Comprehensive Medical Weight Loss
Hours after dinner, the murmur of late-night television echoes through the house as you begin your transition from the couch to the bed. But before calling it a night, there is one more trip to the kitchen. What will it be tonight: A small bowl of ice cream, a handful of crackers, or maybe a warm mug of hot chocolate?
In recent months there has been a lot of talk about GMOs and ways to avoid them in our food. While a growing number of people now hold a generally dissatisfactory opinion of GMOs, not many people actually understand what they are. There are a large number of people who think avoiding GMOs is similar to avoiding other common dietary ne'er-do-wells, like trans fats or sugar. However, this isn’t the case.
Many people have trouble making exercise a consistent part of their lives, but there may be a simple solution: exercising at home. When you don’t even have to leave the house to exercise, the barriers between you and a workout become significantly fewer, and your excuses start to sound pretty hollow.
For many years I have told my patients that obesity is not a problem of eating too much and exercising too little, in spite of this common stereotype that has been propagated everywhere from the lay press to physician beliefs. We have had good science to support that in fact obesity should be considered a disease and not simply a result of conscious behaviors dating back to the discovery of leptin, a hormone that fat cells make which governs appetite regulation, back in 1994. In 1998 our National Institute of Health recognized obesity as a disease. And today the American Medical Association adopted new policy recognizing obesity as a disease.
Once you’ve started medical weight loss, you have the chance to reassess your attitude towards healthy eating. Not only is it possible to teach yourself to love healthy foods—with time, you may find that you enjoy them much more than the empty calories that were once part of your diet.
I am excited to report that Belviq became available in Denver area pharmacies as a new FDA-approved weight loss medication as of Friday, June 7th, 2013. Pharmacies are expected to receive the medication during the week of June 10th - 14th and have it available to patients after that time.
Supersize, king size, extra value—these are a few of the words that demonstrate how out of control portions are in this country. Restaurants serve up burgers that could feed four, give out unlimited soda refills and add on side dishes with enough calories for an entire meal. We order this food in the name of value, but our waistlines are really the ones paying for it.
It is hard for me to believe that with what we know about obesity in 2013, it is still not considered a disease by our health insurance industry, and medical weight loss remains an out-of-pocket expense for most obese individuals. For the past 10 years, I've enjoyed watching patients in Denver with obesity get medical weight loss treatment at CNC and dramatically improve their lives.
With the warm weather finally arriving and summer around the corner, we are all starting to barbeque. Here are some helpful hints to keep your grilling healthy and your waistline smiling.
