Obesity Surgery has High Risks

A new study has found that four out of every ten people who undergo weight loss surgery experience complications within half a year. Many of these complications are so serious they have to go to emergency rooms.

The average cost of the surgery and six months of follow-up is $29,921. But for patients with complications that require re-admission to hospital, the average cost is $65,031.

Past studies found that ten to twenty percent of people had problems after the surgery. But this study done by federal researchers found that forty percent had complications within 180 days of surgery. The most common ailments include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal hernias, infections, pneumonia, respiratory failure and leaking of gastric juices.

Waist to Hip Ratio Versus BMI

Studies are increasingly finding that the waist to hip ratio may be more relevant to determining if you are relatively healthy even if overweight than the BMI (body mass index) ratio.

Someone who is extremely fit will have much more muscle on their bodies than someone who is very sedentary. And muscles weigh four times as much as the equivalent space taken up by fat. So a very fit person who lifts weights may be considered obese by BMI standards though they are in fact not even overweight let alone obese. BMI is not the best indicator of knowing if your fat ratio is compromising your health.

The waist-to-hip ratio on the other hand has been shown to be a very good indicator of a person's risk of developing heart disease and getting a heart attack.

See more about this at The Fanatic Cook

Trans Fat: the Key Food to Avoid

How much plastic are you eating today?

Have you recently eaten chips that said "Zero Trans Fat"? If so, you may have just eaten a lot more plastic than is good for you.

Trans fat is making headlines these days. It's been banned in restaurants in several countries. Is the FDA going to take some more action about it soon?

You've probably heard that trans fat is a very bad thing. It's linked to obesity, heart problems and high cholesterol. It's even worse than saturated fat, because though it raises the bad cholesterol levels just like saturated fat, it also lowers the amount of good cholesterol levels in your body - which even saturated fat is not guilty of doing.

Right now the Federal Dietary Guidelines recommends people eat less than two grams of trans fat per day. That would be equivalent to about one small glazed donut or one small handful of french fries cooked with trans fat.

The Institute of Medicine disagrees however, and says the only safe level of trans fat is zero.

The big food companies are allowed to put "Zero Trans Fat" in big letters on their food packages even if the food inside contains trans fat. They can do this if the food contains less than half a gram per serving. This is a bit of a joke as 'one serving' is usually defined as a tiny amount, maybe just a few chips, whereas we all know what happens to a bag of chips in one sitting once it's been opened. So quite conceivably, you could eat a bag of chips that said 'zero trans fat' and have actually consumed several grams of trans fat!

There is a very good interview on NPR this week with Kim Severson. She is the author of The Trans Fat Solution: Cooking and Shopping to Eliminate the Deadliest Fat from Your Diet.

She says trans fat is the one food we shouldn't be eating at all. It is a completely artificial substance that our bodies don't know how to process.

It's like putting plastic fat into our body.

Trans fat (also known as 'partially hydrogenated oils') really started to get into our diets in a big way in the 1970's, along with the growth of the fast food industry. Trans fat is much cheaper than the more traditional oils. It can be reheated over and over without spoiling, and this is why it's so popular in the restaurant and fast food industry. It's also become a key ingredient in many packaged foods because it doesn't spoil as quickly as natural oils.

It looks like there is a movement starting to get underway to ban trans fat use in restaurants. Chicago may be the first city to do this in the United States thanks to the efforts of Alderman Edward Burke. And last month a consumer group sued KFC to try to stop the chicken chain from cooking with trans fat. A KFC meal of three pieces of extra-crispy chicken contains 15 grams of trans fat, and a single pot pie contains 14 grams.

What are other foods that are high in trans fats? Here's an excerpt from Consumer Reports from a couple of years ago:

WHERE'S THE TRANS?

We tested mainly the top-selling foods that we knew or suspected would contain at least some partially hydrogenated oil. We found trans fat--up to 4 grams per serving--in many of those foods. But since it's the combined total of trans and saturated fat that matters most, the table in Bad fats in common foods lists the foods in decreasing order of total bad-fat content. There's little benefit in choosing a food that's low in trans fat if it's high in saturated fat, and vice versa. Banquet Chicken Pot Pie, for example, contained just a trace of trans fat. But its 7.5 grams of saturated fat made it the top artery-clogging product on our list. The surprising runner-up for top artery clogger: Mrs. Smith's Apple Pie, with 4 grams of trans and 3 grams of saturated fat per slice. Other foods that you might not suspect of harboring bad fats: Nabisco Wheat Thins, Kellogg's Cracklin'’ Oat Bran Cereal, Kellogg's Eggo Buttermilk Frozen Waffles, and Pillsbury Buttermilk Frozen Waffles. While the amount of trans and saturated fat in many of the other tested foods may seem low, keep in mind that serving sizes are often quite small. Orville Redenbacher's Popping Corn Movie Theater Butter, for example, contains about 1.5 grams of bad fat--but that's in a mere 6.5-gram serving, or 1 cup, not the big bowlful that many people eat.
Note that our table doesn't list any fast-food french fries; McDonald's is reformulating the one such product we tested. But manufacturers'’ data provide some illuminating comparisons. Burger King's medium fries apparently supply more trans fat and more bad fat overall than any product in our table: 4.5 grams of trans plus 5 grams of saturated fat. Wendy's medium fries--a significantly larger serving--supply roughly the same total amount of bad fat: 6 grams of trans and 3 grams of saturated fat. McDonald's reformulated medium fries--about the same size as Wendy's--have less trans fat and less bad fat overall than either of those competitors. We plan to test french fries and other reformulated products in the near future to assess their bad-fat content.

