Bariatric Surgery? Learn Some Good Points, As Well As Some Risky Aspects - Learn How To Diet First

Bariatric (weight loss) surgery is an approach to weight loss typically reserved for those individuals who have a BMI of more than 40 (morbidly obese) and who have been unable to lose weight despite sincere and prolonged efforts. Gastric (stomach) bypass may also be used for those individuals whose weight is threatening health and life.

This kind of surgery will indeed cause weight reduction. However, it also changes the way one eats because the natural pathway of food has been disrupted. Eating habits will need to be changed because the size of the stomach has been greatly reduced and you will have a feeling of "being full" after consuming much smaller amounts of food.

Members of the surgical team will provide you will information and guidance about the kinds of foods you can...and cannot...eat. Following are some general guidelines as to what you may expect.

Immediately following the surgery your diet will consist of 'pureed' foods (liquid) for two or three weeks and then soft foods will gradually be added according to your tolerance. Eventually you will be eating regular foods again but in much smaller amounts. You will eventually be able to eat larger amounts of food at one sitting because usable stomach pouch will stretch a bit. However, you must not attempt to artificially stretch the pouch by eating excessively. Your body is no longer designed to process large amounts of food.

You will need to eat more slowly than you most likely have in the past. You will need to puree your food with your teeth and the chemicals (enzymes) that are naturally present in the inside of your mouth before you swallow. This will take some practice but you've been through more difficult challenges than learning to chew slower. You can do it.

Remember this tiny pouch that is now your stomach, when stretched, will hold less than one-fourth of its previous capacity. If you swallow food that has not been thoroughly chewed, you may cause a blockage of the opening between your stomach and the intestine. This will cause nausea, vomiting, or a sensation of deep pain under your breastbone. Therefore:

1. Chew your food until it is smooth.

2. Eat slowly. Allow 20-30 minutes for each meal.

3. Eat small amounts.

4. Stop eating at the first feeling of fullness.

5. Keep a food journal and note which foods give you distress.

6. Increase your daily intake of fluids but do not drink anything during your meal or for thirty minutes after your food. (Mealtime is to fill the small stomach pouch with food...not liquid.)

7. When you drink liquids, don't gulp. Sip slowly over a period of time.

8. Follow the diet your surgeon has outlines for you. This will ensure that your intake is nutritious.

The decision to have gastric bypass surgery is a big one. Follow your post-operative instructions to the letter and call your surgeon whenever you have problems.

If you want to avoid this unsavory scenario, Look at this "eating plan" 1st.

By Sue Bristol, R.N.

There is only one correct way to eat.

Here's the "Secret Weight Loss Diet" that virtually EVERY successful dieter uses
(Whether or not they are even aware of it!)

"Click Here" to get your Free e-book, which will give you the "Weight Loss Secret"
http://www.how-to-loseweight-101.com/index1.html

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How To Lose Weight: Are You Obese Or Overweight? What's The Difference? Learn How To Diet

The basic difference between obesity and overweight is one of degree. Both apply to a condition of carrying more weight than is considered than is conducive to good health.

Both conditions result from an imbalance between the number of calories eaten and the number of calories used up by means of normal body functions, and physical exercise. When a balance between calories in and out is achieved body weight will be normal.

You must learn proper nutrition, and what makes a diet the "correct diet", to protect your health. The correct diet includes portion control, as well as avoidance of added sugar; (of course there are other factors too).

There are a variety of factors that influence how quickly our bodies naturally burn calories. Genetics (what we inherit from our ancestors), eating the wrong kinds of food (high fat), and the kind of work we do, all play a part in achieving "balance". In uncommon instances illness or disease may play a part. For example, some kinds of kidney and heart disease as well as thyroid disorders may be responsible for weight gain...either actual increase of tissue, or by retaining fluid. See your doctor for any of these illnesses.

But, even without a predisposition to any of these problems, being overweight or obese will contribute to the development of many disorders, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, abnormal sleep patterns, arthritis and other joint conditions, and some cancers. Recent studies have shown that losing only five to ten percent of body weight can contribute to overall health and lower risk of becoming sick.

Body mass index (BMI) is a one measurement used to calculate body weight. You can calculate your BM by the following three steps:

Multiply your weight in pounds by 703

Divide the answer by your height in inches

Divide that answer by your height in inches again.

(This formula will not only determine the condition of your body weight, it will also sharpen your brain. If your brain is already sharp enough, you can ask the doctor or nurse to calculate it for you or you can find a BMI calculator online).

