I'm Obese, I Have A Virus!

I couldn't resist that title. For the last 10 days, I have been so sick with a virulent nasty virus and this is the first time I've felt well enough to sit at the computer and focus a few thoughts. My TB found a fascinating entry in Science Blog called Contagious obesity? Identifying the human adenoviruses that may make us fat. My first reaction was to laugh, which set off a painful coughing spasm. On TV, anchors said people ought to be careful to wash their hands so that they didn't become obese. Still incredulous, I went and read the article.


I don't know about this one. I've read it twice and I have a gajillion questions. When there weren't so many of us fat folks, people generally believed you got fat from being lazy and not eating enough. Over the years, we've learned much about metabolism and fat genes and people have been getting bigger and bigger. Now that we've reached epidemic proportions isn't it "better" to say hey, I'm fat because I caught a virus? What about lack of exercise? What about "super size me"?

"It makes people feel more comfortable to think that obesity stems from lack of control..."

Um, no, not if you're the fat one. If you're the fat one you can beat yourself up pretty good because of not using more "control". It's a whole lot easier to say, "I can't help it, I was made this way" (gene) or "I can't help it, I'm sick" (virus).


Why are so many of us fat and getting fatter? I always thought it had to do with our couch potato mentality. Let's face it, we really have changed over the last 30 years or so. When I was a kid and even a young adult, I didn't spend nearly so much time sitting as I have in the last 20 years. I played outside until it got dark as a kid. I was on several different bowling leagues and swam as a young adult. And then came... "Pong". Yes, that first video game. We all sat there for a couple of hours at a time, mesmerized. Or we'd get heavily into "Space Invaders".


Add to the lack of activity, the "super size me" mentality of the fast food restaurants--and nearly all other eateries. Bingo, there you go, fat adults and kids.


Now this:

The theory that viruses could play a part in obesity began a few decades ago when Nikhil Dhurandhar, now at Pennington Biomedical Research Center at LSU, noticed that chickens in India infected with the avian adenovirus SMAM-1 had significantly more fat than non-infected chickens. The discovery was intriguing because the explosion of human obesity, even in poor countries, has led to suspicions that overeating and lack of exercise weren't the only culprits in the rapidly widening human girth. Since then, Ad-36 has been found to be more prevalent in obese humans.


...

There is still much to learn about how these viruses work, Whigham said. "There are people and animals that get infected and don't get fat. We don't know why," she said. Among the possibilities: the virus hasn't been in the body long enough to produce the additional fat; or the virus creates a tendency to obesity that must be triggered by overeating, she said.

Could this be really true? Wow, bring on the vaccine...oh wait, that'll be years in the future.


So for now, the best way to avoid becoming fat and the best way to lose it is to eat healthy and sensibly and exercise!


This news story is all over the place. Just google on "fat virus" and see what comes up!

This Week's Goals

Last night was Weight Watchers and to my complete surprise, I'd lost 2 pounds. But did it make me happy? I think, but I've been feel really down so I didn't feel happy. I didn't exercise at all so far this week. Over the weekend, I was in a great deal of pain. In the beginning of the week, I'd begun to feel better but I was afraid to exercise because I thought the pain would come back.

Now it's just depression.


I made some goals for this WW week, which begins today and ends next Thursday. I think I need to do more active fighting of this depression and I plan to do it by making myself get out and do stuff:


1. pick up around the house
2. spend time outside with the dog, kick a ball to him, etc
3. go shopping for birthday gifts for my daughter and grandson
4. while I'm there shopping, walk around the mall
5. most important of all, swim at the club at least 3 days before next Wednesday

Super Size Me

Last night, I finally watched the documentary, "Super Size Me". I'd heard of it, of course, and I'd also heard about the people who were suing McDonald's for contributing/causing their obesity. I didn't see the film because I thought, come on, no one eats three meals a day at McDonald's. Still, when my youngest borrowed it from the library I figured I would watch it.


