I got satisfried at Burger King!

Weight Loss Surgery Pouch Test Fad Diets Why Do You?

Why do you?

365 days

Post by Melting Mama.

Quick and dirty packaging fail review in my jammies

Burger King Satisfries with 40% Less Fat and 30% Less Calories But Sounds Like XXX

Don't get too excited -- although Burger King removed 40% of the dietary fat and 30% of the calories from their french fries -- the little buggers still contain 60% of the fat and 70% of the calories.  That means that many people will validate this Menu Choice By Overeating It or dipping it into sugary ketchup and killing those lost calories.  Some non-fry eaters will simply start eating fries!  

What is the difference between regular BK Fries and SATISFRIES?

Gawker -

Burger King executives say people won't be able to tell that Satisfries are lower in calories. It says they use exactly the same ingredients as its regular fries — potatoes, oil and batter. To keep kitchen operations simple, they're even made in the same fryers and cooked for the same amount of time as regular fries.

The difference, Burger King says, is that it adjusts the proportions of different ingredients for the batter to block out more oil. The company declined to be more specific. Another difference, the crinkle-cut shape, is in part so workers will be able to easily distinguish them from the regular fries when they're deep frying them together.

NYTimes -

"The concept of taking an indulgent food and removing some of the guilt isn't new, of course. Supermarkets are filled with baked Lay's potato chips, 100-calorie packs of Oreos and other less fattening versions of popular treats. Such creations play on people's inability to give up their food vices, even as they struggle to eat better. The idea is to create something that skimps on calories, but not on taste."  

There's a problem though - because even people like me who eat the stupid calorie bombs now and then on limited calorie diet?  WE WON'T ASK FOR AN ORDER OF 'SATISFRIES' BECAUSE IT SOUNDS LIKE A SEX TOY.

Bears with Erectile Dysfunction, the 'betes and amputation - all synced up with Jason Mraz

I have to be honest, Jason Mraz makes it all better.

Poor bears.

Peel an egg under TEN seconds - what the what?

And if you suck instead of blow - you skip that pesky chewing part. ;)

Blogging Genuinely - Products - Swag - Freebies

• Blogging Genuinely - Products - Swag - Freebies  

Free Iron Flash Sale Today Only

Starting at the bottom - Vlog Entry in running pants. This is not Beth.

Life updates, weight updates, exerciwhat?!

Please note that I have morphed into a creature that is wearing running pants.  Who is this person?

Diabetes Remission Post Bariatric Surgery - or - Diabetes Comes Back For Some After WLS.

Diabetes Remission Post Bariatric Surgery

Medscape -  

Researchers in Pennsylvania have developed a tool comprising 4 preoperative clinical variables that surgeons and patients can use to predict the likelihood of type 2 diabetes remission after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery.

Christopher D. Still, DO, director of Geisinger Obesity Institute, Danville, Pennsylvania, and colleagues developed their algorithm, known as the DiaRem score, on the basis of a retrospective cohort study of 690 patients who underwent gastric bypass surgery. They verified the results in 2 additional cohorts; their findings were published online September 13 in the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.

DiaRem scores range from 0 to 22, with low scores consistently predicting higher remission rates and high scores predicting lower remission rates.

"Bariatric surgery is a very effective tool not so much for weight loss but curing or resolving comorbid medical problems," Dr. Still told Medscape Medical News in a telephone interview. "The surgery is the best we have for long-term success, but it's not without potential risks and costs."

Study: Obesity Surgery In Younger Patients Could Reverse Cardiac Problems

“What we found was that the cardiac structure and function in these extremely obese adolescents scheduled for bariatric surgery was much more impaired than one might have thought,” said John Bauer, PhD with Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

The hearts and function of super-morbidly obese adolescents before undergoing bariatric surgery -- were that of middle-aged persons. 

After bariatric surgery -- the teens' hearts underwent change -- reverting to a healthier state.

GOOD NEWS.

• Video - http://newyork.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=9295533
• Study - http://www.jpedsurg.org/article/S0022-3468(12)00808-1/abstract

Adver-rant.

I'm pulling out the BOLD Comic-Sans for this one, kids.

Let us "pretend" for a moment that you are a business (or other entity) with a message to send or a product to pitch. You have a large customer base or list and many people on your email list and perhaps lots of methods of reaching these potential customers.

Many of your customers, potential clients, and peers whom actually open emails, read websites and read copy.  Many of us study them.  Many of us have interest in this stuff.

1.  Please spell-check your copy before you publish it.  

READ YOUR SHIT.  

Let someone outside of your house read your "PROFESSIONAL" website.