If your BMI is calculated between 25 and 25.9, you are overweight; if it is between 30 and 39.9 you are obese; if it is over 40 you are considered to be morbidly obese. There are exceptions to these rules. For example, athletes may have a high BMI because muscle tissue weigh more than fat. Please note: this BMI calculation does not apply to children...consult your physician if you believe your child is overweight.

The reason most adults are overweight is because we are all eating more food than is required for the maintenance of body and health. The extra calories are stored as fat.

Your BMI result is not a foolproof way to determine your state of health. However, it is a highly accurate tool for determining whether your weight is an issue that needs to be corrected.

You now have your BMI number. Now start the correct diet!

Diet without drugs or any pills, and protect your health. If you're serious, I'll help you.

By Sue Bristol, R.N.

My eBook will lead you through the way to make it work for you, and your obese child, or spouse. Here's the "Secret Weight Loss Diet" that virtually EVERY successful dieter uses. (Whether or not they are even aware of it!)

"Click Here" to get your Free e-book, which will give you the "Weight Loss Secret" Kids shouldn't be obese. http://www.how-to-loseweight-101.com/index1.html

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Is Personality Type One Of The Causes For Weight Gain?

Here's a first of its kind look at personality and the causes for weight gain during adulthood. A research team has discovered that those who have certain identifiable personality traits are more likely to carry too much weight, or watch the scale go up and down in the unhealthy "yo-yo" pattern.

The researchers looked at data that had been compiled from a longitudinal study conducted over fifty years on just under 2,000 mostly healthy, highly educated subjects to see if there was an association with personality and weight.

Beyond being regularly weighed and measured during the study, participants were analysed on what are known as "big 5? personality traits.

These five are broad categories of traits including:

1) agreeableness,

2) conscientiousness,

3) extraversion,

4) openness and

5) neuroticism.

The categories are meant to cover a wide range between two extremes - in the real world most of us fall somewhere in the middle on all of these.

And while we all know it's natural to put on a bit of weight as we grow older the study found impulsive subjects had a higher risk of being overweight. Those who ranked in the highest 10% on impulsivity were 22 pounds (on average) heavier compared with those in the lowest 10%.

Earlier work has shown that impulsive people are more likely to indulge in binge eating and overconsumption of alcohol, and it may be that these behaviors, over a lifetime add up to weight gain.

Imagine the challenge that adds to making the hard life choices that lead to weight loss.

The thinking goes that people with this particular group of traits are more likely than others be seduced by temptation. It's harder for them to summon the discipline to stick to a healthy eating and exercise plan in the face of all of life's challenges and frustrations. For these personalities, weight management appears to be a most difficult challenge.

But impulsiveness isn't the only personality factor that might put you at risk for weight gain.

Risk takers, antagonistic, competitive, cynical and aggressive people also gained more weight according to the study findings. On the opposite end, conscientious people were found to be slimmer, and their weight didn't set off personality changes in adulthood.

The authors of the study are hoping the work helps to develop more tailored approaches to weight loss, that take personality factors into account. Perhaps group weight loss and support programs for extroverts, private sessions or other interventions tailored just to introverts are practical applications of the research. Anything that might help people manage their weight is a welcome addition to the approaches in use today.

Experts know that the link between personality types and weight gain is most certainly a complex one. There are likely both physiological and behavioral factors involved in the causes for weight gain over our lifetime, still the work gives an intriguing and first ever look at the effect personality might have on weight.

FREE Bonus Secret Health Reports - For a limited time you can grab 5 FREE essential health reports from the Daily Health Bulletin. Click through now to discover more about what's behind the causes for weight gain and how you can avoid them.

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Obesity: Something to Chew Over

Many health fads have a very short shelf life. One of these was Fletcherism, a cult which was launched at the start of the twentieth century by an overweight American business man called Horace Fletcher. At the age of forty, Fletcher was turned down for a life insurance policy as a bad health risk because of his excessive girth. He was so stunned by this experience that he promptly quit his business and went in search of health. After numerous experiments, he finally hit on a fitness regime which he rather portentously called 'the science of head digestion.'

He freely admitted that he got this idea from William Gladstone, who served four terms as Britain's prime minister. Gladstone was noted for his exceptional vigour, a man who in his early eighties was still felling trees and who, at eight-five, thought nothing of moving 32,000 of his books by wheelbarrow to a community library a quarter of a mile from his home. The Grand Old Man of British politics claimed that he owed his vitality to his habit of thoroughly chewing every morsel of food he ate. This became such an obsession that he went over the top and trained his eight children to give every mouthful of food a minimum of thirty-two chews - a chew for every tooth. His argument was that, since the stomach has no teeth, unless a chunk of meat is broken down in the mouth it can't be properly mixed with the digestive enzymes found in the saliva and gastric juices. This has since been proved by trials which confirm that if a lump of meat is swallowed whole, only its outer layers will be digested after two hours in the stomach. On the other hand, if the bolus is first broken down into tiny slivers, most of its fibres will be processed during the two hour period.