Wow. This is something that would swear me off fast food for the rest of my life. Not long after this film was released, McDonald's stopped super-sizing their meals...not because of "Super Size Me" of course. I don't think a whole lot else has changed because early on, Morgan Spurlock (the self appointed guinea pig in the experiment and the director of the film) pointed out there are powerful food lobbies in Washington that are in place to make sure their industries are looked after. That means...no bad laws about fast food or food content and as many supportive laws as possible. An example: Congress enacted legislation to prevent obese people from suing McDonald's or any other fast food restaurant.


I think Spurlock took the experiment on because the judge in the original cases declared that the victims couldn't prove that McDonald's made them sick. Spurlock was a healthy young man at the beginning of his experiment, which was to eat 3 McD's meals every day for a month. He wasn't going to ingest anything that wasn't on the menu, including aspirin and vitamins. Now that's a bit extreme but I guess he wanted to be "pure". Well, three doctors examined him and pronounced him to be in excellent health with all his blood levels and weight to be in just the right place.


Half way through the experiment, the doctors were freaking because he'd gained like 17 pounds and his liver was being destroyed by all the fat.


It was scary.


Even scarier were the interviews he did with kids. Little ones could identify Ronald McDonald but not George Washington or Jesus. Middle school kids were eating lunches consisting of french fries, candy and soda...and my youngest confirmed that this is so at her school. Spurlock tried to put the cafeteria staff at the middle school on the spot about all the french fries and candy. They preferred to believe that these kids had brought in healthy lunches in brown bags and were just supplementing with the junk. Spurlock dragged them to several tables and asked the kids point blank--and all they were eating was junk. The cafeteria manager started this "aba dabba" stuff that made her sound like Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden stuck in a lie.


Back in the kitchen, the larders are crammed with crap the government sends to the schools to serve ... or it's crap sent by a big vender who doesn't want the schools going to a healthier provider--this is where the lobbyists come in again. Meanwhile, the lobbyist who agreed to be interviewed admitted that they were part of the problem...guess what? He isn't working there any more!


Anyway, it took Spurlock 1 month to gain almost 25 pounds and screw up his health. It took 8 weeks of a "detox" vegan diet to get his blood work back to normal and five months to lose all the weight he'd gained.


It's too bad he focused only on McDonald's because then someone had to come forward on their behalf and prove you can lose weight just eating their food. Sure...but you have to be very careful about your choices. As Spurlock found out, nutritional information wasn't easy to find in the restaurants.


But it's not just McDonald's that is the problem. It's all the fast food, the processed sugary fatty junk we're offered day after day.


Healthy food is expensive. If you are on a limited income, it's hard to shop healthy.


I think the biggest stumbling block to us getting healthy (through better choices, switching vendors, getting soda out of schools, etc) are the food lobbyists.


What can we do? Boycott, boycott, boycott all those unhealthy products. Maybe something will get done.


In other news, I saw this article today about leptin, the weight loss hormone:

Leptin, a hormone tied to body weight, may ease depression, a new study shows.

I'm really interested in that! I mean, here I am--probably full of leptin--and I'm still depressed! What's up with that?


The whole article is here.

Stupid Blogger Navigation Bar

I'm feeling pretty frustrated trying to get a template that works. This one is pretty but look what happened to my title! How can I fix this? Waaaaah....

To help me get started again tomorrow...

I had a great week last week. I went and participated in water aerobics all 3 days and also swam a half hour each day. Tomorrow class begins again.

From Beliefnet:

Overcoming Inertia
Man oh man it's hard to get started sometimes, isn't it? Hard to get going in the morning, hard to get your daily activity started. Hard to get up off of that couch. Hard to stay on your weight management program. So many people confirm what I have found to be true, myself!

But once you do, once you get the old ball rolling, moving isn't so hard. And once you're done you have that pleasant glow of achievement (rather than the weight of guilt and regret).

So I suggest when you're having a sluggish start-up--remember that once you get going, it's not hard. Just begin. The task at hand is not as hard as you think it will be.


The only thing hard is getting started, and you've done it before, so you can do it again. I know you can!

Isolation

I'd bookmarked this newsletter from Beliefnet because I think it applies to me, to a lot of us.