(That's ALL it takes.)

2.  Please consider that we are in 2013 and many people have moved beyond Comic Sans.

Gastric Bypass Causes Hypoglycemia

Wait - this is news?

"Consistent with that is the fact that there are new conditions—nesidioblastosis, noninsulinoma pancreatogenous hypoglycemia syndrome, hyperinsulinemia and hypoglycemia—[that are] becoming more common after gastric bypass,”

If you are new to my blog -- I self-diagnosed (well, myself!) with reactive hypoglycemia as a result of gastric bypass surgery in my first post operative year.  

I found myself with a severe case of "hand-in-box" syndrome and subsequent blood sugar readings in the 20-40 range after eating.  I found that doctors were not quite versed in what was happening to me -- so I had to deal with my issue on my own.

Now, in my tenth post-operative year, I know how to Eat Around My Gastric Bypass Surgery To Avoid Damaging Blood Sugar Lows -- because as you may also note:  I became an epileptic post-RNY and severe low sugars can trigger seizure activity in the brain.  While it has been established that my epilepsy is not connected to my low blood sugar - it can be triggered by it - so I am careful to avoid stepping into obvious triggers.

We patients - have been screaming about these symptoms for years and often been laughed AT - or ignored.

Just hook us up to an IV bag of glucose - we'll lose our cyclic regains and stop the insanity.  

And yes, I know this article reads like an ad for the duodenal switch.  Because.

Enjoy -

Despite its reputation as the gold standard for weight loss, gastric bypass surgery may result in a post-meal glucose spike followed by a blood sugar crash that causes between-meal hunger, according to recent findings. The research examined the effects of different bariatric procedures on post-meal glucose reactions.

Mitchell S. Roslin, MD, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City, and his colleagues first became interested in glucose tolerance testing after noticing that many of their patients who regained weight after gastric bypass surgery complained of inter-meal hunger, especially following meals rich in simple carbohydrates.

“Consistent with that is the fact that there are new conditions—nesidioblastosis, noninsulinoma pancreatogenous hypoglycemia syndrome, hyperinsulinemia and hypoglycemia—[that are] becoming more common after gastric bypass,” Dr. Roslin said. “These are entities surgeons rarely encountered previous to this [era in bariatric surgery].”

The research was presented at the 2013 meeting of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons. The study was sponsored by Covidien.

Dr. Roslin and his team decided to compare glucose metabolism among patients who had undergone gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy or duodenal switch (DS), in which a common channel of at least 125 cm was preserved.

“This type of model gives us the ability to compare two operations that preserve the pyloric valve, as well as two operations that have an intestinal bypass component,” he said.

In the prospective, nonrandomized study, 13 patients received gastric bypass, 12 received sleeve gastrectomy and 13 underwent DS. All completed an oral glucose tolerance test (GTT) at baseline and at six, nine and 12 months. The nine-month GTT comprised a solid mixed-meal muffin. The only significant, preoperative difference among the patients was greater body mass index in the DS group. There were no significant differences in their glucose homeostasis parameters, fasting glucose or insulin.

At 12 months, the DS patients lost significantly more weight than the other two groups, although those patients also experienced good weight loss. All of the operations reduced fasting blood glucose levels as well. But after GTT, the gastric bypass group had much higher levels of one-hour glucose than the DS group, and the sleeve gastrectomy group had intermediate levels. The gastric bypass group also had higher one-hour insulin levels, higher even than their preoperative level, whereas insulin was suppressed in the DS group.

“When you have high insulin, glucose falls, and we know that hypoglycemia causes hunger,” Dr. Roslin said. “Looking at the one- to two-hour glucose ratio, the gastric bypass patients have the highest one-hour sugar [levels] and the lowest two-hour sugar [levels], and I think this begins to explain why we have inter-meal hunger with gastric bypass.”

All of the operations resulted in significant weight loss and other positive outcomes, but compared with gastric bypass patients, DS patients had a much smaller rise in one-hour glucose and insulin levels.

“The sleeve behaves intermediately to the bypass and DS, meaning that preserving the pylorus may be part of the explanation, but not the whole story,” Dr. Roslin said.

“Obviously, controlled trials between gastric bypass and DS are needed to determine the real long-term significance, but I think we should all be cautious before we label gastric bypass the gold standard operation,” he said.

Kevin M. Reavis, MD, of the Division of Gastrointestinal and Minimally Invasive Surgery, The Oregon Clinic, Portland, said that improved assays are allowing for a more rapid and better understanding of the true complexity of the physiologic changes that contribute to the results seen with each of the bariatric procedures.

