Meet the Founder of Oneka Bariatrics & Wellness, Part 2
Drs. Williams, Guthrie, and Greene continue their conversation with Dr. Shani Belgrave, MD, FACS, FASMBS, Atlanta bariatric surgeon and founder of Oneka Bariatrics and Wellness, picking up where Part 1 left off on bariatric surgery and obesity management.
This half of the conversation goes further into the surgical and treatment side of obesity management, building on the introductory context Dr. Belgrave gave in Part 1 about her practice and approach.
Together, the two-part conversation gives listeners a fuller picture of bariatric care than a single episode could, from Dr. Belgrave’s background through to the clinical detail of what obesity management actually involves.
Transcript:
Dr. Mironda Williams: Welcome to Take Good Care Podcast.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: An endeavor that grew out of our love for obstetrics and gynecology.
Dr. Karen Greene: Our aim and mission is to serve as a source of vital information for women of all races, ages, and walks in life.
Dr. Mironda Williams: I am Dr. Mironda Williams.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: I am Dr. Deanna Guthrie.
Dr. Karen Greene: And I am Dr. Karen Greene.
All: Welcome to our show.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Welcome to this episode of Take Good Care Podcast. I’m Dr. Mironda Williams.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: I’m Dr. Deanna Guthrie.
Dr. Karen Greene: And I am Dr. Karen Greene.
Dr. Mironda Williams: We are so excited today that we have a guest with us on today’s podcast, Dr. Shani Belgrave, who is a bariatric surgeon here in our area, as well as a wellness provider, and she’s going to help share with us a wealth of information. But before we get started with that, Dr. Belgrave, do you mind just giving us and your audience a little background about who you are, where you’re from, how long you’ve been in practice, where your practice is located?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Sure. It’s so good to be on the podcast. Thank you so much for the invitation. So as you said, I am Dr. Shani Belgrave. I also go by the Atlanta Bariatric Surgeon, and I’m the founder of Oneka Bariatrics and Wellness located here in Sandy Springs, Georgia. A little bit about me, I grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. I did my undergraduate and medical training at Brown University. I did my general surgery training at the University of Maryland, a minimally invasive and bariatric fellowship at the University of Washington. And I’ve been in practice since 2016. So I am very excited to be here and I’m very passionate about looking at health from a perspective of transformation, which is why I enjoy metabolic and weight loss surgery.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Awesome. Awesome. That just flows in so much with us. With this season of our podcast, we’ve adopted some pillars that we’re calling Take Good Care Pillars to just help us as we ask for additional experts to come into our virtual space, but also to try to hone in on that whole thing about transformation and taking care of the whole woman in our case as gynecologists. So those pillars that we are really focusing in on with this season of Take Good Care are, number one, body care, which of course flows in very well with your area of expertise, mind and emotional care, spiritual care, financial care, as well as life and relationship care. So we’re excited to have you with us. And I think Dr. Greene is going to kick off some things with some reflections and a couple of questions to get us going.
Dr. Karen Greene: Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Williams. Dr. Belgrave, when myself and Dr. Guthrie met you, I think you specifically talked about treating the whole woman. And I guess from a surgeon’s point of view, it’s nice to hear that perspective. And so I wanted to find out exactly what is your philosophy when you’re treating the whole patient?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Thanks so much, Dr. Greene. My philosophy is that people, especially from the perspective of medicine, we’re more than just our organ systems, that in order to help someone feel better and be healthy, we have to look at them in totality, not just their physical wellbeing, but their mental health and how they’re doing overall, because if you do an operation or you give someone a medication and you’re not accounting for what’s going on at home, what’s going on at work, why is it that you’re only sleeping four hours, you can’t really make any real progress and get any real lasting transformation.
Dr. Karen Greene: Awesome. Right.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Dr. Greene, I was so excited to talk to Dr. Belgrave. You know what I forgot to do?
Dr. Karen Greene: Turn on our lights.
Dr. Mironda Williams: I got to let the people know that we are live and on the air. Please carry on, Dr. Greene.
Dr. Karen Greene: In that vein and just talking about the whole woman, because we often say that for gynecology, you’re not just a vagina, but what is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received personally or professionally?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: I think that the best advice that I’ve received is that there are no limits and to keep going because I think that it’s important to dream big and to really try to live your life to the fullest. And in order to do that, I think the biggest thing is mindset because just by changing your mindset, you can really change your trajectory in both your personal and professional life. And so that’s what I really focus on, even with patients, is trying to encourage people to build resilience so that you’re always moving forward.