Connections
Pay close attention to this fact: obesity is a disease of isolation. We are heavy because we are afraid of living, afraid of others, afraid of being a full person, afraid that truly changing is going to be too much effort. Something happened to us, or is currently happening and we want to feel better. We've learned to do it by popping edibles into our mouths. We soothe ourselves by watching too much TV, and eating too much. We avoid a lot of activities, and barely let anyone know us.

It's easier, we think, to stay home and avoid people. It's easier to feel better for a moment by stuffing a piece of cake or an extra sandwich into our mouths than it is to walk somewhere, or participate in a community event. (Sorry to be so dismal, but you know I'm telling the truth).

Fat people trade their lives for food.


Do you really want to get thinner forever? Connect with other people, and with nature. Ask God for help to get out of the kitchen or restaurant, out into the world with others and make some connections today. You may discover that there are other people who share the same feelings and problems as you.

I admit that I have a tendency to isolate myself. What worries me even more than that, though, is that I see my kids isolating themselves--the older two anyway.

Today my son and I went back to the gym and I got involved with water aerobics again. There were about 8 other people there and none of them were skinny Minnies. I can see that they might share some of the same feelings I have...how 'bout that? It's not just me!

How can I help my kids see that too?

Surgery quick fix worth the risk?

I read this article a month ago, around the time I needed to take my car in for an oil change and got to talking with a bunch of people in the waiting room about bariatric surgery. Everything I hear raises red flags with me. In spite of the fact that the surgeries are riskier than first believe, doctors are still recommending the procedures.

Study: Obesity Surgery Risky

Fast Facts

Among patients 65 to 74, nearly 13 percent of men and about 6 percent of women died. In patients 75 and older, half of the men and 40 percent of the women died.

I'll stick with the old fashioned way of losing weight...

The rest of the article:

(AP) A new study shows that the chances of dying within a year after obesity surgery are higher than previously thought, even among people in their 30s and 40s.

The chances of dying within a year after obesity surgery are much higher than previously thought, even among people in their 30s and 40s, a study of more than 16,000 Medicare patients found.

Some previous studies of people in their 30s to their 50s — the most common ages for obesity surgery — found death rates well under 1 percent. But among 35- to 44-year-olds in the Medicare study, more than 5 percent of men and nearly 3 percent of women were dead within a year, and slightly higher rates were seen in patients 45 to 54.

Among patients 65 to 74, nearly 13 percent of men and about 6 percent of women died. In patients 75 and older, half of the men and 40 percent of the women died.

"The risk of death is much higher than has been reported," said University of Washington surgeon Dr. David Flum, the Medicare study's lead author. "It's a reality check for those patients who are considering these operations."

The study involved 16,155 Medicare patients who underwent obesity surgery between 1997 and 2002. It was published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study lumped together all deaths, with no breakdown on the causes. But obesity surgery's life-threatening complications can include malnutrition, infection and bowel and gallbladder problems. Also, surgery in general can be a deadly shock to the system, especially in older patients.

Dr. Neil Hutcher, president of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery, said that Medicare patients are probably sicker than the general U.S. population and that complication rates have declined as surgeons' expertise has increased.

But Flum said some previous research on the safety of obesity surgery consisted of "reports from the best surgeons reporting their best results," while the new study is more of a real-world look.

The American Society for Bariatric Surgery predicts obesity surgery will be performed more than 150,000 times this year in the United States. That is more than 10 times the number in 1998, according to a second JAMA study. The increase parallels a surge in the share of American adults who are at least 100 pounds overweight, from about 1 in 200 in 1986 to 1 in 50 in 2000, that study said.

Obesity surgery is usually reserved for "morbidly" obese people more than 100 pounds overweight. These patients often have life-threatening medical problems brought on by their girth, including heart trouble, diabetes and breathing difficulties — problems that surgery can sometimes resolve but which can also make the operation riskier.

Flum said the new study suggests that in many cases, obesity surgery may not be right for an older person "who already has the burden of 60 years of obesity on their heart" and other organs.

Medicare covers obesity surgery if it is recommended to treat related conditions such as diabetes and heart problems. The government is considering whether to cover surgery to treat obesity alone.

