Free Republic

Several times a month I find myself delivering bad news to a patient: “You have diabetes.” The follow-up isn’t much better. The patient asks how to make it go away, and my response, often with a wistful sigh, is: “Right now, there’s nothing.” But that’s not quite the case any longer. Evidence is accumulating that bariatric surgery—an extreme measure for the very obese that involves reducing the size of the stomach to promote weight loss—may “cure” diabetes.

Hey Freepers, Would any of you skinny folks like to share you daily meal habits? How many meals do you eat, when, and how big are they? What sort of things do you eat? I ask this because I've recently embarked on a "big breakfast diet" and so far it seems like a great idea. I just want to see if it's sustainable long term, and if people are already doing it, that would indicate that it is. (The basics: Eat a huge protein-packed breakfast that includes one sweet indulgence and some carbs, then a reasonable protein lunch and little...

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE)- A Fairdale High School graduate is headed to basic training next month after losing the 85 pounds needed to join the military. Emiley Steiger enlisted as an ammunition specialist and leaves for basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina in July. She said she decided to join the Army after a military recruiter spoke at Fairdale High School in Spring 2009. Steiger said she weighed 213 pounds at the time and described weight as a constant struggle. "I used to eat mayonnaise right out of the jar and had to quit," Steiger said. "I got a gym...

How many calories must a dieter cut to lose a pound? The answer most dietitians have long provided is 3,500. But recent studies indicate that calories can't be converted into weight through a simple formula. The result is that the 3,500-calorie rule of thumb gets things very wrong over the long term, and has led health analysts astray. Much bigger dietary changes are needed to gain or shed pounds than the formula suggests. Consider the chocolate-chip-cookie fan who adds one 60-calorie cookie to his daily diet. By the old math, that cookie would add up to six pounds in a...

Some women avoid drinking calorie-filled cocktails, wine, and beer because they're worried about packing on the pounds. Now, a new study suggests that women who are moderate drinkers actually tend to gain less weight over time than teetotalers. The risk of becoming overweight or obese falls as alcohol consumption rises, even when factors such as smoking, fruit and vegetable consumption, and physical activity are taken into account, the study found. Women who consumed between 1.5 and 3 drinks daily had a 27 percent and 61 percent lower risk of becoming overweight or obese, respectively, than women who didn't drink at...

In 1922, a Toronto teenager with diabetes became the first person to be saved by insulin treatment, and since then injections have sustained millions of diabetics, who don’t make their own hormone. But are there alternatives to a lifetime of insulin therapy? A new study suggests that an appetite-suppressing hormone called leptin is just as effective as insulin at controlling diabetes in mice. The discovery of insulin transformed type 1 diabetes from a fatal to a chronic disease. In this type of diabetes, the body destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, resulting in high blood glucose levels. (The more common...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Can't lose weight on a low-fat diet? Maybe you need to cut carbs instead, and a new genetic test may point the way, maker Interleukin Genetics Inc reported on Wednesday. The small study of about 140 overweight or obese women showed that those on diets "appropriate" for their genetic makeup lost more weight than those on less appropriate diets, researchers told an American Heart Association meeting.

A surgeon in New Zealand has received a dressing down for swearing at a severely obese patient. The New Zealand Herald newspaper reports the doctor said "f..." at least three times after the 44-year-old obese woman told him she did not like the word "diet" and preferred the term "lifestyle".

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Severely obese teens who had surgery to limit what they could eat lost more weight and enjoyed more health benefits than those who did an intensive lifestyle program, researchers said on Tuesday. They said 21 of 25 severely obese teens aged 14 to 18 who underwent a form of gastric banding lost more than half of their excess weight compared with just 3 out of 25 who did a diet, exercise and behavior modification program. "In this study, gastric banding proved to be an effective intervention leading to a substantial and durable reduction in obesity and to...

1/13/2010 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Mike Porter is about half the man he used to be. His weight reduction is due in large part to an Air Force bariatric surgery program, plus eating healthy, weightlifting and running. Surgery changed the retired master sergeant's life. "I'd been trying to lose weight for about four years," said Mr. Porter, who's shrunk from a peak of 334 pounds and a 46-inch waist down to 198 pounds with a 34-inch waist. "Nothing was working. I'd lose five pounds, just to gain back 10." He was doing aerobic exercises, but his...