Dr. Mironda Williams: That’s amazing. Dr. Guthrie.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: We took on a rebranding a few years ago and we have just recently realigned our mission and vision and values. And so it was just so important what you said earlier about treating the whole patient. It just aligns with our mission where we say we are grounded in empathy, strengthened by education, built on connection to create a safe space for women. In that vein, what is one of the best or more memorable parts of your medical career that goes along with that?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Yeah. Well, it’s funny because looking back, I’ve experienced some significant career highs where I felt like, wow, the things I’ve dreamt of have come to pass, and that includes recently opening my own practice. But what really stands out the most isn’t a particular event. I think it’s really those moments where patients reach out randomly and say, “Hey, I’m down 150 pounds and I’m feeling amazing.” And it’s like that feedback, it just makes me feel so encouraged and it just reminds me that all the work that goes into providing care, I mean, that really is the highlight. I mean, that will make my whole week. Getting that DM or getting that comment on a YouTube video, I’m like, “Yes, that’s why we’re doing this.”
Dr. Mironda Williams: Awesome.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: Now, weight loss has its myths and things. What is a commonly held belief in weight loss that you don’t necessarily agree with, something that’s commonly said that…
Dr. Shani Belgrave: I had to shake my head because one thing that’s said commonly that I can’t stand is when people attach a certain shame to people that are on a weight loss journey, where comments will be made, things like they didn’t even need to do all that. All they needed to do was just eat a little less-
Dr. Mironda Williams: Will power.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: Push back on the table.
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Yeah, exactly. It’s frustrating because obesity is a chronic disease and people who have high blood pressure and diabetes, they aren’t shamed or stigmatized for being on a medication or for being a part of a program. But I find that many people who are on a weight loss journey, whether it be with surgery or with medication, that there’s a lot of stigma still about that. And so I think it makes it harder for people to feel comfortable seeking treatment for obesity.
Dr. Karen Greene: Most definitely. Even some of the… I’ve heard advertisements where they will send, “We’ll send you the weight loss things to your home so no one else will know that you’re on this weight loss journey,” because that’s essentially what it’s saying. And to be shamed for that is just not good.
Dr. Mironda Williams: No.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: It makes you feel like when you’re using an alternative method, that somehow you are weak, that you had to resort to this choice.
Dr. Mironda Williams: I really identify with that because I recently gone through a weight loss journey on my own using some assistance to medications and some other things. I lead a very healthy lifestyle, try to do all the things, but life is life, right? And I have certain genetic predispositions that can make things difficult. So when you’re talking to your patients and patients are coming into you seeking assistance with things on their weight loss journey, how do you explain obesity to your patients and where bariatric surgery may or may not be an option for them? How do you start that conversation?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Well, I always like to start off with finding out from them what they have experienced because many patients, they’re coming to you because they’ve already identified that their weight is an issue and they’ve tried different things and they need to do something because they’re not able to sustain their weight loss. And so I try to first get an understanding of what have you tried? What have you done? And then I always try to look at it from the medical perspective so that people don’t feel that they are being judged. And so the term obesity, I explained that it is just a medical definition. That’s all it is, and it is describing having excess body fat. We know scientifically that when you have a certain amount of excess body fat, the fat is not dormant. It’s actually secreting chemicals that cause a chronic state of inflammation in the body, and that this inflammation is what leads to a whole host of ailments, including high blood pressure, diabetes, and certain cancers.
So I like to focus on the fact that this is a medical issue so that people can open up and understand, you’right, this is a medical problem. And that opens the door to us talk about, okay, well, what are some treatments then since this is in fact a medical issue?
