ST. CLAIRE SHORES — Dr. Abdelkader Hawasli, the director of Laparoscopic Surgery and the Minimally Invasive Surgery Center at St. John Hospital, pioneered laparoscopic removal of the gallbladder in 1989. Since then, the procedure has saved lives.  

There was no fellowship available for resident physicians in advanced laparoscopic surgery before Hawasli started one. 

“What I learned over the years is going to die if I don’t give it to others,” he said. 

Now the weight loss formula RuTein he invented is helping turn lives around. RuTein was first given to Hawasli’s patients in 2010. RuTein is FDA approved and contains only vitamins, minerals and protein. 

Hawasli created the product after some of his patients started complaining about liquid diets that were too high in calories. He thought about what he could do to help patients who weren’t finding the right liquid diet lose weight. 

“We said one thing we don’t find in a lot of these products is a vitamin supplement,” Hawasli said.  “A lot of patients actually have difficulty getting the vitamins in their diet. We integrated the vitamin in the product and made it taste good, because when you put vitamins in something it tastes bad; so we had to work to make sure it tastes good. Some of the vitamins we increased, because we know Michiganders are low on vitamin D.” 

Many of Hawasli’s patients are expected to lose 10 pounds of belly fat two weeks before surgery, so they use RuTein. The liquid diet is also used by patients four weeks after surgery to help them recover from procedures and weight loss. 

RuTein is a protein powder meal replacement. Those using it are expected to replace three meals a day with one scoop of RuTein and eight ounces of skim milk or light soy milk. They can also have two small lettuce-only salads with light dressing or oil and vinegar and one light yogurt. Patients can have a cup of coffee and for extra calories, they can add whole milk, ice cream or fruit. For additional protein, they can have peanut butter. 

When mixed with low fat milk, one cup of RuTein provides 23 grams of high quality whey protein. One cup of RuTein is only about 150 calories.  Three servings of RuTein provides nearly 100 percent of the daily value of all your vitamin and mineral requirements. 

The protein powder can be purchased in both chocolate and vanilla. 

Hawasli, a Syrian American, was born in Damascus. His father was a surgeon and introduced him to surgery when he was only in high school. 

He has does at least 1,500 procedures called sleeves and bans and performs about 15 to 20 surgeries a day. 

Throughout his career, Hawasli has been on the leading edge of other laparoscopic minimally invasive procedures.  He was the president of the Michigan Society of General Surgeons and the president of the Michigan Chapter of the American Society of General Surgeons. He has been on the teaching staff at St. John Hospital since 1985. 

 “I love teaching; I love knowledge,” he said. “I love to help others and I feel satisfied when I see a patient smiling afterwards or a family member saying ‘thank you saved my life’ or ‘you saved my mom’s life.’ It is a rewarding thing.”

Some patients have lost about 40 pounds taking the liquid diet. It has been used and is available as a weight loss option to the general public online at Amazon.com. It has been purchased by people who just want to lose weight. 

Many of Hawasli’s patients who want to maintain their weight loss continue to replace a meal with the RuTein once or twice a day and eat one or two regular meals. Some of Hawasli’s patients have continued having one or two shakes a day for years. 

“If you put the body in starvation mode it will remember that and that is what is called the yo-yo dieting, Hawasli said. “You hear it a lot. ‘I lost weight and I gained it back again.’ Really, for patients to lose weight and sustain it they have to get into a routine.”

He said the name of the product is RuTein, because it means people have to do things in the same way all the time. 

The bariatric surgery Hawasli performs is restrictive, so that means patients only have a very small area to fill in their stomachs and they have to get their protein so it is easier for them to get that with a meal replacement liquid option. RuTein is taken by patients at St. John Hospital and Beaumont Hospital. 

“If you want to fit in a dress two weeks before the wedding, you take two weeks of this and you lose 10-15 pounds, Hawasli said. “The way you lose it actually is because it is protein based.”

Hawasli finds his job rewarding. 

“To transform to a person who was once giving up and now full of life is rewarding,” he said. “Through surgery, a lot of people are able to lose weight and look younger, change their eating habits, they change their dress type. They just want to enjoy life now. You see the results day in and day out. You see the smiles on their faces. One of the patients said I got my life back. That is what you get from these operations to keep you going.” 

To contact Dr. Hawasli’s office call 586.774.8811.