ObesityHelp

By Jeremy Gentles, MA, CSCS

I am not a big fan of the typical New Years Resolution fitness articles. While many of these articles are intended to be motivational, they generally do little to encourage long-term success and the advice provided is often downright ignorant or mediocre at best. Like many other aspects of a healthy lifestyle, success with exercise requires consistency, proper goal setting, and having some basic knowledge of how your actions impact your life. You don’t need some hyperactive “fitness expert” pitching you the latest exercise gadgets and routines in order to succeed during any time of the year, much less New Years. When it comes to exercise, getting back to the basics is one key to success that is frequently ignored. With this said, ask yourself a simple uestion. Does my exercise program better prepare me for situations I may face in everyday life?

Health vs. Fitness

Before we address the question posed above, we need to lay some basic ground work about the difference between Health and Fitness. While being fit is often associated with better health, fitness is not defined by health. You can be fit for a number of different tasks, activities and sports that really have
nothing to do with health. Click here to read more.

You need to eat less calories, exercise more and choose healthier foods.” Does this sound familiar? Often times after leaving a doctor’s appointment and being informed about your ever rising cholesterol levels, borderline blood pressure and excessive weight gain, you leave the office with these words of wisdom. It sounds like a great idea but as you start to think about your plan of action, you often wonder what these code words mean. It seems as though you need to figure out how to decipher the code to become successful in obtaining your doctor’s wishes in improving your health, but at the same time you struggle in trying not to lose your sense of satisfaction of fulfillment when nourishing your body. Just how much do you give up to obtain a healthy lifestyle without compromising the joy you experience from eating your favorite foods?

As a Registered Dietitian, I have witnessed this transition from bariatric pre-op to bariatric post op. It may be difficult, as it will take some work and effort on your part, especially in the beginning as you learn how to retrain your body into craving specific food items. Understanding food labels and knowing what to look for while grocery shopping is the starting point to your success in becoming a healthier you.

Depending on your personal goals, there are specific items you should target for your individual needs. As a post bariatric patient, protein is a very important food component. It is not only is used for growth and repair of the human body, but since carbohydrates are limited due to potential dumping syndrome (such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), protein is also used as a source of energy. Therefore, when reading a food label, the first item you should review is the amount of protein in that product. The values will differ from various food sources, i.e. animal protein will contain a larger amount of protein than a piece of fruit or a vegetable would. This means the higher the protein, the more beneficial. Click here to read more.

Each month we work with generous sponsors to bring 3 lucky OH newsletter subscribers a perk giveaway.  A BIG thank you to all of our 2009 sponsors! Here is what was a part of our past perks:  Celebrate Vitamins, Bariatric Advantage Vitamins, Chef Dave’s Cookbook, achievONE®, CLICK Espresso Protein Drink, Dr. Garth Davis’ Book, Chike, and Just The Cheese.

But we’re not done yet…To finish the year out, OH went holiday shopping!

For December, we have a special MEGA holiday perk line-up for OH Newsletter subscribers. 

So far we have…

1 - Nintendo Wii Game Console + Wii Fit board & Game

3 - 10mp Kodak Easy Share Digital Cameras

2 - Apple iPod Nanos

2 - Tanita Scales PLUS Body Fat and Body Water Monitor

3 - MIO Heart Rate Monitor Watches

5 - Emsa Perfect Measuring Beakers

To be eligible for the holiday perks giveaway please make sure you are subscribed to the OH newsletter by December 9th. Winners will be randomly chosen from the OH newsletter subscribers. All winners will be announced in the December issue!

Don’t forget to spread the holiday cheer and let others know!

Today we released a couple of major updates to Health Tracker just in time for the holidays (as we continue on the path to Health Tracker world domination :). These updates include, 1) Profile display of Health Tracker - If you choose to, you are now able to display/share your Health Tracker within your personal profile. This can be kept completely private, it can be shared with only your friends or with the entire ObesityHelp community. 2) My Workouts - You are now able to build and store custom workouts that can be used over and over again. My Workouts will allow you to log multiple exercise/activity items at one time so you don't have to search for individual exercises each time you want to log your activity or exercise session.

Profile Display of Health Tracker .

The profile display of Health Tracker includes Body, Food Log, Exercise Log and the Macronutrient Report. As mentioned above, this can be kept entirely private or you can choose to share your Health Tracker information with friends, family, your bariatric surgeon or other clinicians.

In order to see the profile view of Health Tracker, when viewing your profile or another member's profile, look for the Health Tracker link to the right of the avatar. If there is no Health Tracker link, the profile view of Health Tracker has been set to private.

The privacy settings for Health Tracker can be found in the "Settings" section of My OH. To access your Health Tracker setting click My OH at the top of any page on ObesityHelp, select "Settings" on the left, click the Health Tracker tab and choose the "Sharing" option. Or, just click here to access your Health Tracker Sharing options :)

Workouts

My Workouts makes it quick and easy to log routine exercise and activity. For those who perform similar exercises on a regular basis, with My Workouts you can create a workout consisting of a series of exercises you often perform and instead logging each exercise indivivudally, My Workouts allows to log a single item (a workout) that contains all of the exericses you have performed. Build it once and log it any number of times.

