Weight-loss surgery may lower heart attack and stroke risk. Check out this article from CNN Health: http://bit.ly/yUmD38
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Are You Considering Weight Loss Surgery?
At one time or another I think many people had considered weight loss surgery if they are overweight. If this is something you are thinking about you need to know about the various options available to you. We will talk a little bit about that in this article.
1. If you possibly can losing weight naturally is a much better way to go. Have you done everything in your will power to combine exercise and healthy eating to lose weight?
How many weight-loss products have you used? It would be worth it to you to exhaust all options before using surgery to help you lose weight.
2. It is comforting to know that many people have lost weight because of surgery. We have all seen celebrities who have used various types of surgeries to lose weight.
Many of them have been able to maintain this weight loss which is certainly motivational. Some of the surgery options they have used include lap band surgery and gastric bypass surgery.
3. Lap band surgery is very popular right now. In this type of surgery your stomach pouch is made smaller so you get fuller quicker.
An adjustable band is used as opposed to stapling which is done in gastric bypass surgery. This has become popular because this band can be adjusted or even removed at a later date.
4. With gastric bypass surgery you have your stomach stapled. This is referred to as stomach stapling.
The surgeon blocks off a portion of your stomach with the Staples. They then reroute your intestine so that when you eat it only fills up a portion of your stomach. This is why people lose weight with this form of surgery.
You will need to meet with your physician to determine if this is a surgery that you should do. Generally being 80 pounds overweight is the beginning point to be considered for gastric bypass surgery.
5. Other factors to consider would be any medical risks than you might face. If you suffer from diseases such as heart disease or diabetes that will be taken into consideration.
6. One final point we want to make is having surgery to lose weight is just the beginning. You must still have the will power to eat properly and exercise on regular basis. Otherwise you’ll find yourself gaining your weight back and your surgery will go to waste.
These are a few things keep in mind if you are thinking about weight loss surgery. It has been a valuable resource for many people in their quest to lose weight. However it is not for everybody, so certainly a meeting with your physician to determine if this is the proper approach for you is necessary.
Need to know more about weight loss surgery? Contact The Denver Center for Bariatric Surgery to get the details on all weight loss procedures!
Posted in Bariatric Surgery, Support, Weight Loss
Tagged bariatric surgery, weight loss, Weight Loss Surgery
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Snack-o’-Lantern Fruit Cups
When I saw this recipe in a magazine at my mom’s house, I knew it would be perfect for our annual pumpkin carving party. Since I already had a few desserts planned, I needed something healthier – like fruit! These were fun and easy to carve. But, I think it was even more fun to hear everyone’s reaction to them at the party! It was a nice addition to the spread of food, and each one was a perfect single portion.
You can hollow out and carve the oranges a day ahead of time, as long as you keep them refrigerated. Do not fill them with the fruit salad until shortly before serving (up to 2 hours before).
You must admit, these are really cute, right?
Snack-o’-Lantern Fruit Cups
Slice top off the navel orange. Run a knife around its interior to hollow it out. Scoop out the orange segments and reserve for filling. Carve pumpkin face on one side of the orange. Repeat for other oranges. Use a paper towel to gently soak up any remaining juice inside the oranges. Dice up desired fruit, including the reserved orange segments and fill each cup. Set the lid back on top and serve.
Image and article courtesy of: http://penniesonaplatter.com/2009/10/14/snack-o-lantern-fruit-cups/
Source: Adapted from Disney Family Fun Magazine, October 2009
Posted in Nutrition and Cooking, Recipes
Tagged Halloween, holiday, holiday recipes, low call recipes, recipes
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The Importance of Maintaining a Healthy Weight
Maintaining a healthy weight is a serious struggle for a majority of people, and obesity is quickly becoming a top health problem in the U.S.
Everyone knows about the many serious health problems that have been associated with being overweight, including diabetes, joint problems, stroke, heart disease and high cholesterol among others.
Good news is it’s possible to ward off many of these serious medical problems simply by maintaining a healthy weight.
The foundation of good health
Exercise and eating right are absolutely vital parts of any plan to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.
However, without making significant and permanent changes to your lifestyle, you will be doomed to follow one fad diet after another, losing lots of weight only to gain it back and then some.
This type of yoyo dieting has been found to be even more dangerous than being overweight, and it can lead to a number of serious health problems of its own.
