lost. One of her 'success' stories lost just 50 pounds- out of 200. If you ask me, some people are genetically programmed to be large, just like some are programmed to be small. I didn't think it was worth it.
My blood sugars are fine on a little metformin and Januvia, my blood pressure is fine, my lipid profile is fine. I am able to exercise. I can easily live on my diet plan for the rest of my life. I have always been large- by the time I was 3 years old, doctors were already putting me on diets. My mother didn't overfeed me- and she served good home cooked meals from scratch every day- lots of veggies and fruits from the garden. I did not eat more than my friends, and I still don't. I am not an emotional overeater, a boredom eater, an eater of calorie-dense foods- so why am I fat?
Once somebody can figure THAT out, and find a cure that really is a cure- I will be the first in line to receive the treatment. Until then, I will just be a beautiful, bountiful woman.
sandy