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: Awesome. And with body types, how do you counsel people? Because not everybody is going to be a size six or tall and slender or curvy. How do you have that discussion with a patient as far as expectations?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Absolutely. I always try to explain that what we are working on, it has nothing to do with aesthetics. I try to make that clear because some patients will say, “Well, I want to have a certain amount of this or that,” and they’re afraid of losing too much weight. And so the way I counsel patients is that body mass index, or BMI, is not a perfect tool, but that it’s a number derived from height and weight. And in most instances, a body mass index of 30 corresponds to obesity. And so I explain to patients that depending on how you’re shaped, we do have to factor that in because women oftentimes tend to carry their weight more in the buttocks, hips, and thighs, which is not as detrimental as when the weight is carried more in the abdomen. So I do explain those things, but still, I do try to explain that even though BMI is not a perfect tool, that we should still try to shoot to get weight within a certain range for their height. So that’s how I discuss that with patients.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Yeah, that’s so great. I love your perspective and how you’re forming things in your choice of words because one of the things we always try to do as well with our patients is we don’t want to inadvertently put up barriers to conversation and to having patients being open and feeling comfortable sharing whatever they’re sharing, as well as being open to whatever treatment options, whatever kinds of things we may suggest for them to do because they feel like we really heard them, they’ve been seen. And just having this conversation with you, I just love how you are being very intentional about making sure people understand we’re dealing with medical issues. We have goals that are going to help optimize your health. It’s not just about what you look like or what perception you think you should look like. So I so appreciate that. But can you also now start giving us some ideas about what are the different kinds of bariatric surgical options that may be available to patients? How do those things differentiate?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Absolutely. Right now, the two most commonly performed weight loss operations are the sleeve gastrectomy and the gastric bypass. There are others, but by and large, those are the two most common, and the surgeries are very effective. Bariatric surgery is the most durable and definitive treatment for obesity that we have. And so I always like to talk to patients about that, depending on their body mass index. Obesity starts at 30, and so I think a good time to really start at least having a consultation and discussing weight loss surgery are for patients that have a body mass index of 40 or greater, even if they don’t have a health-related problem, because we know at that weight they’re going to be predisposed to developing health-related problems. And then for other patients that have a body mass index of 35 or greater, especially if they have certain weight-related conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and sleep apnea.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Awesome. Awesome. Now, how do patients find you? So do you just work basically on referral basis? We will be sending people to you, but how can people find you? How is it that you are building your patient base so that patients who have an interest and need can do that?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Oh, thank you so much. I am letting people know that I am out here by, like you said, word of mouth and referrals, but also, patients are finding me on Google and from friends and family. The practice is located in Sandy Springs, and I’m very active on social media and on YouTube. So that’s another way that patients find me as well. But you many times don’t have to have a referral unless it’s an insurance requirement. You can always just give us a call or you can now book online. I now have online direct booking options right on the website.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: Oh, good.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Perfect. Can you give us that website information? And if you have an Instagram, YouTube, what are some of the ways that people can connect with you other than just Googling Dr. Shani Belgrave?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Yes. The practice is www.onekabariatrics.com. And Oneka is O-N-E-K-A. So it’s onekabariatrics.com. That’s the practice. Our phone is 470-250-0035. I’m also on YouTube as Dr. Shani Belgrave and Instagram as Dr. Shani Bellgrave.
Dr. Mironda Williams: That’s amazing. That’s wonderful. So we will definitely, as we’re coming up on a close for this episode, we’re going to continue this conversation. So please, audience, if you love what you’ve heard so far, make sure you check in and tune in to us for the next episode with Dr. Belgrave. She’s given you all of her contact information and we’ll make sure we tag that in all of our social media platforms. So please reach out to her.
Ladies, anything else before we wrap up this segment?
Dr. Karen Greene: I guess I just had one question. You have a symbol on your website. It looks like a Lotus. Is that what it is?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: It’s a Lotus.
Dr. Karen Greene: It is a lotus. That’s what I thought.
Dr. Mironda Williams: We have interesting lotus for various and certain reasons. We’ll tell you later. But I was also… The name of your practice, does that signify anything in particular? How did you come up with the name for your practice?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Yes. Oneka is a name. It has roots in both African and Native American culture. In African culture, it’s been associated with value, gift, and love. And in Native American culture, it’s been associated with water. So that’s why I named the practice Oneka Bariatrics and Wellness, because this is a practice that’s all about transformation and becoming the best version of yourself or the ultimate you. So I wanted a brand that was going to be aspirational and also placing importance on love, and in this case, loving yourself, and us as a practice, providing love to our patients.
Dr. Mironda Williams: That’s awesome.
