7
December
2008
Mississippi is in deep trouble. According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the Magnolia State is in the grip of an epidemic: the epidemic of obesity. Across our state, the number of overweight and obese individuals is rapidly increasing. In fact, almost 66% of the population of Mississippi is overweight or obese, making Missisippi the nation’s least healthy state. Diabetes, stroke, and heart disease are endemic in Misissippi’s population, especially within ethnic groups prone to being overweight. And it’s not just adults — a recent study using a sample of African-American children in the rural town of Canton, Mississippi revealed that 46% were overweight or at risk of being so.
Obesity is the second most frequent cause of preventable death in the United States, and Mississippi natives are not alone in their fight. However, if not addressed, severe and morbid obesity often lead to a shortened life span because those who suffer from obesity face a significantly higher risk of diabetes, heart attack and stroke.
This epidemic cannot be allowed to rage unchecked. Mississipi cannot be allowed to remain the nation’s least healthy state. Something must be done.
Obesity is not simply a matter of losing weight, nor is it a character flaw. It is a disease caused by a disordered relationship with food. Losing weight is simple math: when a person takes in fewer calories each day than their body needs to function, the body begins to burn fat to stay alive, resulting in weight loss.
The difficulty comes in restricting caloric intake – the primal urge to eat when hungry is almost irresistible. And, for some, the pleasure of eating is a substitute for emotional satisfaction. Others are food addicts, plagued by a constant craving for something to eat, regardless of whether they are physically hungry.
The difficulty of losing weight often leads those with the disease to attempt self-treatment, including crazy diets, extreme exercise programs, or “magical” weight-loss pills. Some do lose weight by these methods — but most gain it back fast, and usually damage their health in the process.
No miracle cure for obesity exists. The only way to successfully treat the disease of obesity is through medical care, based upon a complete change in the patient’s lifestyle and eating habits. To beat obesity, our state residents must begin to eat healthier foods in smaller portions. Most people can accomplish this lifestyle change through education, counseling, and sheer willpower.
But for many, weight loss surgery is the only way they can break destructive lifelong habits.
About Weight Loss Surgery
Weight loss surgery is performed under general anesthesia, usually laparoscopically. Its purpose is to physically limit the amount of food that the patient can eat by surgically altering his or her stomach or digestive tract. The alterations make it nearly impossible to overeat—at least initially—and cause the patient to take in fewer calories each day than he or she burns. Consequently, the patient loses weight safely, and relatively rapidly.
Weught loss surgery, however, is not magic. Only a complete change in a patient’s lifestyle can cure the disease. Patients who fail to follow postoperative instructions may regain any weight lost. Those considering bariatric surgery as an option for the management of obesity should discuss their options with their physician prior to making a decision.
Mississippi can win the war on obesity. We can send some other, lesser state to the bottom of the healthy-states list. By changing our diet and lifestyle – and by using weight loss sergery as a weapon of last resort – we can beat obesity here, and make things better in this state we all love.
By: Craig B. Thompson
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Posted under weight loss surgery
5
December
2008
Mercy Medical Center has become the first hospital on Long Island to offer a new single-incision Lap-Band(r) (laparoscopic gastric banding) procedure for weight loss surgery.
A team headed by Shawn Garber, MD, Chief of Bariatric Surgery at Mercy, with colleague Spencer Holover, MD, is among the first in the nation to utilize the innovative technique, known as Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery (SILS), for gastric banding, using just one small opening in the abdomen, through the navel, rather than the five incisions required in traditional techniques.
“SILS is an important new option that holds the potential of less pain, fewer scars and quicker recovery,” explained Dr. Garber, who heads the New York Bariatric Group. “And most patients report that they can barely notice the single incision hidden in the belly button.”
In addition to its latest application in gastric banding for weight-loss, Dr. Garber utilizes the SILS technique for gall bladder surgery.
Dr. Garber is the only bariatric surgeon included in Newsday’s listing of Top Doctors on Long Island, and Mercy Medical Center is top-ranked in weight-loss surgery. Mercy received the 2008 Bariatric Surgery Excellence Award(tm) from HealthGrades(r), the nation’s leading independent healthcare ratings organization, and is a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence designated the American Society For Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.
