BARIATRIC SURGERY MOST EFFECTIVE TREATMENT OF MORBID OBESITY
Date: 21 January, 2005

Bariatric comes from Greek, Baros meaning weight and iatrikos the art of healing. I have previously discussed different types of operations that overweight people can have to affect weight loss. These operations are usually reserved for people that have a BMI (Body Mass Index) of more than 40. Recently there has been some progress in understanding the long term effects of these operations. A large research study was recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine called the Swedish obesity study. This is a large study that provides a better understanding of the effects of these operations.

Being overweight affects many areas. One of these areas are your libido. New research shows that losing weight for men among other things improves their erectile function.

There are hundreds of weight loss supplements available in your health food store. Do they work? This was the question answered by a recent review in a scientific journal.

Many people love chocolate and some even to the point of being addicted to it. Many possible explanations for this addictive property of chocolate exists. Unfortunately chocolate contains a lot of fat and sugar which is not very helpful if you are trying to loose weight.

Orlistat works by preventing your body from absorbing the fat that you eat. This is done by inhibiting Lipase, an enzyme that is necessary for the absorption of fat. Lipase breaks down the fat to its smallest component so that your gut can absorb it and those darn fat cells can store it. Fat in the diet is a major cause of weight gain and by preventing the absorption of it, the hope is that you will lose weight. The reduction in fat absorption is not complete however. There is a reduction in fat absorption of about 30% which means that you can still absorb a large amount of the fat that you eat. If you continue to eat fatty food you will still gain the weight.

Gestational diabetes is defined as diabetes that has it's onset during pregnancy. Diabetes is an illness where the body is unable to regulate its glucose levels due to either a lack of insulin, or a resistance to insulin. Diabetes has many complications including kidney failure, blindness, cardiovascular problems, foot problems and nerve problems. It's affects the body in it's entirety and is a life changing diagnosis.

Several recent studies have shown that the low fat diet works best. The calorie restriction diet works in the short term but the results are not sustained. But are all low fat foods the same?

Vitamins are vital for our health and well being, which is beyond doubt, having been proved on many occasions. A look at vitamins in the history of the world, and unfortunately still today in developing third world countries, has led and is leading to many people suffering from preventable killer diseases and other general complaints of ill health. So don’t groan when your mom checks if you’re taking your vitamins!

Dieting has probably been around for thousands of years, although not in any structured way like we see all around us today. It wasn’t very common until the 1800‘s however, simply because people who were overweight were not very common. Apart from rich merchants, bankers and the various ranks of royal personages, these types were often fat in body and wallet. The hierarchies of organized religions apparently thought that their own gluttony would assist the poor and needy in some mysterious and never explained way, while most people had a regular struggle to get enough food for their families’ health.

So, you need to diet. Maybe you think this yourself, or maybe friends and family have been dropping a few non-too subtle hints at your current weight. Whatever the case, you are not alone. Many people diet regularly to control their weight, but even so, the question of just what to eat or drink can be confusing and worrisome at times. For some help, here’s a glossary of many terms on this topic:

Unfortunately it is harder to lose weight than it is to gain it, as I certainly can personally attest to. You would think that if you put in months and months of hard work and manage to lose a few kilos that you should somehow be rewarded for your efforts. The problem is that most people after losing significant amount of weight, gain it all back again and may even get more back than they had before. How can you prevent this from happening? No one knows an answer to this, but I will here provide you with a viewpoint that you can consider and that may be of benefit to your efforts in getting sustainable weight loss.

This book is written by Richard F Heller and Rachael F Heller. It is aimed at the carbohydrate addict. As with all diet and health books it has to be put in its context. One size does not fit all. So before you implement all of the guidelines in this book make sure that you are a "carbohydrate addict".

In this section I will discuss some commonly held myths out in the general community. I will try to explain why they are false or true. If you have a urban myth about weight loss or fitness e-mail me to find out if it's true or not!! Myths are commonly held beliefs that are passed down the generation and that people hardly ever question as they are held to be true. A myth can be quite destructive if it is false and people are quite reluctant to disbelief the myths. A myth can be so strongly held by the community that even scientific data proving that it is wrong is not believed. Don't fall for this trap it is your heath and well-being that is at stake take advice from the experts.

First I want to say that starvation works!! If you starve yourself you will loose weight. But as this is a very unpleasant way to loose weight and may lead to vitamin, mineral deficiencies and to other health problems as well as making you function sub-optimally this is usually not a good way to approach weight loss. Also after you start eating again your body will be in storage mode and you will experience rapid weight gain.

The world of cosmetics – enhancing your beauty, or covering up a small weakness. That’s what cosmetics are for. There’s a cosmetic product for every need. That’s basically how cosmetics work – they allow you to enhance, cover up, camouflage, illuminate, emphasize or minimize – whatever you feel necessary to create a picture of beauty. So let’s explore the methods you can use to do just that.

If you’ve really delved into cosmetics and their makeup, their ingredients, and their properties, you’ve probably found that they can be quite technical. But you don’t need all that technicality – you just want to look good. So we’ve compiled this glossary of cosmetics terms and definitions to help clear up the picture. Review it carefully, and your cosmetics will start to make more sense to you.

This type of surgery is called bariatric surgery from the Greek word for weight. These surgical procedures are considered to be quite extensive and are therefore reserved for people that are quite overweight. In the past people have been considered for these operations only if their BMI is more than 40 or if they are more than 45 kg overweight. These procedures are all done under a general anaesthetic.

Lasers have been around for a long time. They are based on the theory of Einstein in the early 20th century. The first LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) was built in 1960 by Theodore Maiman in California. After this numerous different Lasers where developed and the basis of laser surgery was formulated.