Bariatric Surgery Can Help Extend Lives

Research has proven that weight loss surgery is an effective treatment option for obesity and obesity-related health complications. However, certain characteristics that patients display before surgery may affect what type of success they can expect from bariatric procedures.

Weight loss surgery can help morbidly obese people lose a significant amount of weight, but it can also improve their health. People who undergo bariatric surgery lose 50% or more of their excess weight. While the average excess weight loss is about 50%, younger patients are more likely to lose enough weight to reach a BMI that puts them within the range that’s considered normal, which is between 18 and 25.

In addition to helping shed excess pounds, weight loss surgery, including gastric bypass and gastric banding procedures, has been proven to help resolve Type 2 diabetes, GERD, high blood pressure, and asthma. Compared to the health benefits of bariatric surgery, the risk of death or serious complication following surgery is relatively low. Age and pre-operative BMI seem to correlate with individual risk for complication; people who are younger and have a lower BMI before surgery are less likely to die or suffer from serious complications.

As with any operation, there are inherent risks associated with weight loss surgery, including infection and death. The overall health of the patient before surgery can help physicians assess the overall risk and potential benefit. In general, the healthier a patient is, the less risk and more benefit they are likely to experience as a result of weight loss surgery.

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Healthy Eating for Women

While it’s important for both men and women to eat a healthy, balanced diet, women have unique health needs that change as they age. Learn about special nutritional guidelines for women’s health.


3 Diet Tips for Better Women’s Health

  • Eat Plenty of Iron-Rich Foods. Women can be more susceptible to low iron levels because of their menstrual cycles or other problems with iron absorption. Getting plenty of iron is key to good health and high energy levels. Good sources of iron include red meat, chicken, turkey, pork, fish, kale, spinach, beans, lentils, and fortified breads and cereals. Whenever possible, combine plant-based iron sources (such as spinach, breads, and cereals) with Vitamin C for better absorption. For example, put strawberries on top of your fortified cereal or add orange slices to your spinach salad.
  • Load Up on Folic Acid During the Reproductive Years. Folic acid helps decrease the risk of birth defects. Experts recommend getting at least 400 micrograms of folic acid a day if you’re pregnant or may become pregnant. Citrus fruits, leafy greens, dry beans, and peas naturally contain folate. In addition, you can find folic-acid fortified foods like cereals, rice, breads, and pizza crust.
  • Calcium, Calcium, Calcium. Calcium is vital for strong bones and preventing osteoporosis in women. Ideally, you should get your calcium from a variety of food sources every day. Calcium-rich foods include low-fat milk, yogurt, cheese, sardines, tofu (if made with calcium sulfate), and calcium-fortified foods like juices and cereals.

 

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Stronger, Leaner and Healthier

You probably already know that exercise is good for you. Getting regular exercise can improve your health and help you mange your weight. But did you know that strength training is just as important as aerobic activity in an exercise program?
Strength Training-It’s Not Just for Body Builders

To some people, strength training and weight lifting are reserved for people interested in bulking up. Some people even avoid working with weights because they’re afraid of getting “bigger” as they build muscles. The truth is, everyone can benefit from strength training, even if you have no interest in looking like a body builder.

4 Benefits of Strength Training:

  • Preserve Muscle Mass. Strength training isn’t just about building lean muscle mass; it also helps you keep what you already have. The expression “use it or lose it” definitely applies to muscles, and if you lose muscles, you’ll increase your body fat percentage.
  • Build Strong Bones. Strength training stresses your bones, which helps increase bone density and reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
  • Lose Weight. If you’re exercising to lose weight, it’s important to build strength training into your workout routine. Strength training builds muscle, and muscle burns calories more efficiently than fat. Building muscle mass is one of the few proven ways to boost your metabolism.
  • Improve Your Mood. Toning your muscles can help reduce your risk of depression as well as boost your self-confidence. People who do regular strength training workouts are also less likely to suffer from insomnia, which can improve your focus, productivity, and overall mood during the day.

 

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Are chicken eggs good or bad for my cholesterol?

If you’re trying to lower your cholesterol, you may need to rethink your breakfast choices.

The yolk in a regular egg contains 213 mg of cholesterol. It’s recommended that a healthy person limit their daily intake of dietary cholesterol to less than 300 milligrams. That means that if you decide to have one egg for breakfast, you’ll want to carefully monitor your cholesterol intake for the rest of the day.

If you have cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or high cholesterol, you may need to eliminate the egg yolk completely. People who have high cholesterol or are at risk for developing high cholesterol should limit their dietary cholesterol intake to less than 200 mg a day. Instead of eating a whole egg, you can try eating egg whites, which contain no cholesterol. You may also try cholesterol-free egg substitutes that are made from egg whites.

Monitoring your dietary cholesterol is an important step toward maintaining good health. High cholesterol can lead to heart attacks and strokes. To avoid these risks, aim for an LDL (or “bad cholesterol”) level of 100 mg/dL. If you already have heart disease, your doctor may recommend you reach an LDL level of 70 mg/dL. Your total cholesterol level, which is a combination of LDL and HDL (or “good” cholesterol), should be less than 200.

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Obesity Treatment

Obesity, which is defined as having an excess of body fat, is more than a vanity issue. While being obese affects the way you look and may affect the way you feel about yourself, it also poses a serious threat to your health. Obesity related health problems can even lead to premature death. There are obesity treatment options that can help address the specific risks to your health.