Mercy’s Bariatric Center offers both Laparoscopic Banding (Adjustable Gastric Band) and Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass (also referred to as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass) which is considered the “Gold Standard” of modern obesity surgery. Both procedures are performed using state-of-the-art laparoscopic techniques with smaller incisions, less post-surgery pain, less time in the hospital, and a faster recovery.
Mercy offers monthly education and informational presentations for individuals who are contemplating bariatric surgery. For more information contact Mercy Medical Center at: 516-62-MERCY. Or visit on line at: www.MercyMedicalCenter.info
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Posted under weight loss surgery
28
November
2008
Nutrition Not Another Resolution: Nutrition for You launches its New Year’s Weight Loss Challenge
Advanced online weight management service Nutrition for You and Nu4You.net announces its New Year’s Weight Loss Challenge. The event is a healthy, structured and goal-oriented alternative to unsuccessful New Year’s resolutions to lose weight. Participants in the Challenge can lose weight and win prizes using the science-based service created by registered dietitian Manuel Villacorta, MS, RD, CSSD and his team.
San Francisco, Calif. (PRWEB) November 28, 2008 — Nutrition for You, the advanced online weight-management service founded by nutrition expert Manuel Villacorta MS, RD, CSSD has announced the launch of its New Year’s Weight Loss Challenge. “The New Year is upon us and many of us make the same old resolution to lose weight but fail to keep the promises,” says Villacorta. “We are offering an alternative and effective way to achieve weight loss goals successfully. It’s not another diet or not another gym membership. It’s proper nutrition and not another resolution.”
Nutrition for You provides a comprehensive weight management plan and powerful online toolkit created by nutrition experts that is free of fads, gimmicks, advertisements and product endorsements. Dennis Allio, co-founder of Nutrition for You, who lost over 55 pounds two years ago, had this to say about the effectiveness of the program,
“Members that follow our nutrition program have great success. In a recent Challenge 100% of the participants who finished lost weight. The typical weight loss was between 1.5 and 3 pounds per week. This is healthy sustainable weight loss. The Weight Loss Challenge adds additional community support to the participants reinforcing the website tools and expert phone-based nutrition coaching.”
Manuel Villacorta, a registered dietitian with years of clinical expertise in the weight-loss field points out that the Weight Loss Challenge is about more than just losing weight.
“Percent weight loss is only a portion of the total challenge requirements that include eating breakfast daily, keeping a food diary, meeting regularly with a trained nutrition coach, exercise and eating a low fat diet.
“Many weight loss programs wrongly try to convince people that losing weight and learning about nutrition is as easy as counting calories. For optimal health losing weight is a lifestyle change that requires a long-term commitment to eating well.
Our Weight Loss Challenge gives you expert nutrition advice, coaching, realistic goals, and eating habits that are sustainable long-term.”
The New Year’s Weight Loss Challenge will run from January 4th to March 29th. During this 12-week period, participants will have access to Nutrition for You’s safe, reliable, science-based weight loss program, which will be customized to the participant’s needs with an initial goal of losing a safe 1.5 pounds per week.
The Weight Loss Challenge registration fee is a onetime charge for 12 weeks of nutrition membership to Nutrition for You and a chance to win prizes that include a Polar heart rate monitor and additional three months of Nutrition for You membership.
The deadline to enter the Weight Loss Challenge is December 31st. For the complete set of rules or to register for the challenge please visit the Nutrition for You website at http://www.nu4you.net/nutrition-for-you/learnmore/weight-loss-challenge.aspx
About Nutrition for You
Nutrition for You, based in San Francisco, California, is an advanced online weight management program developed by a premiere weight-loss and weight management specialist to help clients take control of their weight through flexible, individualized eating plans, online success tracking, and phone-based counseling from trained nutrition experts. For more information visit http://www.nu4you.net or call 866-881-1006.
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Posted under Nutrition and weight loss