The best diet plan is one that you will be able to follow for the rest of your life. If you are not able to keep to your diet plan over the long term, you will not be able to succeed.
When it comes to maintaining a healthy weight, it is often better to make a series of small changes, rather than try to make a radical change in your life.
For instance, instead of going from being a couch potato to running 10 miles a day, try instead to start by taking a walk three times a week.
The importance of exercise
Regular exercise will help you build muscle while losing fat, and this extra muscle tissue will also help you lose additional weight.
An exercise program does not need to be overly strenuous in order to be effective. As we have said, the simple process of taking a walk several times a week can work wonders for anyone.
Eating a well balanced diet is the other part of the process of maintaining a healthy weight.
It is important, however, to follow a healthy diet that you can stick with the rest of your life.
But it’s also important to give yourself the occasional treat, as this moderation will help you to avoid the cravings that can destroy your diet and keep you from maintaining a healthy weight.
Dr. Snyder is an American College of Surgeons, board-certified, general surgeon in Denver, CO. Dr. Snyder and the experienced team at The Denver Center for Bariatric Surgery are ready to help you take that next step on your weight loss journey. Give us a call today!
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Tagged diet, healthy weight, weight loss, Weight Loss Surgery
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How You Can Maintain a Healthy Weight
You cannot live a full life if you think about weight constantly, or if weight issues have become the bane of your existence. I’ve spent my career and much of my own energy taking care of weight issues. Don’t let my current “normal-sized” physique fool you: I’ve struggled with my own weight problems in the past and this has given me an intimate knowledge of how such concerns affect people’s health, life, longevity, and self-esteem. Granted, I’ve never been morbidly obese nor needed bariatric surgery, but I know what it’s like to struggle with weight and let it take control of everything.
What I didn’t learn from my own weight issues I’ve discovered through my patients. As with so many of my patients, if you can come to live a full life and be happy with the weight your body achieves after taking my techniques to heart, then I will have considered my mission complete.
Have your past dieting efforts been a series of attempts to white-knuckle it through every experience, whether it’s fighting the buffet table at a party or avoiding taboo foods at a baseball game? Has it always been about what you cannot put into your body to gain control? If so, then you know that you’re very good for a period of time, then kind of good. Then you begin to slack off, and eventually enough slacking off happens for you to forget the whole endeavor.
Not only is that process bad for you physiologically but it also affects how you feel about yourself. Nowhere else in your life do you allow this predictable and dependable cycle of repeated failure.
What if your work life went this way? How many failures would it take before you were fired or demoted? How about in your personal relationships? What if you were 92 percent monogamous? How many infidelities would it take for your significant other to leave? And what if you were careful with your toddler “most” of the time? How long would it take until Child Protective Services came to take your child from you?
In my opinion there are three things in my patients’ lives that change them forever: getting married, having children, and undergoing bariatric surgery. Maybe your list is similar. Of course, there are many other things that can change you pretty quickly, such as winning the lottery, getting divorced, going through personal bankruptcy, and losing a loved one. But for argument’s sake, I think marriage, children, and bariatric surgery rank somewhere near the top. In a single moment, any of these events dramatically shifts your life.
None of these undertakings is to be entered upon lightly. They entail big obligations. They involve relationships that require a lifetime of vigilance and nurturing. Most of us wouldn’t compromise our efforts with a spouse or a child. When things are important to you, no amount of work is too much to make them a success.
Until you approach your health in the same way, you’ll never achieve the same success. This is what I talk about when I say it’s got to matter to you. It’s true that losing 20 pounds doesn’t have same implication as being a bad parent. But you get my point.
This is one of the primary secrets to maintaining a healthy weight…
Michael Snyder, M.D., is a Board-Certified general surgeon and a highly respected leader and mentor in the field of bariatric surgery. He has performed more than 2,700 primary bariatric surgical procedures including post-surgical coaching and ongoing health care. Snyder is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and founder of The Denver Center for Bariatric Surgery, a comprehensive, state-of-the-art surgical practice specializing in weight loss. He also is the founder of FullBar, LLC, a multi-million dollar company dedicated to improving the quality of people’s lives and helping them achieve their weight-loss goals through food products that assist them in feeling full so they eat less. His book, Full: A Life Without Dieting, is about losing weight without dieting and without surgery.