Obesity treatment is generally focused on helping you lose weight, although steps may also be taken to help manage complications that occur as a result of obesity, such as prescribing medication for high blood pressure. While you can lose weight without medical intervention, an obesity treatment plan from your physician will include:

  • Evaluating your current health to identify obesity-related complications. Your physicians will then be able to monitor how these complications respond to weight loss.
  • Establishing weight loss goals. Your medical team will not be concerned with reaching a weight that makes you look a certain way, but they will help you determine what your “healthy weight” should be.
  • Creating a comprehensive weight loss program that combines diet, exercise, and other lifestyle changes as well as psychological counseling and support.
  • Evaluating whether you may be a candidate for weight loss surgery.

For morbidly obese people who are at significant risk for complications like heart attack or stroke, a physician may recommend weight loss surgery as part of an obesity treatment plan. Weight loss surgery is most likely to be recommended if you have tried to lose weight in the past and have either failed to lose weight, or failed to keep the weight off for a significant period of time after losing it. Weight loss surgery is often used to address the diet portion of your overall obesity treatment plan, although you will still be encouraged to exercise and make other lifestyle changes after surgery.

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Wait Before Weight Loss Surgery May Be Unnecessary

If you’re considering weight loss surgery and hoping to have your insurance cover a portion of the cost, you’ll probably be instructed to wait six months before having the bariatric procedure. During this time, the insurance company wants to see you starting to diet and exercise, showing a commitment to the lifestyle changes that will be necessary to maintain weight loss after surgery. New research suggests that this waiting period, however, may be unnecessary.

A study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric evaluated 440 bariatric surgery patients, including gastric bypass and gastric banding patients. Of those 440, 116 endured an insurance-mandated 6-month waiting period. Their results were compared to other weight loss surgery patients who were not required to wait to have surgery. According to the study’s author, Dr. Timothy Kuwada of the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C., the waiting period did not lead to a significant increase in weight loss.

While this study may not make a strong case for getting rid of the 6-month waiting period-the author did note that the requirement made sense in light of the cost of the surgery-it may spark new discussion about what sort of requirements should be inflicted on potential bariatric surgery patients. While lifestyle changes have been proven to be necessary in order to achieve significant, long-term weight loss with surgery, the study shows that a 6-month waiting period may not be sufficient for ensuring those lifestyle changes take place.

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Is fish healthy to eat?

While you may have heard that eating fish is good for your health, you may have also heard warnings of mercury poisoning. This conflicting information can cause confusion. Should you eat fish or avoid it if you want to stay healthy?

For most people, eating fish offers significant health benefits that outweigh any potential risks. Eating fish has been linked to benefits such as:

  • lowering cholesterol
  • reducing inflammation throughout the body
  • improving learning ability in children
  • decreasing triglycerides
  • lowering blood pressure
  • reducing blood clotting
  • enhancing immune function
  • improving arthritis symptoms
  • reducing the risk of heart disease and heart attack
  • encouraging weight loss and healthy weight maintenance

While these health benefits are potentially life-saving, the risks associate with eating fish are comparatively low. The primary concern is exposure to mercury, which is most likely if you’re eating very large fish or fish from polluted waters. State advisories can give you an idea of the health risks associated with specific types of fish in your geographic area. Of course, this information is most useful if you pay attention to where the fish you eat is caught. For the most benefits with the least associate risk, opt for salmon, herring, and tuna and avoid shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish.

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Making Time For Exercise After Weight Loss Surgery

After having bariatric surgery, you’ll need to make several lifestyle changes in order to lose weight and keep the weight off permanently. Exercise after weight loss surgery is especially important for maintaining your results long term. However, if you aren’t used to exercising, you may find it difficult to make time for a workout. Use these tips to help fit fitness into your schedule.

Making Time For Exercise After Weight Loss Surgery:

  • Exercise for 10 minutes at a time: Experts recommend getting at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day, but there’s no rule about doing it all at once. If you can’t find a full half hour, find three 10-minute blocks of time. Perhaps you take a short walk before work, during lunch, and after supper.
  • Workout in the morning: Many people find that getting up 30 minutes earlier to exercise after weight loss surgery actually gives them more energy throughout the day. You’re also more likely to stick with your workout commitments if you do it first thing in the morning rather than trying to make time at the end of a busy day.
  • Make family time workout time: Do you spend most of your free time doing sedentary activities? Find activities you enjoy that require more movement and do them as a family. Maybe you go for bike rides on the weekends or take a walk at night to talk about your day.

 

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How to Avoid Thanksgiving Weight Gain

Around the holidays, you may want to avoid parties and unhealthy foods that make maintaining weight loss difficult. However, if you plan how to eat healthy and stay active before arriving at the party, you can have fun while remaining responsible. Considering the following tips to avoid Thanksgiving weight gain, and if you find that some of these tips work for you, you can keep using them into the Christmas season:

  • Keep yourself busy.
  • Make your own food, so you can monitor the contents.
  • Watch others overeat and remind yourself to avoid the practice..
  • Load up on vegetables. Make sure there is a fruit or vegetable tray so you are able to eat without indulging in fatty foods.
  • Drink tea or water in place of higher calorie drinks.
  • Plan ahead. Ask yourself ahead of time if you are going to get seconds. If so, take a smaller first helping, or pass on seconds altogether.
  • Avoid desserts. Eating dessert is the fastest way to put on weight.
  • When the belt gets tight, its a sign to stop eating. Do not loosen it, as this may encourage more destruction of your weight loss goals.
  • Do not wear stretchy pants. Wearing these pants does not allow you to see your waist line expanding.
  • Get active. After eating, going for a walk or doing another physical activity will help that extra weight stay off.

 

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