Weight Loss Surgery Blog

With obesity rates increasing across North America, you would expect to find more an more eating establishments offering low calorie, low fat, modest size portion foods for their clientele. However, that is not the case with the Heart Attack Grill, located in the Chandler, AZ, a suburb of Phoenix. Their motto is “We will feed you until you die,” and “Treating Anorexia Since 2005.” (more…)

Over the years there have been many drug treatments that have been tested to help people lose weight. Some include reducing a person’s appetite while others held the promise to increase a person’s metabolism. Unfortunately, excessive weight gain and obesity are very difficult to treat being that it’s a critical medical issue and varies from patient to patient. However, mostly because it comes down to lifestyles and rethinking what people put in their mouths to eat. (more…)

In a recent ABC news report, Dr. Val Jones of Better Health, discusses simple tips in which people can lose weight and keep the weight off. Some tips include: (more…)

A recent report, published by Fox News, details the social and lifestyle changes of food portion distortion. Since the 1960′s food portions have increased by three times resulting in the average American waste size increasing almost as much thanks to aggressive marketing campaigns by the food industry. Terms like “SuperSize,” “MegaSize,” and “Jumbo” permeate the food industry and unfortunately this has resulted in a rise of morbid obesity and other health related issues in Americans today.

CNN – Reports that childhood obesity is rising at an alarming rate. One study done by the Institute of Medicine has determined that childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past three decades. Bloggers discuss possible solutions and issue surrounding this new epidemic in this video.

According to a CNN health report, obesity can remove 2 to 4 years off the average lifespan of a person. Being very obese can shorten the lifespan by 8 to 10 years or more according to a new scientific study which included almost a million people.

Professor of global health, Ali Mokdad, Ph.D., at the University of Washington, states, “This is scary and something that we should pay close attention to. These new findings actually underestimate the true impact of obesity on society because they don’t address the costs of obesity-related illnesses and other factors.”

The original study was conducted by the eminent epidemiologist Sir Richard Peto of the University of Oxford. This study was conducted to figure out how exactly a body mass index (BMI) relates to mortality.

Bod Pod

For years now nutritionists and health care providers have relied heavily on using a technique that determined a person’s body fat based on height and weight.  This system applied to both men and women. Unfortunately for many this system is not entirely accurate.  It is equally important to know what kind of weight people carry as well.  Are they a lean 225 lb or a flabby 180 lb or someone who is very thin and weighs 100 lb.

Body density testing really identifies how much a person is made up of actual fat and how much is lean mass, which includes muscle and bone. Many pro football players, if tested using the standard method for BMI, would show up as being obese or extremely overweight.  We know of course this is not the case.   So how do you accurately measure a person’s body composition?  Some have used skin calipers to measure subcutaneous fat on specific spot of the body.  Others have used hydrostatic weighing which is very hard to do.  

One new method seems to offer the most accurate measurement of body composition which uses air displacement plethysmograph.  This system developed by Life Measurement, Inc. is proving to be extremely accurate and easy to do.  They call it the Bod Pod.

Some of the things this new device can measure are:

Accurate whole-body density measurement

Accurate measure for Thoracic Gas Volume (TGV)

Accurate measurement on fat and fat-free mass, Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), and Total Energy Expenditures (TEE).

This test can be safely tested repeatably.

Is safe and non invasive.

Simple to use for the subject and operator, requires no special licenses.

It can be used with any subject type, including children, elderly, the obese and those with physical disabilities.

To learn more about Obesity and Body Mass Index Testing  contact Puget Sound Surgical Center today.

CNN reports on interval walking and it’s healthy benefits for people wishing to lose weight.

This video is a rebroadcast of this report.

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