“This study highlights aspects of glucose metabolism that have previously been underappreciated,” Dr. Reavis said. “Although it is a relatively small study, it illustrates that with gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy and duodenal switch, there are substantial metabolic changes we are just beginning to understand and must investigate on a larger scale in order to optimize clinical outcomes.”

Obesity - Gut bacteria can do what?

I am starting this post with the ending quote from the NYTimes article -

“It would not surprise me if someone somewhere starts doing it,” Dr. Karp said.

 

Gut bacteria, transplanted from thin mice to obese mice, made the obese mice thin. You follow?

Gut Microbiota from Twins Discordant for Obesity Modulate Metabolism in Mice

The study, published online Thursday by the journal Science, is “pretty striking,” said Dr. Jeffrey Flier, an obesity researcher and the dean of the Harvard Medical School, who was not involved with the study. “It’s a very powerful set of experiments.”

Read more here -

• ScienceMag
• NYTimes

Simple Weight Loss Tips

Via CNN -  Simple Weight Loss Tips -

Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian and nutritionist for the Chicago Cubs, is trying to change the meaning of the phrase, "Treat yo'self."

Most people treat themselves by indulging in a gallon of ice cream or by lounging around the house, watching TV. Blatner wants "treat yourself" to mean exactly the opposite. Her definition is designed to give you more energy, help you lose weight and keep your body healthy.

"It's preplanning your grocery list. It's being in the grocery store and buying foods that nourish your body. It's eating mindfully," she told the audience at the Obesity Action Coalition's annual Your Weight Matters convention. "Those are really good things that when you do them, it's treating yourself right."

In other words, you deserve to feel good and look good, Blatner says. So putting in five or 10 minutes to plan your meals for the upcoming week or spending 30 minutes at the gym is the ultimate act of self-love.

"There's no bigger gesture in this world that says, 'You know what, Dawn? You matter.'" Follow these 10 tips to "treat yourself" to a healthier, slimmer body:

These three items ensure you're not sneaking snacks from the refrigerator late at night or gulping down 1,000 calories in your car from a fast food joint. And having them probably means you're consuming more nutrients than a bag of potato chips would offer -- unless you're one of those weird people who puts potato chips on a plate.

"It's my answer to eating mindfully," Blatner says.

Eating mindfully, research shows, helps people pay closer attention to the enjoyment of eating and to feelings of fullness. Studies suggest people who eat mindfully consume fewer calories at meals, no matter how much is on their plate.

2. Willpower is a mental muscle. Exercise it.

Every time you put food in your mouth, you should have three things, Blatner says: a table, a plate and a chair.

Willpower is a limited resource, psychologist Sean Connolly of San Antonio says, but we all have it. The trick is in knowing how to use it efficiently.

"People list lack of willpower as the No. 1 reason holding them back from improving their lives in some way," says Connolly, who works regularly with bariatric patients. "Willpower is not a gene. It's a tool that we all have that we have to learn to use, develop and manage."

Like any muscle, your willpower gets tired. So you have to plan, Connolly says, and know what you will do in situations that offer a healthy choice and an unhealthy choice. You also have to be prepared for emergencies, such as at the end of a long work day, when your willpower is exhausted and the drive thru window beckons.

Willpower also needs to be replenished daily. The best way to do this? Get enough sleep.

3. Be realistic.

Let's be honest, most of us want to lose a lot of weight. And when we don't -- when we drop 5 or 10 and then hit a wall -- we get discouraged and jump back on the fried food wagon.

One of the biggest obstacles to losing weight is unrealistic expectations, says psychologist Gary Foster, director of the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University.

"The less you weigh, the less you need to eat and the more you need to move (to lose weight)," Foster says. "And that's not fair."

It's nice to aim high, but successful losers drop an average of 8.4% of their body weight. If you weigh in at 200, that's about 16 pounds. And losing those 16 pounds improves your health dramatically.

In other words, hoping to weigh what you did in high school will derail your plan before it starts.

"Life changes, and that's not an apology or a cop out. It's a realistic assessment," Foster says. "What else in your life is the same at 45 as it was at 20?"

4. Find better friends.

It's known as the "socialization effect." Cigarette smokers hang out with other cigarette smokers. Drinkers hang out with other drinks. And overweight people hang out with other overweight people, says Dr. Robert Kushner of Chicago.

"What do you do if you're hanging out with a group of people who are overweight?" he asks. You pick a restaurant. You go out for burgers and a beer. "You're probably not talking about going rollerblading."

We tend to pick up the habits of those we hang out with the most. So find some friends with healthy habits, and you'll become healthier yourself.