______________
The above photos of donuts and fries are by pinkpucca and klynslis.

Getting Rid of Sagging Skin after Weight Loss

There's an interesting discussion going on over at Livin' La Vida Low-Carb about how to get rid of the excess skin on your body after a dramatic weight loss. People who lose many dozens of pounds are often left with a great deal of sagging skin. Surgery is increasingly being touted as the solution to the excess flabby skin, but a lot of people believe this is not optimal and necessary. Here are some comments people have made there:

"I thought for sure I'd have to get plastic surgery. But the more weight I lost, the more what I thought was loose skin tightened up and the better it looked. Based on my experience, I don't think you have loose skin; instead there's more fat under there to lose."

"I myself have the excess skin after losing 100 lbs. I am 37 years old. The biggest area where I had it was around my tummy, so I purchased an Ab Lounge and over the last several months, I have noticed a major improvement in my stomach area. I'm also doing a combination of aerobic type activity (belly dancing and hula-hooping), pilates, and other weight-bearing exercises for toning. I think "toning" is the key. Lifting weights is also key. I might always have the underarm waggle and the extra skin on the bottoms of my thighs, but I look MUCH better than I did before. I look better at 37 than I did @ 27."

"I do believe that it takes time to tighten up the loose skin. I lost half of my body weight from 220 to 110 when I was in my 50's (I am now 72). It took about 7 years but I did lose most of the loose skin. I tried going down further in weight to lose it faster and to lose the little belly pouch but it didn't work, just made my arms and legs look like sticks. I still have the belly. Unfortunately the low fat crowed convinced me that low carb was ruining my health and I gained most of it back before I regained my senses and went back to low carb. I now weigh 130 which is healthy for my 5'3". In short give it time, it takes about 7 years I have heard for the body to completely replace itself cell by cell."

"Time and exercise have worked for me. Almost four years after losing the bulk of 95 pounds, I only have a few spots that would qualify as loose skin and they're barely noticeable. The worst spot was my lower stomach, but it only looked a bit wrinkly, not hanging and since I've upped my exercise intensity it's gotten even better. I'm 43 and have birthed two strapping boys, so I don't have the benefit of youthful elasticity."

See the full discussion at Livin' La Vida Low-Carb. Untitled photo by Malingering.

Kate Bosworth Losing Excessive Weight

Kate Bosworth is getting scary skinny. Here's a recent photo (June 2006) of her promoting the world premiere of 'Superman Returns' in Los Angeles. She really is way too skinny here to be optimally attractive.

Last year in February 2005 Bosworth was quoted as saying she would like to add more weight to her frame. At that point she said she weighed 115 pounds. What's her height? She is 5'7" tall.

And what is her weight speculated to be at now? According to US Weekly Bosworth weighs about 105 pounds now. She eats lots of veggies, fruits and protein and exercises by walking with her dog. US Weekly also says she drinks a lot of herbal teas and takes wheat grass shots.

Bosworth, 23, is on her way to becoming a superstar. The Superman movie is her biggest yet, but there will undoubtedly be more huge roles in the near future. Her other movie appearances include Bee Season (2005), Beyond the Sea (2004), Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004), Advantage Hart (2003)' Wonderland (2003),The Rules of Attraction (2002), Blue Crush (2002),Remember the Titans (2000),Young Americans (2000) TV Episode, The Newcomers (2000), and The Horse Whisperer (1998).

Just in the last year or so, there has been a high-profile and dangerous trend with Hollywood celebrities looking increasingly like skinny skeletons. Hopefully one of these A-list young celebrity females will take a stand on this issue soon. Otherwise it could have very serious repercussions for the rise in eating disorders amongst young women.

Vince Vaughn Motivated to Lose Weight?