Dr. Karen Greene: That’s wonderful.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Well, I think that’s a great place to end this particular conversation. We’re going to pick up with Dr. Belgrave in some different episodes. So please make sure audience that you stay tuned to Take Good Care Podcast with Rosa Gynecology. That’s rosagynecology.com. You’ll be able to find this episode, as well as previous episodes and all of our upcoming episodes of Dr. Belgrave there, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram. So until we meet again with the next episode of Take Good Care Podcast, I’m Dr. Mironda Williams.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: I’m Dr. Deanna Guthrie.
Dr. Karen Greene: And I am Dr. Karen Greene. Take good care.
Part 2 Transcript
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: Welcome to Take Good Care Podcast. An endeavor that grew out of our love for obstetrics and gynecology.
Dr. Karen Greene: Our aim and mission is to serve as a source of vital information for women of all races, ages, and walks in life.
Dr. Mironda Williams: I am Dr. Mironda Williams.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: I am Dr. Deanna Guthrie.
Dr. Karen Greene: And I am Dr. Karen Greene.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Welcome to our show. Welcome to this episode of Take Good Care Podcast. I’m Dr. Mironda Williams.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: I’m Dr. Deanna Guthrie.
Dr. Karen Greene: And I am Dr. Karen Greene.
Dr. Mironda Williams: And before I get us back to our wonderful guest who’s in the virtual space with us today, Dr. Shawnee Belgrave, I need to remind everyone that we are live and on the air. We’re picking up a wonderful conversation that we started with Dr. Belgrave on obesity management, bariatric surgery, and just some of the other issues that may come with that. Just want everyone, Dr. Shani Belgrave, if you could please remind our audience again of your name, the name and location of your practice and how they can reach out to you.
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Oh, thanks so much. My name is Shani Belgrave and my practice is Oneka Bariatrics and Wellness. We are located in Sandy Springs, Georgia. And you can always reach out to us online at www.onekabariatrics.com.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Awesome. When we left off with the previous episode, we were starting to get into some more specifics about bariatric surgery and some of the different kinds of procedures that can be done. But again, before we continue this conversation, I really just want to put out a disclaimer. Our platform, Take Good Care Podcast, is here to open conversations and to provide you access to experts in various fields, but we always want to encourage you to speak with your own providers specifically about any questions you may have about your own health journey, your own weight loss journey. And if you have specific questions that Dr. Belgrave can answer, please feel free to reach out to her on her website. She has online options that she can reach out to you and then she can answer some more specific detailed questions that you may have more directly. Let’s see. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got into bariatrics and wellness? How did you decide to go down this path as your field of expertise?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Sure. I did my general surgery residency because I knew that I wanted to be a surgeon, but I wasn’t for sure what kind of surgeon I wanted to be. It took some time. And then when I did my fellowship training in minimally invasive surgery and bariatrics, that’s when it really clicked that, yeah, focusing on bariatric surgery is the way to go for me because I saw the transformation that patients were having. And so it’s one of those fields in medicine where you can do a procedure and then you can see right before your eyes an amazing transformation unfold. And I really could not think of anything else like that in medicine. As a surgeon, I like doing an operation and seeing a result. So if I take out someone’s gallbladder and they feel better, you get that gratification like, “Wow, okay, we’ve done something here.” But with weight loss surgery, I feel that impact more because it’s like, “Wow, I couldn’t take my kids to the amusement park because I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t…” And then a year later, for people to be like, “Oh my gosh, we went to six flags.” I mean, those are stories that I still remember and that’s why I’m really happy I chose bariatric surgery.