You aren't what you eat. You're how much. That's the message from a two-year National Institutes of Health-funded study that assigned 811 overweight people to one of four reduced-calorie diets and found that all trimmed pounds just the same. It didn't matter what foods participants ate, but rather how many calories they consumed. An intense debate has long raged over which dieting regimen is best. Low carb? High protein? Low fat? But the federal study, one of the longest of its kind, "really goes against the idea that certain foods are the key to weight loss," says Frank Sacks, principal...

Here is video from Fox & Friends this morning where they discussed a new offensive PETA billboard ad campaign that refers to women as "Whales" who are overweight. The ad seeks to push people to become vegetarians to "Save the Whales - Lose the Blubber," referring to people who are overweight. The billboards show images of women who have extra pounds. A PETA spokesman defends the ads, but a dietician said the ads are degrading an humiliating to both overweight and thin people alike. She also said studies show being vegetarian is no better for weight loss than a diet...

AND NOW . . . amidst billowing clouds of fragrant, aromatic first- and second-hand premium cigar smoke. . . it is time for . . . that harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-the-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, serving humanity simply by showing up, and he’s not retiring until every American agrees with him, do NOT doubt him, with shrieks of joy at the mere mention of his name...

In the caveat emptor category... Lead in ginkgo pills. Arsenic in herbals. Bugs in a baby's colic and teething syrup. Toxic metals and parasites are part of nature, and all of these have been found in "natural" products and dietary supplements in recent years. "There's at least 10 times more hoodia sold in this country than made in the world, so people are not getting hoodia," said Dr. Mehmet Oz, a heart surgeon and frequent Oprah Winfrey guest who occasionally has touted the stuff. (Source: Breitbart)Multinationals ravage third-world biospheres at the behest of Oprah watchers. A snake oil salesman appeared...

A good night's sleep may help you lose weight, a study has suggested. The study of US nurses found those who slept longest were slimmer than those who managed the least shut-eye. Scientists say lack of sleep affects hormone levels that can trigger hunger and slow down your metabolism. Sleep specialist Dr Arn Eliasson said BMI (body mass index) is linked to length and quality of sleep in a surprisingly consistent fashion. Dr Eliasson, of the Integrative Cardiac Health Project at Walter Reed Army Medical Centre, Washington DC, said: "When we analysed our data by splitting our subjects into 'short...

LEWISTON, Maine — Army and Navy recruiters took one look at 330-pound Ulysses Milana and told him to forget about joining. "You've got to lose weight," Milana remembers them saying. But Marine recruiters were willing to work with him as he began his weight-loss journey in December 2007. Now, 11 months later, Milana is 140 pounds lighter as he leaves Monday for Parris Island, S.C., to begin boot camp.

Women who want to lose weight - and keep it off - need to be exercising for almost an hour, five days a week, according to US experts. The University of Pittsburgh study found the 55-minute regime was the minimum needed to maintain a 10% drop in weight. Only a quarter of the 200 women in the study managed to lose this amount. A UK expert said it was clear that regular moderate exercise was the way to lose weight, and keep it off. Approximately two-thirds of adults in the UK are overweight or obese, with some estimates suggesting this...

WASHINGTON: A new study has found that lesbians are nearly twice as likely to be overweight than heterosexual women. Researchers at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing are now using an extraordinarily successful, predominately lesbian weight loss group in Atlanta, as a model system for discovering how to target obesity in a lesbian population. Sarah Fogel, Ph.D., R.N., associate professor of Nursing at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, is studying the group, and her findings are giving her a different view on weight loss. "All weight loss groups offer an environment of like-bodied people (overweight or obese), but this is...

It’s not likely dieticians will be endorsing his regimen, but a Virginia man demonstrated it is possible to regularly dine at a fast-food restaurant without being criticized for signing your own death certificate. Despite media attacks on fast-food for being unhealthy, ABC’s “Good Morning America” showed that healthier options are available without heavy-handed involvement from government in its June 19 broadcast. “Meet Chris Coleson – for years the Virginia man said he was eating too much and, of course, no diet seemed to work,” co-host Diane Sawyer said. “Then last December, he tipped the scales at 278 pounds and made...

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...