Medicare is for younger Americans with disabilities and for patients 65 and older. Flum said most of the patients he studied were under 65 and probably qualified for Medicare because of obesity-related ills, including heart and joint problems.

There are several types of obesity surgery, but the most common one in the United States, gastric bypass, involves creating an egg-size pouch in the upper stomach and attaching it to a section of intestine. That reduces the amount of food patients can eat and results in less food being absorbed. Flum's study lumped together data on the different operations.

Researchers said one reason men may have higher post-surgery death rates is that they tend to wait longer than women to seek medical help and may be sicker when the operation is performed.

A third JAMA study cast doubt on whether obesity surgery reduces health-care costs. It found that among patients followed for about three years, an average of 8 percent were hospitalized before surgery, mostly for obesity-related complications, compared with 20 percent a year afterward, mostly for surgery-related complications.

That study's lead author, Dr. David Zingmond of the University of California at Los Angeles, said some people mistakenly view obesity surgery as a cosmetic procedure and "may greatly discount the chances that they're going to have problems after surgery."

Hutcher said patients should seek experienced surgeons who meet his group's guidelines. Those include thoroughly evaluating patients before and after surgery and giving them long-term follow-up care.

Most patients "will receive a good outcome. A good outcome does not mean there's no risk for complications or mortality," Hutcher said. But he said the surgery is riskier than, say, a tonsil removal. And "these patients are very sick," he said.

Now, check out that last paragraph again. A good outcome does not mean there's no risk for complications or mortality.. So what the heck is a good outcome? Just the successful completion of the surgery without death? Eh, that's not a good enough outcome for me, thanks.

Here's another one...

...another diet, I mean. It's called the Sonoma Diet and there is an exerpt of it here.

I felt leery because I don't like the word "diet" anymore. It's a lifestyle. I was curious, though, and so I read the original story on CBS here.

I thought some things sounded pretty good. The author of the book (same name) is Connie Guttersen and she names 10 power foods:

Among them, whole grains: Not only do they contain fiber and nutrients that are going to sustain you with energy and keep you satisfied, but they are very important during weight loss.

Another power food? Almonds, which Guttersen describes as "a healthy type of fat for your heart that also keep you from getting hungry in between meals.

Yet another? Olive oil, a "heart-healthy fat."

Not to mention fruits and vegetables loaded with antioxidants and flavor, specifically, grapes, tomatoes, blueberries.

So far so good. Except for the almonds, these are foods I already eat and enjoy.

The drawback?

The plan includes three "waves."

"Wave One" lasts ten days, and is "an introduction where you experience the most rapid part of your weight loss, but it actually targets those extra pounds around your waist," Guttersen says. "You may not like how those pounds fit with your clothes, but that's really a red flag to heart disease, diabetes and possibly even Alzheimer's. Wave One also shifts your body into new gear, where you're not craving sugary high fat foods. You're satisfied with these nutrient rich foods and that's going to keep you motivated to keep going."

Participants stay on "Wave Two" until they reach their goal weights, and "Wave Three" is a maintenance mode.

Oh...so that's like Atkins and South Beach and other diets. So what happens if you mess up while you're one wave two? Do you go back and do wave one again? And usually the first stage is really tough because of being so limited in portions and types of food. I dunno...but I'm still curious enough to want to read the book. Wonder if I can get a copy from the library yet?

Last night, my daughter and I went back to Weight Watchers. We'd both gained about 2 lbs apiece which isn't too bad considering all the food we ate while on vacation to Tennessee over the holidays!

Bypass Surgery...Again

Before the holidays, my son and I took my Sienna in for an oil change. We sat in the waiting room with a crowd of other people and watched TV. There was a news story about gastric bypass and at the end of it, several of us said we'd never consider it because we've heard too many bad stories about failure rates (people gaining the weight back) and complications that could pop up even a year after the surgery.

Today, I read this article called Doctors Debate Safety of Obesity Surgeries. I thought it meant that doctors were re-evaluating the safety of even doing procedures but I should have known better. Although they clearly say that "No surgery gives lasting results unless people also change eating and exercising habits" and although studies are showing gastric bypass surgery is a lot riskier than previously thought "surgeons still favor it for people who need to lose weight fast because of heart damage or other serious problems."