Speak to the professionals at The Denver Center for Bariatric Surgery to find out more about weight loss surgery in the Denver area. Give us a call today!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5718190
Posted in Aftercare, Bariatric Surgery, Diet, Weight Loss
Tagged bariatric surgery, diet, healthy weight, weight loss
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Tuna Melt – FAST
This is total no brainer food… a fast lunch that is extremely nutritious and so delicious. I layer my scoop of tuna and cheese on top of a beautiful slice of ripe tomato as a base for my melt or simply place the tuna salad in a small dish and layer on the cheese. I make this all of the time! If you would like to fortify your food with added protein, whisk a tablespoons of Pure 100% Unflavored Whey Isolate, into your mayo before blending it into your tuna… then add the remaining ingredients.
I scoop my husband’s tuna on a toasted whole wheat English muffin and serve all melts with a side salad of baby greens.
Two 6 ounce pouches, Starkist albacore tuna
2 tablespoons Hellmann’s Light mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
Very thinly shaved celery
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 slices ripe tomato
4 slices Pepper Jack cheese
4 toasted whole wheat English muffin halves – for those who are eating bread
Prepare your favorite tuna salad… mine is simply tuna, mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, finely chopped red onion, celery, salt and pepper. Use a metal ice cream scoop to neatly portion your tuna!
Preheat broiler. Assemble tuna melts by placing an English muffin half on top of a foil lined baking sheet, a scoop of tuna salad on the tomato, with a slice of cheese covering all. Broil 6 to 8 minutes, until cheese starts to brown, and is bubbling around edges. Transfer to serving plates.
4 servings
Calories 243, fat 8g, carbs 3g, protein 25g
Posted in Nutrition and Cooking, Recipes
Tagged diet, fast food, recipes, weight loss recipes
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Is There Any Fast Food That Is Healthy?
Fast food is widely known to be high in calories, fat and sodium, and many Americans eat it on a daily basis. There are some options that can make fast food healthier. Some fast food restaurants have responded to the growing obesity epidemic by offering nutritional information and healthy options.
Choose the Right Restaurant
While some fast food restaurants stick to the old standby burger and fries, many eateries have begun to focus on healthier menu options for their patrons. Nutritional information such as total calories and sugar, fat and sodium content may be readily accessible if you ask. Some restaurants are known to focus on healthy options in dining, but even some of the more traditional fast food places have begun to offer salads and fresh fruit menu options along with grilled chicken selections. Choosing the right restaurant is an important step in making fast food healthier.
Choose Healthier Side Dishes
While many people think of “fast food” as the traditional burger, fries and shake or fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, one way to make fast food better for you is to choose healthier side dishes. If you have your heart set on that burger or fried food, skip the high-calorie, high-fat side dish and instead order a side salad, fruit cup or vegetable.
Eat Smaller Portions
One of the biggest problems with the American diet is portion size. Fast food restaurants are notorious for “super size” options. Fast food can be healthier food if the portions are kept under control. Don’t eat the two- or three-patty burger with cheese. Go for a single patty and load it up with vegetables. Go for the smaller snack wrap rather than the burger. Even a big salad with crispy chicken can contain 800 to 1,000 calories. Cut down by ordering a smaller salad, and substitute grilled chicken for the fried. Another method to control portions is to stop eating when you are full. People who eat fast often consume more food. Eating slower will allow you to be satisfied with less food.
Watch the Condiments and Desserts
Condiments such as salad and sandwich dressings often have hundreds of hidden calories. If you take the option of a salad, don’t get the creamy high-fat dressing, substitute a healthier vinaigrette dressing. Skip the mayo and use mustard instead on your sandwich or burger. If you must have the creamy dessert, eat a small cone instead of a large milk shake, share a dessert or have a yogurt parfait.
Posted in Diet, Nutrition and Cooking, Weight Loss
Tagged healthy eating, obesity, weight loss
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Fast Food: A Nighttime Trend?
Dietitians say late-night trips to the local drive-through may have an impact on our waistlines.
By Katherine Kam
WebMD Weight Loss Clinic – Feature
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
Craving a burrito at 11 p.m.? Taco Bell stands ready to serve you a “Fourthmeal,” which it advertises as “the meal between dinner and breakfast.”
We’re a mobile, wired nation that works and eats at all hours — and the fast-food giants have noticed.