5. Do a cart check.

You know the MyPlate diagram -- the one that shows how your plate should be split into fruits, grains, vegetables and proteins? Your cart should look the same, Blatner says. When you think you're finished shopping, do a quick eye check to make sure it's filled with about 25% protein, 25% whole grains and 50% produce.

"Choice is the enemy of weight loss," Blatner says. She recommends planning out two healthy breakfasts, two healthy lunches, two healthy snacks and two healthy dinners for the week. Buy the ingredients you need for each and then rotate them throughout the week.

This gives you enough choice that you won't get bored but not enough choice that you're overwhelmed and end up looking for the nearest vending machine.

6. Do not eat in response to that thing.

You're at the movies. It's your cousin's bachelorette party. Your son is at the top of his graduating class. It's a ball game -- and what's a ball game without a hot dog? If you want to lose weight, avoid eating in response to "that thing," Foster says.

Plan what you're going to eat at these special -- or not so special -- occasions so you don't have to rely on your willpower. And only eat when you're hungry. There will be more food at the next thing.

7. Tell yourself: "I have the right to be thin."

Self-sabotage is a real problem in weight loss, Connolly says. A lot of times his clients say they want something and then go out of their way to make sure it doesn't happen.

It's not a lack of desire or motivation. "Something holds us back," he says.

We have to learn to validate ourselves, Connolly says, because we'll never get everything we need from other people. Tell yourself daily that you deserve to be healthy. You deserve to look and feel good. Then believe it.

8. Set S.M.A.R.T. goals.

If you haven't heard this acronym before, memorize it now. Any goal you set should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely, says Eliza Kingsford, psychotherapist and director of clinical services for Wellspring. If it meets these qualities, you'll be much more likely to achieve it.

For instance, "I'm going to be more active" is a goal. "I will walk for 30 minutes every day for the next month" is a S.M.A.R.T. goal.

It's specific in that you know how much activity you're going to do. It's measurable -- did you walk today or not?

It's attainable and realistic; everyone can find 30 minutes in their day, and walking doesn't require a lot of equipment or special training. And it's timely because you'll be able to see at the end of the month if you hit your goal.

9. Stand up.

Most of us now spend eight hours a day sitting at our desks at work, and two to three hours sitting at home. That kind of sedentary lifestyle is nearly impossible to counteract, Dr. Holly Lofton of New York says, even if you hit the gym for two hours a day (and who does that?).

She suggests wearing a step counter that will keep you aware of the movement -- or lack of movement -- you're making throughout the day. Try standing up at your desk while on a conference call, or walking to a colleague's desk instead of e-mailing him. Take the stairs. Park farther away. Everything counts!

10. Life will never be stress-free. Learn to cope.

Scientists disagree about whether stress itself produces a physical change in your body that can lead to significant weight gain. But we all know the effect a stressful day can have on our willpower.

The problem, Kushner says, is that there never will be a long period in your life without stress. And if we cope with everyday stress by indulging in brownies and vodka, the weight will continue to pile on.

"Life happens. It's not so much stress that causes weight gain, it's the coping, the push back," he says.

The key is to learn positive coping skills. If work is stressing you out, take a 10-minute walk instead of hitting up the cookie tray in the breakroom. Take a yoga class at the end of a long week. Use deep breaths to get through a phone call with your mother.

And treat yourself to a stress-less day. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/04/health/easy-weight-loss-tips/index.html?hpt=he_t3

The Truth About LapBand - Video - Get Help

 This quick video is from a surgeon's office (...and not an endorsement - I just love the video) but it's a simplistic way to visualize some of the issues that band patients face and it WORKS.

If you are STRUGGLING - GET HELP.

And the countdown begins!

25 hours. LOL. Just saying. What, you haven't been singing Teen Beach Movie Lyrics all summer?   Twitch.  Twitch.  Twitch.

Sing it with me.  First. grade.

What's going on?
This can't be happening!
Don't tell me it's a song!
'It's a song!'
This wasn't how I planned it
Can't you see that this is gone too Far!
Please just pause the DVR!
Someone, won't you make it stop!
It's just a song!
An inefficient way to move the story along!
I'm done!
You're just being cynical
No, it's just the principal!
Someone won't you make it, make it stop!
(Don't make it stop!)

Oh, I can't stop singing!
Make it stop, make it stop!
Am I real or just a prop?
Oh, I can't stop singing
So let's just talk!
Oh, I can't stop singing
La la la la make it stop!
Does it stop, is it ever gonna stop?
Oh, I can't stop singing,
So let's just talk!