I guess at that point they figure what have we got to lose but our lives--which we may lose anyway because of heart damage and other serious problems?

The article talks about all the different methods of bariatric surgery and the fact that the government has begun a study to compare them.

The more I read and learn, the less likely I am to ever consider any kind of bariatric surgery.

Here's another article:

Gastric Bypass Surgery Gone Bad

Gastric bypass surgery, the drastic procedure used to help some obese people lose weight, continues to grow in popularity.

It's estimated that 140,000 people had this procedure in 2004, with the number expected to grow even higher this year. And for the majority of patients, this surgery is a lifesaver, but not for all, reports The Early Show correspondent Melinda Murphys.

Like many people who seek out this surgery, Dave Weindel had been morbidly obese for most of his life. So he was eager to have surgery to help him lose weight, get healthy, and live longer to watch his four young children grow.

"I graduated from eighth grade a couple years later," Christy Weindel says, crying. "And he wasn't there for that. And he wasn't there for prom. And I just got married in September. And he wasn't there for that. It's really tough.

Christy Weindel lost her father when she was 12 years old. Dave Weindel died three weeks after having gastric bypass surgery.

"I had to come home and had to tell the kids that their dad died. Was very, very hard," says, Cathy Weindel. According to Weindel's wife, it wasn't supposed to turn out this way.

She says, "Well, they told us it was major surgery. But they said, 'You know, you're going to be home in three days.' "

Weindel's surgery was July 17, 1998. His stomach was reduced to the size of an egg and his intestines were re-routed. The surgeon told Cathy Weindel the operation went well. But within days, Weindel's health worsened.

He was transferred to a second hospital, where a CT scan revealed a large abscess. Weindel was treated, but his health continued to decline.

Cathy Weindel says she thinks her husband knew what was happening to him.

"I still remember, and I still see this in my mind," she says very emotionally. "When they're shutting everything down and there was nothing else they could do. I was talking to him. And I saw a tear come out of his eye. And, I mean, it still stays with me."

Dave Weindel died three weeks after his surgery. He was 38. The official cause of death: abscess, pneumonia and a pulmonary embolism.

Was Dave Weindel's case a complete anomaly? Not really.

A recent study by researchers at the University of Washington found that 1 in 50 people die within one month of having gastric bypass surgery, and that figure jumps nearly fivefold if the surgeon is inexperienced.

Attorney Herman Praszkier says, "You want to know, basically, as much information about the surgeon's background as you can. Anyone who evades your question, get up and walk out."

Praszkier represented Cathy Weindel in her lawsuit against her husband's surgeon and the hospital. It was settled days into the trial and was the first of a dozen gastric bypass malpractice cases he's handled.

Praszkier explains, "The most common problem in bariatric surgery in the cases I take (which are only death cases) is that the post-operative care was insufficient."

Nora Malone is Praszkier's most recent client. She tried to talk her husband, Ron, out of the surgery.

"I said, 'Let's go. Let's just go.' And he said, 'Oh, I'll be OK, honey. You'll be so proud of me when I get out of here,' " Malone recalls.

Nora Malone met her husband when he was a naval officer stationed in the Philippines in 1973. They had three daughters.

Their daughter. Liberty. says, "When they went to talk to the doctors, they came back thinking it was a good thing. You know, he'd get off his high blood pressure medicine, his diabetes medicine."

Malone had laparascopic gastric bypass surgery just before Thanksgiving 2003.

"They said there's no risk," Nora Malone says.

But days after the surgery, Ron Malone became very ill. Doctors told his family there was a leak - and operated again. He didn't improve.

Nora Malone recalls, "And I said, 'I think you have to do something, doctor.' And he said, 'Mrs. Malone, trust me, your husband is OK.' "

On Dec. 9, 2003, Ron Malone died during his third surgery. The official cause of death: cardiac arrest. More accurately, Malone died from complications of gastric bypass surgery.

Dr. Harvey Sugerman says, "There is a risk of a leak following gastric bypass that can be fatal."

Dr. Sugerman is a retired bariatric surgeon and the president of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS). He says early diagnosis of a problem is the key.

