Free Republic

Last year, 200,000 Americans had weight loss surgery and while gastric bypass surgery can significantly reduce weight, the surgery comes with risks. Now a procedure that was once commonly used to treat ulcers is being tested as a safe alternative to weight loss surgery. Action News reporter Kimberly Tere has the details. The vagus nerve controls your feeling of hunger. Some even say every single thing the vagus nerve does is designed to make you gain weight. That is why San Francisco Doctor Robert Lustig is testing laparoscopic vagotomy, a surgery in which the vagus nerve is cut. Cutting the...

So let’s add another item to the list of impossibles: I have lost more than 20 pounds in less than 24 hours on more than a dozen occasions. The most extreme example was 33 lbs. — from 185 lbs. to 152 lbs. — in less than 20 hours, which produced a rather unpleasant 120 beat-per-minute resting pulse while attempting to sleep. In 1999, I was a gold medalist at the Sanshou (Chinese kickboxing) national championships in the 165-lb. weight class (here is a video sample of Sanshou). This is perhaps the most controversial accomplishment in the 4HWW, as I make...

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska, March 16, 2009 – Air Force Airman Derrick Bell has found that a lot of determination and a little help from his friends helped him meet his goal of returning to military service when it seemed that both his age and weight might have prevented it. Air Force Airman Derrick Bell, left, after he lost 115 pounds to join the Air Force Reserve’s 477th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. On right, before he spent 11 months to reaching his goal. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The 38-year-old...

UPDATED to include Dane Patterson's apology. A followup to my Thursday story about the fabricated account of "Biggest Loser" eliminee Dane Patterson running a marathon, when in fact he only ran 23 miles: The producers of "The Biggest Loser" are taking full responsibility for the misrepresentation. Here's the apology put out late Thursday night by Reveille, the company behind "TBL": "As the Executive Producers of 'The Biggest Loser' we would like to make an official apology and set the record straight with regards to the claim in last night's episode that Dane completed a marathon in Arizona. "After seeing on...

The average American woman is 53 lbs. heavier than the typical fashion show "runway" model, according to a new study. This video report shows graphics comparing the size of the average runway model (5'9", 110 lbs), to the average American woman (5'4", 163 lbs). I was surprised the average American woman is 5'4" tall. I know this is a little off-topic for what we usually post here at Freedom's Lighthouse, but I could not resist posting this report. If you have ever thought those models don't look like virtually anyone you see in real life, now you know why --...

1/2/2009 - MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyz Republic (AFPN) -- "I knew I was unhealthy and had to make some changes, especially when I thought about my five-year-old looking up at me," said Senior Airman Jarvis Johnson. "Without changes, I wouldn't be around to see him and my daughters grow up." When you ask someone what they can accomplish in six months -- just 24 short weeks -- they may say something like, "I plan to finish a couple college courses," or maybe, "I'm going to read a couple books," or "Tour a little." Many may say they are going to...

For the first time in a decade, losing weight will NOT be one of my New Year's resolutions. The reason? After years of piling on the padding (and a few failed weight-loss attempts) I've lost 60 lbs. over the past four months. I've only blogged about diet once and did so hesitantly. But that two-year-old post is still getting consistent hits. Everybody is Googling for the silver bullet to shedding pounds. They think that there must be some secret diet, high-tech fitness equipment, or miracle pill that will finally give them health. As I said back then, fat people offer...

RAWAH, Iraq, Dec. 9, 2008 – Before Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Allan Desruisseaux could become a Marine, he had to become a loser. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Allan Desruisseaux, a telephone system and personal computer repair technician with Regimental Combat Team 5’s Provisional Rifle Platoon 3, patrols the streets of Rawah, Iraq, Dec. 4, 2008. Desruisseaux dropped from 326 pounds to his Marine Corps recruit training graduation weight of 189. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. M. Trent Lowry  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Desruisseaux lost more than 100 pounds between his first visit to a Marine Corps...

Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MDAre there really certain foods that can help you lose weight and keep it off? We're not talking about any so-called miracle food that "melts the fat" (does the cabbage soup diet ring any bells?). These are foods that really can help you lose or maintain weight, either by helping you to eat less or to burn more calories -- or, in some cases, maybe even helping to decrease your body fat.Experts say there are two basic categories of foods that can be considered "keeping it off superfoods" because they fill your tummy without piling on...

