Tag Archive - bariatric surgery

The Weight Of The Nation: A Documentary

April 26, 2012 in Children, Diet, Exercise, Lifestyle Tips with 1 Comment

I recently had the pleasure of attending the screening of an HBO documentary entitled, The Weight Of The Nation.  It’s about the obesity epidemic that our nation is facing today.  It is a realistic representation of a multifaceted problem.

More than two-thirds of U.S. adults age 20 and over are overweight or obese, while nearly one-third of the nation’s children and adolescents age 2 to 19 are overweight or obese.  Obesity contributes to five of the ten leading causes of death in America, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, and kidney disease.  We are clearly in crisis.

Made in partnership with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Kaiser Permanente, this series is comprised of 4 films that will debut on HBO on May 14th and May 15th beginning at 7:00 pm Central.  The portion presented at the screening was Children In Crisis.  We are facing, for the first time in our nation’s history, a shorter life expectancy for our next generation of children.  That, by itself, should be enough to motivate us to action.

Obesity is a preventable disease; it’s not a condition that we have to accept like a natural disaster.  We must begin to make the necessary changes in our culture to ensure a healthy life for ourselves and our children.  After all, our lives depend on it.

For more information about weight management and weight loss surgery, please give us a call at St. David’s Bariatric Center, 512-544-LIFE (5433) or visit us online at www.stdavidsweightloss.com.

Bariatric Surgery Procedures Are Not Just About Weight Loss Anymore

March 29, 2012 in Diet, Lifestyle Tips, Weight Loss with 0 Comments

Two recently released studies, published by the New England Journal of Medicine, produced data that will change the conversation about bariatric surgery, also commonly known as weight loss surgery.  It’s no longer just about weight loss.  Bariatric surgery proved far more effective than medication in controlling blood sugar in obese individuals with Type 2 diabetes.

In these studies,  surgical procedures were compared head to head with traditional medical treatment of diabetes.  The results show that inidividuals with Type 2 diabetes undergoing one of three different versions of bariatric surgery (gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, or biliopancreatic diversion)  were significally more likely to lower blood sugar to normal levels than when treated with medication and diet and exercise counseling.

Researchers estimate that 80% of the 23 million adult Americans who have Type 2 diabetes are either overweight or obese.  With the prevalence of diabetes in the U.S. surging in tandem with the obesity rate, this becomes a very important study.

Some of the key findings:

  • The surgery patients lost five times as much weight on average than those in the medical-therapy group.
  • 75 – 95% of  patients had complete remission of diabetes two years after their procedures, and some were off of diabetes medication before being discharged from the hospital.
  • In addition to lower blood sugar and weight loss, significant improvements were also seen in cholesterol and blood pressure.

Not every patient with Type 2 diabetes is a candidate for bariatric surgery, but at least now the door is open for conversations to occur individually on the best treatment options for diabetes management.

Singing a New Tune: Robert Parish’s Life After Weight Loss Surgery

January 25, 2012 in Diet, Exercise, Lifestyle Tips, Weight Loss with 0 Comments

Robert is a nursing supervisor at St. David’s Rehab Hospital.  Along with his expertise as a care provider, he is also a very talented actor, musician, and songwriter.  Feeling his health deteriorating from excess weight, he made the decision to have bariatric surgery, or weight loss surgery.  It has been 2 years since Robert’s gastric bypass surgery and I recently had an opportunity to sit down and talk to him about his life after surgery.

Q:  The first thing I notice about you is how healthy you look.

A:  I feel healthy and I am healthy.  Losing 135 pounds made a huge difference in my health.

Q:  What type of health issues were you dealing with?

A:  My blood pressure skyrocketing and I had a severe case of sleep apnea.  I found that as I grew older, not only was my health becoming worse, but my ability to lose the excess weight was becoming more difficult.

Q:  What made you look at surgical options for weight management?

A:  My primary care doctor looked at me one day when I was there for an appointment and asked, “When are you going to stop battling this weight?”  It was the spark that I needed to prompt me to look for a solution.  And I didn’t have to look far.  I was caring for postop bariatric surgery patients at the time and I saw what a difference it was making in their lives.

Q: And what difference has weight loss surgery made in your life?

A:  My blood pressure is normal and my sleep apnea is gone.  I’m wearing clothes that haven’t seen the light of day in at least 10 years.  But, most profound is the sense of relief that I experience every day – the relief that  don’t have to be constantly at war with myself and my issue with food.  I feel like I’ve gotten my life back.

Interested in seeing if weight loss surgery is right for you?  Visit our web site at stdavidsweightloss.com or give us a call at St. David’s Bariatric Center – 512-544-LIFE (5433)