Dr. Mironda Williams: That’s great. In the last episode, you started to give us some information about the different kinds of the two procedures that are currently being done most often. And that’s the gastric sleeve versus gastric bypass. Can you go into a little bit more the differences about those two procedures and why they are different?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Sure. With weight loss surgery, it’s bariatric and metabolic surgery. And so these operations, they work a couple of different ways. It’s not purely because the stomach is smaller. While there are some anatomic changes, there’s also changes in the hormones that also aid in the weight loss. So with the sleeve gastrectomy… And all these procedures are done using minimally invasive techniques, which means small incisions in a camera, and that can be laparoscopic or robotic. So with the sleeve gastrectomy, the way that one works is we are surgically removing about 80% of your stomach. So we take you from about a football size stomach to a banana-sized stomach. And so some of the ways that operation works is because the stomach is smaller, you get those cues of being full. So it helps with eating less. The stomach also makes a hormone called ghrelin, which is the appetite hormone. And so when a large part of the stomach is removed, the ghrelin level decreases. And so people have appetite suppression. Those are some of the main ways that the sleeve gastrectomy works. The gastric bypass… I always explain to patients that one of the main differences between a sleeve and a bypass is that in the case of a sleeve, we are only operating on the stomach. With the gastric bypass, we are operating on both the stomach and the intestines. And so with the bypass, we make a pouch out of the stomach. The larger part of the stomach remains inside the abdominal cavity. It’s just bypass. Food no longer goes to the larger part of the stomach. So food is held in a pouch and the part of the stomach that’s been stapled off to create the pouch and then we connect your intestines to the pouch. And so with the way that that rerouting of the intestines is done, because the intestines job is to absorb, when we do that rerouting, less is absorbed, and so by definition, it’s also malabsorptive. And so that’s the way that the gastric bypass works. And still with the gastric bypass, you have shifts in the hormones as well. So decreased ghrelin as well as increased GLP-1. So those are some of the ways that the operations work for weight loss.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Awesome.
Dr. Karen Greene: Interesting. We often see, as gynecologist, patients that have had bypass surgery and sometimes they’re not really sure what kind of surgery they have. We also see patients who want to have bypass surgery. And so how do you decide when you’re counseling a patient which procedure works best for which patient?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Yeah. I’m so happy you mentioned that because sometimes patients will come in and they’ll have an idea, “So-and-so had this or I saw that, that’s what I want.” And sometimes it can be patient preference, but I always tell patients that there’s some things that have to be factored in. For example, patients who have significant acid reflux that have to be on medication daily, those patients, I would say more likely than not would do better with a gastric bypass than a sleeve because sleeve gastrectomy does come with the risk of reflux, whereas gastric bypass is more of an anti-reflux operation, but that’s not a definite, but it’s just something when I’m counseling patients one way or the other. Another is patients that need to be on a lot of nonsteroidals, the NSAIDs, ibuprofen, Motrin. Those kinds of patients, I’d say probably the sleeve is going to be the better way to go because with the bypass, bypass patients really should not take those drugs on an ongoing basis because of the risk of ulcers where we’ve done the connection between the pouch and the intestine. So there are some unique things depending on the patient’s history and what’s going on, and also sometimes depending on how much weight they need to lose because there are some differences with the weight loss between different procedures.
Dr. Karen Greene: So in that entrance, in those instances, have you ever counseled a patient and had to tell them you’re not a candidate? And how do you make that decision? Patients, for them, it’s a big decision to even think about it. How do you ever counsel a patient to say, “his may not be the best idea for you”?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Yeah. The way I like to have this conversation with patients is I always tell patients, “My goal as your surgeon is to make you better. So everything is risk benefit.” So if I’m ever in a situation where I’m looking at their history and there’s certain medical things they have going on or certain prior surgeries that they’ve had where I think we’re probably taking more risk than we’re going to get benefit, and so for those reasons, I think maybe for use surgery or this particular surgery, it really is not the way to go. And I try to offer them alternatives because I think sometimes people really just want to get better. And so it’s like, “Well, I had that in my mind, but if you’re saying there are other ways I can get better, then let’s talk about that.”
Dr. Mironda Williams: That’s great.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: So in the process of having these surgeries done, are there any things that have to be done preoperatively before they have the surgery, like requirements that need to be completed?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Absolutely. I’m so glad we’re talking about that because this whole weight loss journey is a process and it’s a lifelong journey even after surgery. So I always try to let patients know, “There’s some things we need to do to get you to surgery and then you’re going to have lifelong follow-up.” But to get patients to surgery, typically we’ll do a consultation, then they’re going to also receive nutrition counseling. There’ll be a psychological evaluation just to screen for anything that might be an issue like binge-eating disorders or substance abuse problems, because we really want to set people up for success and also too so that someone can evaluate them to make sure they understand that this is a lifelong journey, that they’re going to have to take lifelong vitamins, things like that. Depending on their health, they may need additional tests. Sometimes patients will need a sleep study if there’s a concern that they may have sleep apnea. We’ll get some labs, EKG. So those are some of the things that we do before surgery.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: And then because for a lot of people, they see the transformation, what are some of the things that they have to give up when they have this surgery? Are there certain foods and things they cannot have after surgery? Because in their mind, when I get to where I want to be, I want to be the typical normal person and do whatever everybody else does.