Under My Workouts you will see a list of workouts that you have created and saved. You can log workouts directly from My Workouts by selecting "I did this", choose the day and click "Save"

You can also search for workouts you have created directly from your Exercise Log.

Create your first workout now!

One other addition

For your convenience, in this release we have also made some changes to the account deactivation process. In case you ever have the need to deactivate your ObesityHelp account, you can access this function by clicking My OH at the top of any page on ObesityHelp, select "Settings" on the left, and under the "General" tab select "Manage". Instructions for deactivating your account can be found there.

Have a great Thanksgiving and look for more updates soon!

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this release, please post them in this thread on the Main Message Board.

Have you ever gone into the basement … stopped … looked around blankly … and thought, “now, WHY did I come down here”? Then you go back up stairs, remember, come back down your stairs for the second time, and do whatever it was you had to do.

Yes, age-related forgetfulness can increase your daily activity level by making you retrace your steps all the time, but it can also be a cause for concern. Not to worry, though, because these kinds of events are very common as we get older. The key is not to worry about preventing them completely (because, well, you can’t), but to give your brain its best chance of staying as sharp as it can, for as long as it can.

Mental “brain-aerobics” can certainly help you stay on top of your game, but certain foods can do just as much for your graying gray matter!! In fact, some edibles are especially good at protecting the brain's delicate nerve cells and blood vessels from the damage that comes from normal aging. Even better, most of the very smartest foods for the brain also happen to be good for the heart. Click here to read more.

Why do I feel nauseous during and after my exercise sessions? Why do I get sluggish three miles into a run? Why do I start getting weak about half-way through my strength training workout? Why are my workouts great at the beginning of the week, but by the end of the week it is all I can do to get motivated enough to get to the gym? These are some of the most common problems I see people facing upon initiating an exercise program after weight loss surgery. While there could be a number of different reasons to explain each one of these issues after weight loss surgery, the majority of time these questions can all be answered with one simple word. Carbohydrate.

For good reasons, such as wound healing and maintenance of muscle tissue to name a couple, protein becomes the priority macronutrient after weight loss surgery. Unfortunately, protein does very little to fuel exercise and is only part of the equation when it comes to exercise recovery. With protein being the focus in addition to significant caloric restriction after weight loss surgery, this combination places limits on an individual’s ability to exercise intensely and/or for long durations. Even though protein is not the primary source of energy during exercise, the most common answers I hear to the questions presented above always include protein and more protein. Rarely is carbohydrate ever given a mention. Click here to read more.

Bariatric Surgery has gone from an open surgery requiring a large abdominal incision to laparoscopic surgery requiring five or six tiny incisions to Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery requiring a single abdominal incision. The future will be transoral or endoscopic bariatric surgery that involves no incisions. WD152

The Toga system developed by Satiety, Inc., a medical device company based in Palo Alto, California is one of the procedures currently undergoing clinical studies in the United States. The system is a flexible device that is inserted through the mouth into the stomach to staple the stomach.

The TOGA procedure is performed under general anesthesia by a bariatric surgeon. The surgeon then places the flexible stapler down into the stomach and inserts an endoscope, which is a flexible camera into the stomach to see the procedure on a television screen. The device then suctions the wall of the stomach into the stapler and forms a four-inch tube or pouch in the proximal stomach. Click here to read more.

The holiday season is fast approaching, bringing parties and possibly pounds. The abundance of cakes, cookies, pies, candies and casseroles can sabotage even the strongest of wills. In fact, the average holiday weight gain can range from 5-10 pounds. The excess of calories can start as early as Halloween and continue all the way through New Year’s Day. However, there are ways to avoid those extra holiday pounds. Here are 10 tips to help you have a healthy holiday season: WD153

1) Eat what you want. Yes, you heard it right! Give yourself permission to eat your favorite foods but in appropriate amounts. Deprivation can breed overindulgence, so don’t deny yourself. However, it is important to practice self-control. Try to eat half the portion you would normally eat, and eat it slowly, savoring every bite and every taste. Chew slowly and try to figure out what ingredients are contributing to that wonderful taste.

2) Plan ahead. Keeping the above idea in mind, budget for the calories in your favorite foods. Know what foods will be served and treat yourself to your favorites but be aware of the calorie content of those foods. Decide on what calorie content you can budget for that meal and fill the rest of the plate with free foods. Free foods are foods low in calories and high in nutrition like broccoli, carrot sticks, celery and other items on the veggie tray. Fruits, though not as low in calories as veggies, are also a good choice due to their high nutrition content. Try dipping veggies in salsa, since this is almost a free food, or choose other dips but in small amounts. Click here to read more.