Archive for the ‘Obesity’ Category



The introduction of the Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Band (LAGB), or Gastric Banding Surgery has set the medical world abuzz with its excellent potential to reduce and control obesity in men and women. In fact, many are looking at Gastric Banding Surgery as one of the best weapons in humanity’s eternal fight against obesity and weight problems.

Weight loss surgery has historically been considered as a solution that only came as a last resort. The complicated, and often permanent nature of the surgery, kept the general populace away from it by and large. While diet-control, exercises and even appetite-suppressants were gaining in popularity, weight loss surgery was looked upon as the final resort when everything else failed. However, with the introduction of Gastric Banding surgery it is now becoming the mainstream solution for sustained weight loss.

So, what is Gastric Banding surgery? Let’s take a closer look. At the center of Gastric Banding surgery is an ingenious little device, – an adjustable gastric band designed to help you not only to lose excess weight but also keep it off. It is the only adjustable and reversible weight-loss procedure available in the United States and the only weight-loss surgery approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The way the system works is really simple. The band, after being surgically inserted inside the body, restricts the amount of food that can be consumed at one time. It also produces an earlier sense of fullness so that you feel satisfied with smaller portions. This automatically helps you control the calorie intake.

Gastric Banding surgery involves a surprisingly easy laparoscopic procedure which is minimally-invasive and requires under 45 minutes. It is usually performed on an out-patient basis, and this allows patients to return home the same day and resume normal activities within 24-48 hours. The reason behind this is, the procedure does not involve any major surgical intervention such as stomach cutting and stapling or gastrointestinal re-routing to bypass normal digestion. What is more significant is that somebody who has undergone Gastric Banding surgery can choose to have the band removed easily during a later stage.

Due to its success in enabling sustained weight loss, Gastric Banding surgery is now being offered to slightly and moderately overweight people and is not just for people who are morbidly obese. Also known as Bariatric Surgery, LAGB or Gastric Banding surgery is widely being used by an increasing number of people to bring about rapid weight loss and also keep it off. According to the World Health Organization, laparoscopic adjustable gastric band (LAGB) or Gastric Banding Surgery has been used in more than 300,000 procedures worldwide to great success.

If you are already feeling sufficiently motivated to find out more about how Gastric Banding Surgery can help you control your obesity, why not look around the Internet a bit? There’s no dearth of resources to help you. Weight loss specialists such as iVital are a wonderful place to familiarize yourself with this wonderful weight-loss breakthrough. iVital houses some of the finest customer care advisors, advocates, nurses and physicians to ensure that you receive the utmost attention and care and the best possible weight loss solutions available today.

It’s no wonder that the iVital is one of the best online addresses for Gastric Banding Surgery .



Today, the rise in childhood obesity has several causes. The main cause of obesity is certainly children eat too much and/or not perform regular exercise or being generally inactive. The extra calories that are not able to burn up through exercises or physical activities will translate into fat, and when this fat becomes excessive and more, one will become obese. This difference results in weight gain and will vary from children to children that was due to few factors such as genes, health issues, physical inactivity as well as psychological issues also contribute to weight gain and may be what the causes of obesity are. Even though the main cause of obesity is underlying disorders, nevertheless, it is also closely related to people lifestyles as well.

Poor eating habits and food choices

Today, the way we prepare food and the no of time per day is totally different as compare with our ancestors did in the old time. During the old time, everything need to be cooked from scratch, but now with the help from modern equipments, the time and effort to prepare food became simple and faster. This is one of the reasons why now fast food restaurants dominate our diets.

By study how the children eat today; you will know what the main cause of childhood obesity is. Small changes in their daily diets can have large help enabling you to prevent childhood obesity. The best healthy choices of food include vegetables and fruits instead of sugary snacks. The most popular choices include carrot and bananas, celery sticks, apples and even salads that include a large variety of vegetables. By helping children understand and choosing the correct and better foods during the childhood time, definitely will ensure that they make the correct choices as they move into adulthood.

Bad behavior is also one of the causes. This group of children eats food that is low in nutrition and high in fat. This group of children eats fast food meals, rich desserts and drinks with a lot of sugar. They also usually overeaten, and the food that they consume has many empty calories. In other words, the food that they eat does not provide enough nutrition for a children needs. This same group of children eats lots of sweets food which in general have empty calories.

Lack of Exercise

Lack of regular exercise is a factor that has contributed to this being one of the causes of childhood obesity. Children who spend a lot of time watching TV programs will have a greater risk of child obesity than those who go outside playing or sporting. This is typically true when the children are eating fast food while watching television or playing video games.