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Yes. What I tell everyone is that surgery is an amazing tool. However, it’s only a tool. It’s not a quick fix. And so when you get the results, you are going to have to do certain things to maintain the results. And so there’s certain things like soda that cause the weight to come back, drinking sugary beverages, things that are high in sugar. And so lifelong patients really are going to have to be mindful that they are choosing the right foods because even though the surgeries are very effective, you can regain your weight if you’re not committed to maintaining the lifestyle changes that we are making along the way, which is really reducing sugars and healthier eating. I try to educate patients to really focus on protein and produce and minimizing processed foods.
Dr. Karen Greene: Which is good advice for everybody.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Everybody. I appreciate when you said it’s a tool because I’ve had either friends and/or patients who will come in and they’ll ask us about our opinions about GLP-1 medications, surgery, those kinds of things. And I think all of us tend to say they’re all wonderful tools, but there’s no magic. There’s not a magic button that they push to make you not want pizza or potato chips, or in my case, ice cream. It doesn’t make that go away, but it’s a tool to help you learn how to manage to develop those portion control and just selection options in terms of what you should be eating and drinking on a regular basis, surgery or no surgery.
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Absolutely. And that’s something I really focus on and emphasize is mindset because I had mentioned that in the last episode about life advice in general was mindset, and it applies to the weight loss journey, just making sure that you’re keeping the right mindset, this is a tool and you’re going to use your tool to get the best possible results.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: What kind of post-op support do you have for patients? Do you have an online community that they can encourage each other? What tools can you give them postoperatively to keep them on the journey?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Absolutely. I do a few things. Number one, the hospital has support groups that they are encouraged to participate in. And then from the practice standpoint, I like to do a lot of follow-ups. I’ll see my patients two weeks after surgery, then one month after surgery, and then three months post-op, six months, nine months, 12 months, and then annually at least once a year. And then in addition to that, I’m very active on social media, on my Instagram, Facebook, and I also host a bimonthly podcast as a way of staying connected and engaged with patients as well. And I have a dedicated weight loss management section of the podcast.
Dr. Karen Greene: Wonderful. Wonderful. So you take this journey along with them?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Yes. I feel like you get it. Yes. Oneka Bariatrics is all about partnering with patients on their journey. This practice isn’t about just doing the procedure because the procedure is a moment in time. It’s about walking with patients through their journey.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Absolutely. Anything else, Dr. Guthrie?
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: I was going to say, because I was going to just reiterate that because a lot of people get lost. Like you said, they go in and they think the surgery’s going to take care of everything-
Dr. Mironda Williams: It’s a magic pill.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: … and it’s the magic pill, but that whole what happens afterwards and how do I deal with this and how do I manage this travel, eating when I travel, cooking for my kids, that sort of thing. So it really does help when there is somebody alongside them to keep them.
Dr. Mironda Williams: And my partners actually met Dr. Belgrave at a gathering of sister physicians, sisters in medicine that happens periodically. And I think hearing this conversation is just a reminder of why we were so excited to introduce our patients and our audience to her, but also just to continue to partner because we’re looking for like-minded individuals who believe in… We’re a gynecologist, yes, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care about other aspects of your life as a woman in our case because we deal with women patients, but we really want to take a very holistic view of our patients. And so to hear you say that as a surgeon is great that it’s not just get you through 90 days post-op and then good luck with that.
Dr. Karen Greene: It’s nice just to follow up.
