The recent debates about the best way to approach healthcare reform have really highlighted obesity and obesity related diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and cancer as the top preventable health problems in the US today. Both parties agree that focusing on obesity cures and prevention will be an important part of bringing down the costs of healthcare.It is estimated that every pound lost is equivalent to a $50/yr savings in healthcare costs.An obese 40-year-old is equal in medical age to a 60-year-old normal weight person. Weight loss surgery provides an aggressive approach to significant weight loss to improve health in persons who have tried and struggled with traditional diet and exercise programs.For the health of our nation and to lower healthcare costs, it is my hope that the final healthcare reform bill will include provisions to improve access to treatments like weight loss surgery.
If you haven’t been to one of the gastric band support groups lately I can tell you that the patients that have been attending regularly have been extremely positive and helpful.The support they show each other and new group attendees is quite impressive.The “hot topic” last night was using Chia seeds for health and appetite control.Patient Becky even brought sample Chia seed gel shots.Prudence, our nutritionist/bariatric coach, likes the health benefits of Chia seeds as they are high in protein, fiber, and antioxidants.Also, the patients find that it can help curb hunger between meals and adjustments with very few calories.
At the latest support group, there was one person who had not yet had her surgery and she was able to get great input from experienced band patients firsthand.The next band support group meeting is August 25, 2009 starting at 6pm and ending at 7:30 pm.Meetings are free for all Gastric Band Institute and Surgical Weight Control Center patients and potential patients. Hope to see you there.
After surgery, most patients start off weighing their food with a food scale every meal and being very successful with their weight loss. When patients plateau or stop losing weight, it almost always corresponds to when they stop using the scale and “guesstimating” or eyeballing their meal portions.
In order for your brain to keep your body from being hungry, it will portion out enough food to keep your weight stable, or keep you from losing weight. The food scale makes sure that your portions are small enough that your body can lose weight. Also, that’s the most accurate way gastric band patients can know if they need a band adjustment. When the same size meal that used to fill them up, no longer does, an adjustment is needed. If you are eating different size meals you won’t know for sure when it’s time for an adjustment. Also, because the band is a mechanical device, it doesn’t change or adapt until we change it. It is very hard to adjust the band properly if the patient is eating inconsistent amounts. Sometimes the band may feel too tight and sometimes not tight enough if you are eyeballing the portion size and eating inconsistent amounts.
Almost everyone who stops losing weight after surgery will admit that they stopped using their food scale to weigh their 4oz meals. Please remember, the time to stop using the food scale is when you reach your goal weight.
Recently, the Gastric Band Institute performed the first several single incision gastric band procedures in Las Vegas.The procedure differs from the standard gastric band procedure in that instead of using 3-5 small incisions, a single larger incision is used to place the band.
Surgeons have been debating the merits of the single incision procedure for weight loss surgery and other surgeries like gallbladder surgery and appendectomy.However, the bottom line on single incision gastric band placement is that in selected lower BMI patients with smaller livers and thinner abdominal walls, it is a reasonable procedure with just a few more technical challenges than the standard 4-5 incision procedure.There does not appear to be any difference as far as pain or recovery between the two procedures, but which is cosmetically more appealing, 4-5 tiny incisions versus one larger more noticeable incision, is debatable.
We are pleased to be able to offer single incision gastric bands to some of our patients.Currently, technical equipment advances are being made that in the near future will increase the number of patients that can be offered this procedure.
A recent article in the NY Times reported a study citing that the incidence of kidney stones was twice as high in the obese population who had had gastric bypass than in the obese population who had not had weight loss surgery.Although not common, the incidence was about 8% after bypass compared to about 4%.
We have seen a few cases of kidney stones in our patients occur after gastric bypass, gastric band and gastric sleeve.Part of the increase incidence I believe is due to the fact that our post-op patients cannot drink water as fast or, “chug” it down, which may in part limit their fluid intake and be partly responsible for increased kidney stones.However, for many regular health reasons, we strongly encourage all our patients in the pre-op teaching classes to increase their water intake after surgery.If you have any questions about kidney stones that develop after weight loss surgery, please feel free to post them here.
Like I mentioned last Friday, we filmed a patient’s gastric band adjustment, or “fill” as we often call it, for those of you who want to see and understand how an adjustment is done.Below is a video of one of our patients, Ericka, with one of our physician assistants, Brian, undergoing a simple, five-minute fill.
We’ve also created a video of Brian demonstrating an adjustment on a model of a lap band and port for a more detailed explanation.If you have any more questions about gastric band adjustments, please post them here, or call the office at 702-384-8446.
Today we filmed a patient’s gastric band adjustment for those of you who have never seen an adjustment done and want to know how it works. You will soon be able to check it out here and at our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/LVGBIpatients. Stay tuned!
Some of our patients have done impressive things like running marathons and jumping out of airplanes.One of our patients, Mr. Keith Bettinger, who has lost 75 lbs. since his surgery about 4-5 months ago, has written a light hearted book titled “Fighting Crime With ‘Some’ Day and Lenny.”I recently enjoyed reading this compilation of Keith’s humorous short stories which draw upon his experiences as a Suffolk County, New York police officer. Now retired from police work and living in Las Vegas, Keith has won awards for his short story writing skills. Personally knowing Keith has made reading his work so much more interesting because I can see in his writing the same wit, humor, and sarcasm he brings with him on his office visits.If you’d like a copy of the book, please contact Keith at keithbett@cox.net.
“Clean your plate!”We all grew up hearing it, and I think this phrase is largely responsible for our growing obesity problem.We should be teaching our children to eat until they are no longer hungry, then stop.If the alpha wolf or king lion ate until all the food was gone, the pups and cubs would starve.But as humans we have conquered our environment so these laws of nature no longer apply and we now clean our plates so all the food is gone.
Part of the lifestyle change required for our patients to be successful is to eliminate those thoughts we learned during our upbringing that make us feel guilty or wasteful if we leave any food on our plates.By limiting food intake, patients that have undergone weight loss surgery realize that it is OK to leave food on their plate.Here at the Gastric Band Institute, our psychotherapist, Rachel, and our dietitian, Prudence, can also help with their Mindful Eating classes.For more information on when these classes are taught, please call 702-384-8446.
Please share here the infamous lines and techniques your parents used to coax you to eat.I bet this sounds familiar: “Just three more bites!”
Because the Gastric Band Institute has overseen the surgical weight loss of several thousand patients to date, I’ve been able to observe unique patterns common to very successful patients as well as those patterns common to less successful patients.This information may be helpful to potential patients trying to decide if a surgical weight loss procedure is right for them.
Patients struggling with their weight loss tend to look at their gastric band as something which should physically stop them from eating that one extra bite.They tend to “challenge” their operation, sometimes almost to prove that they can eat past their latest adjustment. As a result, they get food stuck more frequently and tend to have their bands tighter and have more problems with reflux.
The successful patients tend to look at their band as a tool which helps them stop themselves from eating more than is necessary to satisfy their hunger.They stop well before the last bite, they have more “eating margin” as described in a previous blog, have less reflux and don’t need to have their bands adjusted as tight.If you have questions about how to utilize the band for weight loss properly, please leave me a comment and I will reply, or contact Brian or Melissa, our physician assistants, at 702-384-8446.Also, if you have any advice or testimonials of how eating with the band correctly has made your weight loss successful, please tell us about it.