In the pass, children like to play sports more often, enjoy outside activities as forms of entertainment and walk to school. But now a day, children are completely opposite from the pass. The sports our children like to do these days include watching television, playing computer game, surfing internet, chatting, and any game they choose while exercising only their mind, head and hands only. When you combine the poor choices in food and the lack of exercising, there is a high chance that childhood obesity will end up lead to disease.

Genetics

Genetics and DNA have been found to be a contributing factor in the causes of childhood obesity. Unfortunately, some children are naturally predisposed to obesity. These children are born with genes that cause them to put on weight more quickly than other children. The children with certain genes end up storing the fat more easily than other children. There is not much that these children can do about their genes, but there are steps that they can take to conquer the obesity.

Children parents can also aid in determining your chances of dealing with childhood obesity. If children parents had a problem with overweight, chances are the children will deal with the same issues. This makes it very important that you keep an eye on your children and their action and habits. Our DNA can not be changed. We can do some small changes in other areas that can make a great deal of improve on your child obesity. Some small changes, such as walking to school, playing outdoor games rather than letting children stay at home and avoid exercise. The simple and regular exercise can help your children avoid childhood obesity.

Psychological issues and Stress

Some study say that about 10% of people that are mildly obese was cause by psychological or stress problems. Some children have a difficult time dealing with stress so they use food as a comfort when they feel, and many children are prone to eating in response to negative emotions like being bored, feeling anxious or being angry.

Each child has to contend with different factors in their lives. The causes of obesity are can also be viewed as being weakness, a lack of willpower or a lifestyle choice of overeating and not exercising enough.

Environments

The environment too plays a role in the causes of obesity. The family home is an important place to learn about proper nutrition and enough physical activity. Attitudes, Habits, and beliefs about food selection and how to spend family leisure time are critical factors to forming a healthy relationship with food. Children spend a lot of time in school, their food choices at school become important and it was influenced by the school eating environment.

Modern lifestyles have improved our quality of life but also contribute greatly to physical inactivity. Cars are used for short trips, and the number of walking trips the average American children takes each year have decreased. Today only about 10% of public school students walk to school compared to the large no of student a generation ago.

Aug
31

Japan and Obesity

Posted by ewwink


Japanese food conjures up images of fish, rice, miso soup and tofu but recently fitness in the Land of the Rising Sun appears to be deteriorating. Unfortunately, an increasing number of Japanese are adopting unhealthy eating patterns and eating like Sumo wrestlers. The Japanese used to eat food high in protein, but over the past few decades there has been a shift towards eating more animal fat, and western fast food. Experts warn that Japanese children are leading increasingly sedentary lives, and foregoing tofu for burgers and instant noodles.

The Japanese are traditionally known for their restraint: their old adage is Hara Hachi bunme or “stop eating when your’re 80% full” . This restraint has led to it being the country that has had the world’s longest life expectancy: 86 years for women, 79 for men. The new trend of eating could one day jeopardize Japan’s status as the home of the world’s longest-living population. If eating habits change, life expectancy will shorten and this has already been made clear. According to the WHO, globally, there are more than 1 billion overweight adults, at least 300 million of them obese. Obesity and overweight pose a major risk for chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer. The key causes are increased consumption of energy-dense foods high in saturated fats and sugars, and reduced physical activity.

While Japanese waistlines have a long way to go before they start to overtaking the Americans: about 24% of people aged 15 and over are considered overweight, compared with 65% in th US, this change in eating patterns has led to an alarming rise in obesity. As the country leaves behind traditional food habits people in all age groups have grown heavier in the past two decades. The highest rate is among men in their 40s: 34 percent were overweight in 2003, up from 23 percent in 1980, according to the National Health and Nutrition Survey. While older women are growing fatter, younger fashion-conscious women tend to be underweight. Among children, 8 percent were obese or at risk of obesity in 2004, compared with fewer than 6 percent in 1980. Diabetes is a leading concern. While the number of deaths from the disease has fallen in the past decade, more than 2 million people are being treated for it — an increase of about 53 percent from 15 years ago.The number treated for high blood pressure has also grown about 9 percent in the past 10 years, the Health Ministry says.

People in the Far East want to get anything American — including all the fast food chains, With their adoption of the Western diet, their plant food intake tends to go down while fat and animal protein intake has gone up.This rise should serve as a wake-up call for Americans and the Japanese to rediscover what helped make Japan lean and healthy in the first place. The Japanese government have released a new nutrition chart recently that encourages eating more carbohydrates — such as rice — and vegetables as main sources of energy, while cutting down on meat to reduce the intake of fat. The chart specifically targets overweight men, singles, and those raising children. The government has set aside about 72 million yen in the 2006-2007 budget to tackle child heft. The Health Ministry also plans to research the link between parents’ lifestyle and overweight children, and support selected towns to promote healthier eating habits.