“We saw a skewing toward a 24-7 society,” says Taco Bell spokesman Will Bortz. As a result, Taco Bell and other fast-food restaurants have created ad campaigns to promote eating late in the evening and well into the darkest of night.
But in a nation struggling with obesity, overdoing the late-night fast food may wreak havoc with our waistlines and health. “When we look at why certain people are overweight or really have trouble losing weight, you look at your environment,” says American Dietetic Association (ADA) spokeswoman Suzanne Farrell, MS, RD. “Having some of these things available 24-7 for some people makes it more challenging.”
Fast Food: A Big Business
In 2005, Americans spent roughly $127 billion at quick-service restaurants, which include fast food, according to Technomic, a Chicago-based restaurant research and consulting firm. Eric Schlosser, author of the 2001 book Fast Food Nation, estimates that one-quarter of U.S. adults visit a fast-food restaurant on a typical day.
The late night opens a whole new frontier for profits, says Gregg Cebrzynski, a marketing editor who tracks trends for Nation’s Restaurant News. Chains are battling it out for customers. “There’s this whole idea that late night and early morning sales is what they really have to go after,” he says.
In April, Taco Bell began promoting Fourthmeals at its restaurants, many of which stay open until 1 a.m. or later. In August, McDonald’s aimed a new late-night campaign at young people who live on a steady diet of text messaging. In selected markets, McDonald’s allows customers to sign up via the Internet to have late-night deals text-messaged right to their cell phones. And of course, Wendy’s runs TV commercials that feature raccoons on late-night food forages that lead them straight to the burger chain.
More and more, fast-food restaurants that keep traditional 6 to 10 p.m. dinner hours are going the way of the carhop. Many chains, including McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Taco Bell, have extended their evening hours or stay open 24 hours, sometimes with a drive-through window.
Why Late-Night Eating?
“Because of the way people work these days — many out of their homes, many with different schedules — the traditional 9-to-5 day has morphed into a 12-noon-to-midnight day,” Cebrzynski says.
That’s also true for college students, dietitians say. Many attend class during the day, work an evening job, and pick up fast food when they clock out. “They’re looking for something fast and inexpensive, and I’m not always sure that nutrition is on the forefront of their minds,” says ADA spokeswoman Amy Jamieson-Petonic, RD.
But there are other reasons for late fast-food jaunts, she adds. “People tend to consume more between the hours of 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. because that’s their downtime — their time to unwind. I think a lot of times, sitting in front of the TV equates with eating.”
Night owls may also binge on fast food out of loneliness or for emotional reasons, including stress or boredom. “If you’re not able to sleep or you’re unhappy, food is very satisfying, calming and reassuring,” Jamieson-Petonic says. “For some people, it can become a behavior to deal with things.”
Is Late Eating a Problem?
Will eating late make people gain more weight? “That’s more of a nutritional myth,” says Suzanne Farrell, MS, RD. She is an ADA spokeswoman who’s also a dietitian in private practice in Denver. Jamieson-Petonic agrees. “However you get your calories over the day is fine.”
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Obesity & Health Consequences – Medical Co-Morbidities & Associated Problems
It’s Not Just The Way You Look
In a day and age when physical appearance counts for so much, the desire to look better and feel more confident is often our key motivation for losing weight. But being overweight or obese hinders us in many ways aside from the social. With statistics showing that more than 400,000 people a year die due to complications directly attributable to being obese, there’s a critical need to keep the health consequences in mind, too.
Physical Complications Of Obesity
The facts speak for themselves. When you’re overweight or obese, you’re at significantly greater risk for diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, high blood cholesterol, and more. When you’re morbidly obese, these risks are amplified. People who are considered morbidly obese have a significantly higher chance of the following (as compared to individuals who are not overweight):
- Dying prematurely – morbidly obese individuals have a 300-500% greater chance of dying before the age of 76.
- Developing medical problems including diabetes (1200% higher), high blood pressure (500-600% higher) and heart disease (200-400% higher).
- Developing certain types of cancers such as colon, breast, and uterine.
- Developing premature degenerative arthritis and joint pain causing limited mobility and activity.
- Developing Sleep Apnea and Pulmonary Hypertension (which leads to heart failure).
Obesity And Cancer
In recent years, more and more studies have shown that certain kinds of cancer are associated with obesity. In fact, obesity, combined with a lack of physical activity, may account for 25 to 30% of several major cancers, including colon, breast (postmenopausal), endometrial, kidney, and esophageal. Obesity has also been associated with increases in uterine cancer.
