Marcia's blog

After weight-loss surgery, your daily diet and indeed your whole relationship to food may need to undergo some dramatic changes. Learning how to cook and eat differently can be a real challenge. Even before weight-loss surgery many people have trouble fitting breakfast into their schedules—and the constraints of a post-bariatric diet regimen don’t make it any easier to provide a nourishing start for both yourself and your family in the few minutes you have together on a hectic school and workday morning.

In the past, gastric bypass has been regarded by many medical experts as the recommended standard, and it was by far the most frequently chosen procedure. In 2003, Roux-en-y gastric bypass accounted for 85% of all bariatric surgeries performed. In part this is because gastric bypass surgery has been available since the 1970s and thus has a more proven track record. It is also covered by most insurance companies as an effective treatment for morbid obesity. Laparoscopic band surgery, on the other hand, was only approved in the U.S.

Obesity is associated with increased risks for many serious illnesses, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, and some kinds of cancer. It is often also found in association with asthma. As rates of both asthma and obesity have skyrocketed in recent years, scientists wondered whether the link was more than coincidence.

The NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute estimates that 12 million adult Americans are experiencing sleep apnea, many of them without even being aware that they suffer from this life-threatening illness.

The obesity rate among women of childbearing age is increasing right along with the overall obesity rate. It’s estimated that in the United States, 23.6 percent of women between the age of 18 and 44 are obese. One out of every five women who give birth is obese.

Obesity Dangerous for Mother and Child

A new research study has raised serious concern about the special risks obese children face when they undergo surgery for obstructive sleep apnea.

In obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the upper part of a person’s airway becomes partly or completed blocked for 10 to 30 seconds intermittently and repeatedly while they are asleep. When OSA occurs in children, it can usually be traced to blockage caused by the adenoids and tonsils.

A new research study supports the longstanding view that social support can play a big role in successful weight loss—but only under the right conditions.

Researchers have for some time suspected that a tendency to overeating and obesity may actually be “programmed” into children even before birth. It has been consistently observed that children whose mothers were obese and diabetic have a higher risk of being heavier themselves from an early age, and adult obesity can be linked to eating a high-fat diet in childhood.

While there are quite a few nationally advertised diet programs that rely on providing a complete replacement meal plan, it can be difficult for consumers to find reliable data about the safety and effectiveness of many of these plans.

The Health Management Resources Corporation of Boston, MA, recently funded a clinical research study to assess the weight-loss outcomes, behavioral data and associated side effects of two low-energy meal replacement programs.

A little more than two years ago, Judy Simes weighed 347 pounds. She couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs or tie her own shoes. Her body mass index (BMI) was 57, which qualified her as morbidly obese. She spent her days sitting in one room, one chair, doing nothing.

Then, Judy chose to have bariatric surgery. Two years later, she has lost more than 133 pounds—“about a person”—and now weighs 174 pounds. Her BMI is down to 32, and where she used to be unable to get out of her chair, she’s now “out and about doing everything.”

For any bariatric approach to weight loss to truly succeed, lifelong changes in diet and lifestyle are necessary. Judy’s weight loss success is not due simply to her bariatric surgery, but to the fact that she has continued to work with her bariatric treatment team to develop and sustain balanced, healthful diet and exercise plans.

“The long term management is a team approach starting with the patient,” notes Dr. Caroline Apovian, Director of Nutrition and Weight Management Center at Boston University Medical Center. “The patient is the number one member of the team.”