"I think some doctors got into it without adequate training and experience and felt that they could do this," Dr. Sugerman says, "The ASBS is very concerned about deaths after obesity surgery. And we are doing everything we can to improve quality care by establishing the Center of Excellence program."

This program will have stringent guidelines that must be met in order for a bariatric surgery facility to be called, "a Center of Excellence." When the program launches in June, information will be posted on a Web site to help patients find quality doctors and hospitals. Unfortunately, it comes too late for Ron Malone.

And too late for Dave Weindel, whose wife no longer believes in the surgery.

"I don't think it's worth it," Cathy Weindel says "It tears your family apart."

Like these stories, the other finding in the University of Washington study is that men are more likely to die than women. However, the study did find that if a patient survived more than a year after the surgery, then the benefits to their long-term health far outweigh the risks of the procedure.

So what can a patient considering this surgery do to stay safe?

Evaluate the center/hospital where you are having the surgery. Ask the surgeon doing the operation how many procedures have they done, what's their complication rate and what's their mortality rate. And ask what steps will be taken if a complication occurs.

A good idea...

-------------------------------------------------
MountainWings A MountainWings Moment
#4362 Wings Over The Mountains of Life
-------------------------------------------------
Don’t Lose Those Pounds!
========================

Don’t Lose Those Pounds!

As we move into a new season the number one resolution will be to lose weight.

In one form or another whether it involves increased exercise, or dieting, the bottom line is that the number one resolution in America will be to lose weight.

And I’m here to tell you, "Don’t lose those pounds!"

As we sat in our board meeting for my company, I set goals for the coming season. As I set the goals for the company I urged each employee to do the same for themselves personally.

I told them they needed to be specific and that they needed to write down their goals and bring them into the next weekly meeting and we would openly discuss any of the goals that they wanted to share with the rest of the company.

At the meeting as person after person spoke there was one goal that stood out; many wanted to lose weight.

I heard, “I want to lose 20 pounds, 30 pounds, 40 pounds.” Everyone set their goal based on how many pounds they wanted to lose. As I listened to everyone who wanted to lose weight, I made a correction. I told them,

“Don’t set your goal to lose pounds.”

I know you’re saying, “Why?” “Why wouldn’t someone want to lose pounds to get in better shape, to be healthier, to look better, why wouldn’t they want to lose pounds?”

Because it’s a temporary solution.

When they lose the pounds, the goal is over and as a result it’s not long before the pounds come back.

What I told them to do instead was this:
Don’t set a goal based on how many pounds you’re going to lose, set a goal for the weight that you’re going to maintain.

If you are 180 pounds and you want to get to 140 pounds don’t say, “I want to lose 40 pounds,” say “I want to maintain a weight of 140 pounds.”

When that becomes your goal it changes things. Once you get to 140 and you creep back up to 145 your goal is still there, the goal to maintain a weight of 140. So now you focus on getting the five pounds off instead of waiting until you hit 180 again and then begin the 40 pound routine all over again.

I’ve seen people take our product at Cerum7.com and lose weight. The same phenomenon happens, it happened within the company, they lose the weight, then in a few weeks or months they’re back up to where they started and repeating the same mantra,

“I want to lose weight...
I want to lose weight...
I want to lose weight.”

Trust me; it makes a difference in just the simple way that you state your goal.

So don’t lose those pounds.

State where you want to stay and stay focused on that weight.

Then WRITE IT DOWN and place it where you can see it each day.

Leave it there, even after you reach your target weight,
leave it there.

So, what weight do you want to maintain?


~A MountainWings Original~

A Little Inspiration

I didn't really want to start off the new year talking about weight loss surgery and I didn't really want to make resolutions. What to talk about then? Well, I found something to inspire me in a Beliefnet newsletter. The issue was called Joy of Weight Loss Success Stories and what I found to be particularly helpful was that four of the five people lost a significant amount of weight (like I need to) and kept it off.

So, having said that, I am going back to Weight Watchers with my daughter and also going back to the gym. We were on the right track and had begun losing weight--now we just need to get back on board and get back with the program.

Happy New Year!