Finding time for 'head digestion' also helps to preserve the teeth, since it stimulates the flow of saliva and so flushes away particles of food lodged around the teeth, which is one of the prime causes of dental decay. In addition, it eliminates the risk of 'café coronaries', the name given to the medical emergencies which occur when people choke on large portions of food. One minute they're happily bolting a chunk of steak, which may prove to be the size of a playing card, the next their struggling for their life, showing symptoms which in the panic are often mistaken for an acute heart attack. But today, the main reason for being a Fletcherist is to fight the flab. Countless studies have shown that overweight folk tend to eat more quickly than normal, giving their bodies no time to realise when they've had enough. It takes at least twenty minutes for food to be absorbed and messages transmitted to the brain's satiety centre. During this time a good trencherman can consume a thousand calories more than their need to satisfy their calorie requirements. So, anyone who wants to maintain an optimum body weight, and still enjoy the full range of gastronomic pleasures, should learn to eat more slowly, savouring each mouthful of food and chewing it until is almost reduced to a liquid consistency. Gobbling ruins our health and reduces our enjoyment. If we want to improve our digestion and preserve our youthful figures, we must learn to be gourmets rather than gluttons.

© Donald Norfolk 2011

(If you'd like to receive these weight reducing tips as soon as they're posted, please register your interest using the contact button on the right hand side of the tool bar on the home page of the Self Help Alliance - http://www.selfhelpalliance.co.uk.)

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Children's Health - Steps to Prevent Childhood Obesity

So you eat out regularly and the children tag along as well. You spoil them with all the junk food they want. You think that you are a good parent because you give your children what they require.

You look at your children and realise that they are FAT! They don't do sport, hate exercise but love doing other less stressful thing. Obesity has never been a problem amongst children like it is today. Preventing childhood obesity is not as difficult as it may seem. It starts with you the parent. Open the fridge and see what you buy them. Look at how you feed them. Preventing childhood obesity starts with you! Change the eating habits of your children. Get them into an exercise routine. Yes that is right... Cut their access to social media. They are young and should be out running in the back yard. Not loafing around on chat sites, watching television, etc. Get involved in their lives and encourage them to play a sport. And I do not mean that they play baseball on their game console and your encouragement ends with you playing with them.

A healthy diet, good excercise and quality family time will prevent childhood obesity making an unhealthy appearance in your family. You do know that fat children develop breathing problems, heart problems (blood pressure either too high or too low) and they are tired most of the time.

Now is the time to really act and stop this from ruining the next generation.

Childhood obesity is a world-wide problem. The more junk food we consume the more unhealthy we become. And if it is okay for us to eat, then so it will be for our children. We even force them to finish their soda, because you paid for it and hate it when they waste food that you have paid for.

I have more helpful hints that you may find interesting and implement in your life. It will be beneficial for your whole family. Obesity is just as serious as some of the most dangerous diseases out there in the world. Be wise and act now. These words may sound like a infomercial, but I will say it over and over till I can say it no more.

Please visit my blog site, read through the information there. If you are like me and have fat child/ren, then I urge you to read blog and many others that I have found quite useful. Their links can be found on my site as well.

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High Fructose Corn Syrup's Contribution to Obesity in the US

Over the last two decades, the obesity rate in the United States has risen at a steady rate. There are many contributing factors to why this is; from people not eating healthy, to people not exercising, to people having health issues; such as, hypothyroidism, is when the thyroid gland does not make enough thyroid hormone, and could cause weight gain. The CDC, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, has kept track of the obesity trend in the United States over the last 20 years, and found that the obesity rate in the United States has risen to well over 30 percent of the population. This trend is in line with the introduction of high fructose corn syrup and the fact that it's put in every type of processed food or drink in the United States. High Fructose Corn Syrup can be found in soda, cereal, breads, and even dog food. I believe that the processed sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup has contributed to rise in obesity in the United States.

How the Body Processes Sugar

Fructose, is a sugar that is found in most fruits: and glucose is a sugar that is also found in fruits and vegetables, which is processed through the liver. Glucose is almost always used as energy for the body, since it needs energy to function. Fructose on the other hand, is more than likely to be stored as fat and to be used for energy later.

What is High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS?)

