How you feel can be directly related to what you eat. If you frequently feel stressed out, it is tempting to grab refined carbohydrates, otherwise known as comfort foods, and eat them in unhealthy quantities. Instead of reaching for a pint of premium chocolate ice cream, try changing your diet to include some of the foods below, and see if your stress level decreases. Chances are, when you add in these vitamin powerhouses, you will feel a difference.
1. Blueberries—Besides having been identified as one of the healthiest foods around, blueberries are very high in vitamin C, which has been shown to give the body added reserves to help it deal with high levels of stress. Also, blueberries contain a high amount of fiber, which helps regulate blood sugar levels. Blood sugar levels that fluctuate too much are a major contributor to stress for some people.
2. Low fat or skim milk—Milk is very high in calcium and B vitamins, which help to build your bones and protect nerve health. It is also high in protein, and protein also helps blood sugar to stay stabilized. Try mixing some milk, a sweetener and some frozen blueberries in the blender for a healthy pick-me-up that is super good for you, and an excellent alternative to ice cream!
3. Oranges—Oranges are very rich in vitamin C. When you are stressed, your body releases even more free radicals than usual. Vitamin C helps to keep the free radicals in check, and repairs the body. Basically, it helps protect the body from the cumulative effects of stress.
4. Brown rice—All whole grains, including bulger wheat, quinoa, oats and brown rice contain plenty of B vitamins and also supply serotonin producing carbohydrates that do not spike blood sugar levels. They also contain plenty of healthy fiber.
5. Green vegetables—Broccoli, kale, and other dark green vegetables are powerhouses of vitamins that help replenish our bodies in times of stress. Many vegetables also contain potassium, which is good for our nerves and can calm them. Also, when we eat a diet high in vegetables, we do not feel weighed down by our diet, and it is easier to get stress-reducing exercise.
6. Dried apricots—These are rich in magnesium, which is a stress-buster. Some people even say that magnesium helps reduce heart palpitations brought on by stress. Magnesium is a natural muscle relaxant as well. Apricots are also high in fiber and vitamin C. Don’t eat too many of them, though, because they also contain quite a bit of fructose, a type of sugar.
7. Turkey—Turkey contains an amino acid called L-Tryptophan. This amino acid triggers the release of serotonin, which is a feel-good brain chemical. This is the reason why many people who eat turkey feel relaxed, or even tired, after eating it. L-Tryptophan has a documented calming effect. Chicken is also high in this amino acid. However, don’t eat them fried, or your body will be so busy digesting the fats that you will miss out on the benefit of these foods!
8. soy—Try adding foods that are made out of soy to your diet, such as soymilk, tofu, tempeh and soy nuts. Soy is high in protein, B vitamins, calcium and magnesium.
9. Sweet potatoes—Sweet potatoes can be particularly stress reducing because they can satisfy the urge we get for carbohydrates and sweets when we are under a great deal of stress. Instead of reaching for a donut, eat one of these instead. They are packed full of beta-carotene and other vitamins, and the fiber helps your body to process the carbohydrates in a slow and steady manner.
10. Water—While technically not a food, it is important to have sufficient water intake, as even a mild state of dehydration can stress your entire body. Keep your nerves steady by staying well hydrated.
As you can see, the foods listed above are not only healthy, but they taste good as well! Next time you crave sweets because of stress, reach for some dried apricots, a sweet potato, or make a blueberry smoothie. Eat other wholesome foods the rest of the time, and eventually, your level of stress will decrease, leaving you less susceptible to unhealthy food cravings.
Full story can be read at essortment.com
Weight Loss and Stress Management
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Stress can have adverse effects on all areas of our health, especially our body weight. Many people indulge in sugary or fatty comfort foods when they are under stress, significantly raising their calorie intakes and cholesterol levels. Stress also increases the body’s production of the hormone cortisol, which can lead to the buildup of fat around the abdomen.
In today’s hectic world, stress can become a chronic condition. Long term stress not only makes it difficult to calm down, but it also hinders our memory and concentration while we work. It is important to find ways for our bodies and minds to cope with stress, for the sake of our health and overall quality of life. If you feel overwhelmed by the demands of daily life, consider some of these suggestions:
- Exercise the negativity away. Regular physical activity decreases the amount of cortisol in your body while raising your level of endorphins—chemicals that create a feeling of relief and relaxation. Not only does working out diminish existing tension, it can also reduce your body’s physiological reactions to future stress.