Dr. Mironda Williams: We appreciate that you are dedicated to staying connected and you’ve operationalized that in your practice in terms of how you make sure that your patients stay engaged. Now, there was one… We’re a gynecologist, so we assume all you take care of is women, but do you operate on both men and women as a part of your practice focus or how does that typically proceed?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Absolutely. I operate on men and women. Statistically, more women get weight loss surgery than men. So more of my patients are women, but I love taking care of the fellas as well.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Awesome. Awesome. And again, we began this episode with a disclaimer about making sure you check in with your own healthcare providers if you have specific questions, but with any surgery, there can sometimes be possible complications. So can you just give some of our audience some of just the general complication things that may come with this kind of surgery that always have to be kept in mind?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Absolutely. Complications, that’s one of the things that I like talking about because with bariatric surgery, only 1% of eligible patients end up getting weight loss surgery. And I think that’s because there’s been a myth that these operations are very risky. And so I’m very passionate about debunking that myth. While all operations come with risk, the safety profiles for the operations are excellent. There are a few kind of things that can happen in the acute immediate perioperative period that can be bleeding, infection. One of the more serious ones would be a leak or blood clots. Other things that can happen either at the time of surgery or at some point down the line would be bowel obstructions if you’ve had any kind of rerouting done. Other things that people lifelong should keep in mind is they can have vitamin deficiencies. And so that’s why it’s really important to have at least annual follow-up so someone’s checking your vitamin levels. But those are the main things that can happen that you should be aware of. It’s very important to be having follow-up with your surgeon so that if you have any complication, it can really be promptly diagnosed and treated.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Absolutely. That speaks to what we say as well with hysterectomy, is they’re very safe. The safety profile for surgeries now with the minimally invasive techniques and some of the advances in technology have really improved that safety profile, but sometimes things can happen, but staying in touch with your doctor, your surgeon and making sure that anything that is needed to be addressed is addressed properly can help minimize any long-term effects with any of that. Any other myths, any other things out there that you’re want to just bust up today while we got an audience, some more obesity myth busting going on here?
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Sure. I’m going to reiterate the one that we talked about on the first episode, which is that obesity is somehow a moral failure and that’s something that people need to be ashamed of. It’s actually a chronic disease and we kind of touched on it briefly that it’s multifactorial. While there is a behavioral component, there’s also genetic component, environmental. There are different things that lead to the problem of obesity. So that would be myth number one is that obesity is not a matter of willpower. It’s more than that. That was the first one. The second one that I like to dispel is the one we just talked about with surgery being very risky. Some patients have not told friends and family they were having the surgery because they were afraid of being told, “Don’t do that. It’s dangerous,” or I guess they had heard things from them that let them knew that they weren’t going to be supportive. And so I think it’s so important to do podcasts and things like this so that friends and family can be informed and can know that these surgeries are safe and they really are life-changing. So I think just trying to dispel that myth. Then the third myth is that weight loss surgery is a cosmetic procedure. Sometimes there’s people thinking that a sleeve or bypass is like a tummy tuck or something like that and they’re completely different procedures. With metabolic and bariatric surgery, we are actually operating on your gastrointestinal system as opposed to body contouring. So I think sometimes there’s a little bit of confusion out there as to what these operations are. So just a chance to say that these are not the same as a tummy tuck. They’re different.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Absolutely. I know our audience has been intrigued and this has just been great conversations we’ve been able to have. Dr. Belgrave is just an amazing person, as well as physician and surgeon. So please remind our audience again about the name of your practice and how they can reach you and all of your social media platforms if they can find you.
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Thank you so much for the opportunity to come on the podcast. I am Shani Belgrave, Atlanta Bariatric Surgeon and founder of Oneka Bariatrics and Wellness. Our website is www.onekabariatrics.com. That’s O-N-E-K-A bariatrics.com. On Instagram, you can find me there. I’m active on Instagram. My handle is Dr. Shani Belgrave. I am also on YouTube as Dr. Shani Belgrave.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Awesome. Amazing. Anything else before we get ready to wrap up this episode?
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: That was so great talking with you and learning.
Dr. Shani Belgrave: Thank you so much. It was wonderful to talk to you all.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Yes, yes.
Dr. Karen Greene: Yes, thank you again.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Our tribe and our community is just amazing.
Dr. Karen Greene: It’s growing.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Yes. And we love having the technology that allows us to be together even when we can’t physically be in the room. So once again, we want to thank all of our audience members, friends, family, patients for watching us again or listening to us if you’re listening on an audio platform of Take Good Care Podcast. Please continue to share us with your friends and family, especially this wonderful information that Dr. Belgrave has shared with us so that you can let your friends and family know about the wonderful, safe opportunities and an amazing physician in the Metropolitan Atlanta area who is available. So you can always find this episode and all of our previous episodes on our website at rosagynecology.com. That’s rosagynecology.com. And until we meet again for another episode of Take Good Care Podcast, I’m Dr. Mironda Williams.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: I’m Dr. Deanna Guthrie.
Dr. Karen Greene: And I am Dr. Karen Greene. Take good care.