HFCS is a processed sugar, where corn is used as the main ingredient. The corn is processed into the consistency of syrup, at this stage the syrup is just fructose. Enzymes are added to the syrup, so some of the fructose is converted to glucose, to make a fructose-glucose mixture. Since the late 1970s, HFCS has been added to almost every processed food in the United States, as a sweetener. HFCS has replaced the traditional table sugar; which is sucrose, another type of sugar, in most of these foods. A couple reasons HFCS has become so heavily used in the United States is that it was cheaper to process HFCS, than import sugar cane from the Caribbean; another reason the United States government offers subsidizes to farmers who grow corn.

High Fructose Corn Syrup's (HFCS) Contribution to Obesity

According to studies, HFCS is not anymore unsafe than any other sugars but sugars need to be consumed in moderation. Ever since U.S food manufactures switched to the use of HFCS as its sweetener, the sugary syrup has found its way into almost every food product that we consume. Now, that's where the problem occurs; for example, in an Italian three course dinner, almost every food item that would be consumed has HFCS in it. Since, HFCS is mainly fructose; and the body stores fructose as fat, people are putting on more fat and are unaware of doing so. While other things, such as lack of exercise and some health issues may contribute to weight gain; HFCS is playing a major part in obesity.

In conclusion, in order to fight against obesity and other health risk, one must be attentive to the amount of their daily sugar consumption, whether it is natural or processed. By doing so, one must try to include more natural foods, rather than processed foods in their daily diet. Creating good eating habits, will benefit ourselves and can be passed down through the generation, so that the obesity rate in the United States can finally curve into a downward trend.

For more information on family health and nutrition topics visit http://myfamilyplate.com/

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Why Is Drinking Soda So Bad for Our Bodies?

Most people think that drinking soda is harmless flavored water with a few bubbles that all the family will drink and quenches their thirst; making it an easy palatable method for drinking water.

Think Again! Soda happens to be the worst consumable drink on the market for your bodies in terms of nutritious health.

You may think the soda pop quenches your thirst, but in fact it runs directly to your bladder and is disposed of immediately. Why? The drink is pumped with carbon dioxide, in order to create the fizz and our body does not want it. Remember that we breathe out carbon dioxide, so why should we want it in our drinks?

This is even not the worst news! The really bad news is that the other two ingredients are extremely addictive substances and therefore very difficult to stop our body from craving for them. We have created a dependency on caffeine and sugar, which are very difficult to stop the dependency.

Sugar is cheap to buy and is in pretty much everything that we eat and drink, unless it has the words "natural" are on the label. It is one of most difficult habits to quit, because it is there is too much of it everywhere.

Sugar also does not help people that are trying to lose weight as there is no nutritious content to the drink and it is wasted in a drink, when you should be drinking plain filtered tap water. Even alternatives to sugar are questionable because of their synthetic content, which may have carcinogenic properties that could lead to cancer of the stomach or bowel.

The other dangerous content of soda is caffeine, because it gives you a false sense of alertness, or a false boost of energy. Many children survive on this 'quick fix', losing valuable sleep that will most certainly affect their education by keeping them up late at night and then becoming sleepy at school.

This false sense of alertness or burst of energy is an unnatural chemical that is substituting the adrenaline used by your body in times of emotional need. Your body becomes totally confused now with what is normal and what is abnormal emotions, so that the caffeine takes over from your body's natural defense and you become unnaturally dependent on the caffeine instead.

The fizz or carbonation of the ingredients is really carbon dioxide pumped into the sugary water. Your body expels carbon dioxide when you exhale, so any other carbonation process will immediately expel the water from your body.

This is not the type of water your body needs for body to hydrate It may temporarily quench your thirst, but your body needs natural neutral water. It is always better to offer your family cold tap water, as the chlorine settles out of the water when it is cold and not pay for bottled water which is a waste of money and will not help your body.

The author Gail McGonigal is trained Occupational Therapy and now has a website called Active Living Solutions Ltd. Her master's degree in Health Promotion, along with her knowledge in Occupational Therapy aims to show Baby Boomers how to heal their aches and pains through proper sitting on an ergonomic chair. Gail has herself suffered with spinal pains and has cured her own scoliosis in her spine through her ergonomic sitting on a bicycle. Gail now has an Active Living Solutions Plan, which is free with each ergonomic chair that will help customers live actively and pain-free in life, plus provide safe and supportive solutions for Baby Boomers. She will show you how to live a comfortable and pain-free quality of life that will help you remove excess pounds and enjoy a more active existence while using one of her ergonomic chairs. Gail sells all types of chairs, but specializes in those customers who have discomforts in prolonged sitting. Her expertise is to help the Big & Tall customers be comfortable in their chairs. http://www.activelivingsolutions.net/big-and-tall-chairs.html Gail now has a blog where she will discuss the different chairs for your benefit.

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