Mental Health Issues
It comes as no surprise that being overweight affects your state of mind, too. In fact, emotional suffering may be one of the most painful parts of obesity. With so much emphasis on how we look, carrying extra weight makes us feel unattractive, unwanted, even unlovable. Prejudice and discrimination at school, in the job market, and in social situations is common, often leading to feelings of shame and – worse – depression.
What Can You Do About It?
While there is no cure for obesity, there are many ways to go about losing weight. And study after study shows that even a small amount of weight loss can improve your health. Methods of treatment will depend on your level of obesity, your overall health condition, and your motivation to lose weight. Whatever your situation, diet, exercise , and behavioral changes – or ideally a combination of the three – are the initial and safest therapies for obesity. For patients who are morbidly obese and have not been able to maintain weight loss, surgery may be an effective alternative. Whatever method you choose, remember: weight control is a life-long effort.
Weight-Loss Surgery
For people who are morbidly obese, weight-loss surgery is often their best chance at leading a healthier, longer, more fulfilling life. In fact, the National Institutes of Health and numerous other medical organizations have endorsed weight-loss surgery as an effective treatment for people considered morbidly obese (Read the NIH article). Weight-loss surgery achieves excellent long-term weight-loss for morbidly obese patients. In addition, a recent report from the Journal of the American Medical Association has detailed the numerous other health benefits of weight loss surgery:
- Diabetes is cured in 77% of patients and resolved or improved in 86% of patients. Most patients are off all of their diabetes medications or have significantly reduced doses in the first three months after surgery. Blood sugar glucose levels and Hemoglobin A1c levels usually return to normal or near normal.
- Hypertension (high blood pressure) is cured in 62% of patients and resolved or improved in 78.5%. Most patients are able to reduce their blood pressure medications to a single medication within a few months.
- Hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol and high triglycerides) is improved in more than 70% of patients.
- Obstructive sleep apnea is cured in 86% of patients.
- Risk of death is decreased by 89%.
Other potential benefits include:
- Improvement in arthritis, including a reduction in pain and increased mobility.
- Resolution or improvement of numerous other conditions, such as: skin infections, skin rashes, ankle swelling, obesity-related heart failure, asthma, infertility and lymphedema.
- Improved ability to participate in physical and recreational activities.
- Improved social and economic opportunities.
- Improved sense of well-being.
At The Denver Center for Bariatric Surgery we want to provide you with the most update information on weight loss surgery and it’s health benefits. Give us a call today to get more information.
Posted in Bariatric Surgery, Weight Loss
Tagged bariatric surgery, health concerns, obesity, weight loss
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New strategies against obesity comorbidities
Worldwide obesity prevalence has nearly doubled since 1980.1 As obesity continues to increase at a dramatic rate, the risk for its associated comorbidities is skyrocketing as well. Obese adults are at risk for many serious health conditions, including diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), depression and liver disease.
Lifestyle modification — to include dietary adjustment, exercise and behavioral change — has been proven to help treat obesity and its related diseases. As every clinician knows, however, behavioral changes are difficult to implement and have varying levels of success, depending on a patient’s motivation. What follows is a review the latest treatment strategies — intended for use in collaboration with lifestyle modification — for the comorbidities of obesity.
DIABETES
Diabesity is a term used to describe obese individuals who have type 2 diabetes. Such conventional diabetic treatments as sulfonylureas, thiazolidinediones (TZDs), and insulin promote weight gain, which can exacerbate further insulin resistance, worsen obesity-related comorbidities and reduce patient compliance.
Bariatric surgery is currently the most successful treatment for diabesity, resulting in significant weight loss and a sustained remission of diabetes in most patients.2,3 Many of the weight-loss effects of bariatric surgery have been shown to be mediated via postoperative increases in appetite-inhibitory gut hormones. Research is currently aimed at finding the pharmaceutical equivalent to bariatric surgery — a drug or combination therapy with anorexigenic gut hormones that can mimic the effects of surgery and restore a patient’s metabolism to a healthy, nondiabetic state.
Glucagon like peptide (GLP)-1 receptor agonist therapy is a major breakthrough in diabetes treatment. GLP-1 is a gut incretin hormone that stimulates the release of insulin in response to elevated levels of blood sugar, inhibits the release of glucagon following meals and slows the rate of absorption of foods from the gut into the bloodstream.