Thinking too much can make you eat more. Researchers at Universite Laval say intellectual work raises peoples' calorie intake and could be a reason for obesity. A group of 14 students were invited to eat as much as they wanted at a buffet, after taking part in three different tasks: * Sitting down and relaxing * Reading and summarizing a text * Finishing memory and attention tests on a computer All the tasks turned out to be low energy -- students only needed three more calories to do the mental work than to rest. However, they spontaneously ate 203 more...

EDINBURG -- Authorities scrambled Friday to figure out how to arrest, incarcerate and prosecute a woman estimated to weigh nearly half a ton who was indicted on capital murder charges earlier this week. Mayra Rosales, 27, has remained under house arrest since she was charged in March with beating her 2-year-old nephew to death. But now that her case has moved into the state court system, law enforcement officials must address a whole new set of logistical problems before it can go to trial.

I Read a story in the Washington Post about the death of a young woman. This ultra-huge died in her sleep. Her mom blamed it on obesity. Possibly so ... her mom is obese herself. In the story the mom bemoans the lack of "affordable" weight loss clinics and exercise facilities. Oh boy ... here we go. As we know, in the modern USA every single item or service that a person could possibly need or even want must be affordable. The new mantra is that there is something wrong with our country, our economy and our government if someone...

Six young brothers and sisters face being taken from their parents and put into care because they are overweight. Social workers have warned they will intervene if three of the youngsters – including a 12-year-old boy who weighs 16 stone – do not shed several pounds in three months. The parents have been told they risk losing all their children if there is no improvement in the 12-year-old or two of his sisters aged 11 and three – who weigh 12 stone and four stone – by June. The parents could lose their obese children if they cannot help them...

It was alleged he spent $80,000 over a 10-year period on hookers. But the morality of public servants and the hypocrisy of high office, the fact that he wanted “unsafe” sex - this wasn’t what people were talking about. Most of the focus was on “Kristen”, the prostitute he met at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC and booked for $1,000 an hour. She was described as, “American, petite, very pretty, brunette, 5 feet 5 inches, and 105 pounds”. My female friends in New York were outraged. “105 pounds? No way.” This was the biggest grievance. Not that she was...

“The obesity epidemic has absolutely been exaggerated,” said Dr. Vincent Marks. I once ticked off the local franchiser of Weight Watchers by pointing out my weight gain after quitting smoking was no big deal. OK, the column should not have pointed out that the Nazis did not feed people to death in the Holocaust. Did I mention she’s Jewish? Now we have been told to the point of ridiculousness that we face an obesity epidemic — an abuse of a noun that really medical professionals, of all people, should avoid. The definition of overweight and obese were redefined to the...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The central Mexican city of Aguascalientes is considering paying a cash bonus to local police who slim down, amid the increasingly common sight of overweight officers in Mexico. Aguascalientes city hall plans to decide next week on whether to pay 100 pesos (5 pounds) for every kilogram (2.2 pounds) that officers lose, a police spokesman said on Thursday. "We do have some fat officers. We have been encouraging them for a while to lose weight, to be more agile, to do sport," he added. Obesity is one of the biggest health problems in Mexico, where diabetes...

HEALTH and beauty. They seem inextricable. That smiling, slender woman on the cover of Self magazine. The ripped guy looking out from the pages of Men’s Health. They’re thin. Their eyes are bright. They look like they’re bursting with energy. They may well be. But they might be better off if they had listened to their grandmother and... --snip-- Today, poorer people are most likely to be fat and so, said Abigail Saguy, a sociologist at the University of California at Los Angeles, “fatness is associated with downward mobility.” Weight has thus become a moral issue couched in health concerns,...

some doctors are now warning that bariatic surgery - which jumped 40% in frequency in 2005 from the year before - can increase a patient's risk of a rare, yet serious neurological condition called Wernicke's encephalopathy. A result of a vitamin B deficiency (no doubt spurred by the poor digestion that removal of large portions of the stomach and intestine can cause), this condition can cause confusion and impaired coordination, memory, and vision.

Obesity is more dangerous than smoking and will dramatically shorten the lives of millions, a landmark study has found. While smoking reduces life by an average of ten years, the research says being seriously overweight can cut life expectancy by as much as 13 years. The Foresight report, written by 250 leading scientists, says Britain's obesity crisis is so severe that it would take at least 30 years to reverse. If current trends continue, by 2050 about 60 per cent of men, 50 per cent of women and 25 per cent of children in the UK will be clinically obese...

Americans are obsessed with fat because fatness has become a symbol for poverty, downward mobility, nonwhiteness and socially marginal status in general. Fear and hatred of fat has very little to do with the health risks associated with being "overweight" and "obese" (which are wholly imaginary and highly exaggerated