Vince Vaughn says he reached a body mass index of thirty in preparing for his role in "The Break-Up. The role called for him to pack on an extra 50 pounds. Vaugh is a big guy. Although I haven't been able to find his weight anywhere, his height is recorded as 6'5''. If his BMI reached 30 (which is the borderline between overweight and obese), he must have weighed somewhere in the range of 255 pounds.

Vaugn says that it wasn't easy for him to put on the excess weight. But he focused on eating deep fried foods, super size portions and avoiding exercise. Above is a photo of him from the Break-Up movie set. He doesn't look like he's verging on obesity to me here.

We don't know how much weight Vaughn has lost since shooting the movie. But now there are rumors that he wants to lose all his excess weight before he weds Jennifer Aniston. At his height he should weigh somewhere between 165 and 212 to be in the normal weight range according to BMI calculations. Sometimes I wonder about these BMI calculations. I'd think that a 6'5" man weighing 165 pounds would look rather skeletal?

Stay posted here for any news on Vaughn's weight loss efforts.

Is it a Fat Belly or a Cyst?

Here's an incredible story of one woman who went to her doctor repeatedly, complaining of a huge and swollen stomach. He told her she was overweight and prescribed weight-loss pills (Duramine) to her.

Finally, after many months, and in huge pain, she was taken by ambulance to the hospital where they found an ovarian cyst that weighed more than 30 pounds; more than four newborn babies! The cyst was safely removed.

Her weight dropped from 163 to 126 pounds after the surgery. This woman, 44, had had three children in the past.

Her lawyer said the case was not about failure to diagnose an ovarian cyst.

"It's about a failure to recognise she had an abnormal and undoubtedly a very distended abdomen," he said.

"The woman was visibly upset on the first day of the hearing yesterday as she described her symptoms, including having a "humungous" stomach, bloating and pain."

Expert witness Gerald Young, an Auckland doctor with a special interest in surgery, said Dr S made several moderate to serious departures from accepted professional standards, including his failure to calculate the patient's body mass index and take her waist measurement as a baseline before prescribing Duromine.

Getting Rid of Excess Years

Doctor Roizen has created a quiz that determines how old you really are. He says your 'real age' depends on your lifestyle rather than on the year you were born. And if you can change your lifestyle habits, you can look and feel a lot younger.

Many of the questions relate directly to our daily diet and exercise habits. For example, in the past three years, how many minutes did you exercise per week on average? If you answered more than 90 minutes, you are doing grandly on the exercise scale. Another key determinant is if your weight has fluctuated a lot over the years. With respect to diet, much depends on whether you are getting adequate calcium, folic acid, Vitamin C and E. And do you eat fish regularly?

Check out his RealAge Test here, to see if you are younger than your years.

If you are overweight and depressed, you might be deficient in folic acid. See more on what foods have folic acid here.

His book has been on the bestseller list for months: YOU: The Owner's Manual : An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger

Brandy Norwood's Eating Disorder

It looks like Brandy Norwood, 27, will need to get used to vast media attention again soon. She is scheduled to replace Star Jones on The View beginning this Wednesday. If she does well, she'll be offered the contract to co-host the View.

Brandy has had a serious eating disorder in the past. She was most likely anorexic for a couple of years when she was in her teens. At one point while on the set of Moesha, she had to be rushed to the hospital for a three day stay which was described as due to 'dehydration and exhaustion'. There were rumors that she had taken too many diet pills, but this is apparently untrue, Brandy may have been anorexic but she did not take diet pills. Apparently at one point her weight got as low as 105 pounds.

Later Brandy took part in hosting a segment on BodyWise; an initiative to encourage young girls to have better self-esteem about their bodies and to educate young women on the dangers of eating disorders. Here she told young girls that "eating the right foods and staying active are ways to stay fit. It isn't what others say about you, it's what you say and do to yourself".... "Being active, like playing a sport, dancing, or exercising are all ways you can keep fit. I take tae-bo classes to maintain a healthy body and spirit."

See the BodyWise page about eating disorders here.

Brandy became famous at a very young age. The pressure and stress must have been partly responsible for her near breakdown and for her decision to leave the limelight for about three years during her early twenties. But during this time, there was little rest either, as she got married, had a baby and got divorced all before the age of 25.

Hopefully this next phase of her dance in the public limelight will go very well for her. I hope she doesn't succumb to pressures to have more cosmetic surgery (just veneers so far I think) or lose even more weight.

Best wishes to Brandy on The View!

Update January 2007: Brandy Norwood was involved in a horrific car crash three weeks ago. She was driving on the Los Angeles freeway when her Land Rover rear-ended another car. The woman in the other car died from the accident after another car hit her because her car veered into another lane. Now Brandy is being sued for manslaughter and $50 million dollars by the woman's family.