In the active form, GLP-1 has a short half-life of only one or two minutes, due to rapid destruction by the dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-4 enzyme, making it seemingly impractical as a diabetes treatment. However, the GLP-1 receptor agonists were designed to have a prolonged half-life attributable to reduced degradation by the DPP-4 enzyme. After many years of development, GLP-1 receptor agonists are now well established in the management of type 2 diabetes.
In addition exenatide (Byetta) and liraglutide (Victoza), several new GLP-1 receptor agonists are in development. Lixisenatide, a once-daily preparation currently in phase III clinical trials, has limited experience with only one clinical study to date. This 13-week study showed a 0.7% reduction in hemoglobin A1c with the use of lixisenatide 20 µg daily from a baseline of 7.5% in patients with type 2 diabetes.4 The National Institute of Health registry lists several ongoing clinical trials studying lixisenatide.
Bydureon is an investigational, long-acting form of exenatide that has been shown to have better glycemic effect than conventional exenatide.5 In October 2010, the FDA declined to approve Bydureon, requesting further testing to measure cardiovascular risk in patients taking the drug; Amylin plans to resubmit to the FDA in the second half of 2011.6 Bydureon was approved in the European Union in June 2011.
All of the GLP-1 receptor agonists currently require parenteral administration, which can interfere with patient compliance. Oral versions of GLP-1 are being developed and are currently in phase I clinical trials.
HYPERTENSION
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death throughout the world.8 The World Health Organization predicts deaths from CVD and stroke will exceed 20 million within the next decade. Risk factors include hypertension (HTN), diabetes, obesity and tobacco use. The leading risk factor for mortality, HTN is responsible for nearly 13% of deaths worldwide.9
Percutaneous renal denervation is a new and evolving HTN treatment. The procedure involves insertion of a percutaneous catheter into the common femoral artery and threaded to the renal arteries; six radiofrequency ablation treatments are then delivered distally and proximally from the bifurcation to the ostium. Each ablation involves delivery of eight watts of energy lasting two minutes.10
Patients with resistant essential HTN who have undergone this procedure have shown a reduction in systolic BP of 27 mm Hg at 12 months.10 Decreased arterial pressure after renal denervation is a result of reduced peripheral sympathetic nervous system activity.10
Based on animal research, it is assumed that denervation of the efferent nerves will result in reduced renin release, reduced sodium retention, and an increase in renal blood flow, producing a normalization of arterial pressure.10Data also support the idea that afferent sensory nerve denervation will attenuate the kidneys’ effect on centrally mediated sympathetic nervous system activity. Over time, the cause of an individual’s HTN may change due to altering variables. Therefore, denervation of efferent and afferent renal nerves is expected to produce a long-term treatment effect.
New hypertension guidelines are expected within the year from the Kidney Disease: Improved Global Outcomes (KDIGO) foundation and The Eighth Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC 8).
CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE AND PERIPHERAL ARTERY DISEASE
Atherosclerosis presenting as coronary artery disease (CAD) and/or peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a significant and costly result of obesity. Medical treatments for this systemic disease remain relatively unchanged. However, there is renewed focus on prevention and early detection as evidenced by the new guidelines for women and heart disease from the American Heart Association.11
Risk factors for PAD include HTN, diabetes, hyperlipidemia and tobacco use. Because PAD can be asymptomatic, a comprehensive vascular exam is essential. Persons who are at highest risk are aged 70 years or older, smokers (current or past) and/or diabetic. The ankle-brachial pressure index (Table 1) should be measured in the office.
This calculates the ratio of the ankle to brachial systolic pressure and is determined using a sphygmomanometer and a handheld Doppler device. If detected early, treatment goals can be directed at risk reduction and limiting further disease progression.
Improved morbidity and mortality outcomes and improving walking distance are the two primary objectives in treatment of PAD. A supervised exercise treatment (walking program) is essential. This treatment can be costly and is often not reimbursed but is proven to provide significant improvements in functional outcomes. Maximal walking ability can be increased by 150%, greater than any pharmacologic approach.
Get more information about obesity and your health by calling The Denver Center for Bariatric Surgery.
Posted in Bariatric Surgery, In The News, Weight Loss
Tagged comorbidities, obesity, weight loss
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