- Express your anxiety, frustration or aggravation in a journal. Putting your thoughts down on paper can help you release the emotional weight caused by life’s stressful situations. Journaling also allows you to organize your thoughts and possibly find solutions to your problems.
- Try breathing exercises. For a few minutes, inhale slowly and deeply through your nose, hold it for a couple of seconds, and then exhale slowly through your mouth. This is a simple technique that can be done almost anywhere.
- If you find breathing exercises to be helpful, you may want to look into meditation. You can teach yourself to meditate through any number of resources or you can take part in a yoga or meditation class. Though you may feel only minimal results at first, you could start to experience significant benefits in just a few sessions.
- Find healthy hobbies that help you relax and distract you from the daily grind. These can be as simple as reading, gardening, cycling, listening to music or any number of activities you enjoy. Taking part in these pastimes may not make your problems go away, but it will alleviate some of the physical and mental pressure they cause.
Excess weight complicates joint, orthopedic issues
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Orthopedic surgeons, rheumatologists and physicians specializing in rehabilitation medicine know that the knee joint has to support the force of three to six times one’s weight.
The impact of extra weight is also multiplied on other joints, including those of the back, hips and ankles. The results of this increased wear and tear are impressive; for example, men who are just 40 pounds over their ideal body weight have a five-fold increase in osteoarthritis.
This close link between obesity and osteoarthritis is well documented. Of course, the incidence of severe osteoarthritis in people that are one hundred or more pounds overweight is exponentially higher, and the age of onset is much earlier. As always in medicine, unless patients and their doctors attack the root cause of their disease, in this case arthritis, medications and other therapy will only temporarily alleviate the pain and will allow for permanent injury to the bone and cartilage to eventually occur. For patients who do not yet require surgery to replace damaged joints, substantial weight loss has been shown to alleviate the debilitating symptoms of osteoarthritis.
Studies have documented that seventy percent of patients that were taking medications for joint pain had no pain and were off all arthritis medications after weight loss surgery. Another published study documented that 58 percent of patients undergoing weight loss surgery complained of chronic low back pain, but this number decreased to only 20 percent after surgery.
The N.E.W. Program specializes in both surgical and non-surgical methods of permanent weight loss and patients often come in to see our specialists, or are referred by their physician, specifically due to chronic joint pain.
In fact, at The N.E.W. Program, patients have often been referred by orthopedic surgeons specifically in order to lose weight prior to joint replacement surgery. Surgical complication after orthopedic surgery is higher in severely obese individuals and recovery from joint replacement is more difficult in obese patients.
A patient who is unable to undergo joint replacement due to excess weight is a prime example of a person who needs surgical weight loss. By now, everyone is aware that osteoarthritis will often improve with good weight control. For those people who are severely obese and are suffering from chronic joint pain, surgery for permanent weight control may be the best option to improve the results of their medical or surgical therapy.
Wellness flows: Losing weight, adding water
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At the start of new exercise or diet routines, the standard suggestion advocates drinking eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. How much water you actually need depends on your weight, level of activity, the temperature and humidity of your environment, and your nutritional intake. Diet makes a difference because if you eat plenty of water-dense foods like fruits and vegetables your need to drink water will be diminished.
The health site Calories Per Hour offers some specific advantages to getting adequate water intake while trying to lose weight:
- Initial weight loss is largely due to loss of water, and you need to drink an adequate amount of water in order to avoid dehydration.
The process of burning calories requires an adequate supply of water in order to function efficiently; dehydration slows down the fat-burning process. - Burning calories creates toxins (think of the exhaust coming out of your car), and water plays a vital role in flushing them out of your body.
- Dehydration causes a reduction in blood volume; a reduction in blood volume causes a reduction in the supply of oxygen to your muscles; and a reduction in the supply of oxygen to your muscles can make you feel tired.
For more on hydration and weight loss and for the full list of advantages, read “Why Drinking Water is Important for Weight Loss” at www.caloriesperhour.com.
Water a crucial element in healthy lifestyle
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Water is such a simple and basic part of life that we might take for granted just how important it is to our health and wellness. Fact is, to get healthy and stay healthy, maintaining proper hydration is crucial.
To understand how important water is to wellness and weight loss, it helps to understand the building blocks of the human body. The body is composed of 60 percent fluids of your total body weight and 70 percent of your muscles. The fluids are comprised of water and other bodily fluids, such as lymph and synovial fluids. During the course of our daily activities, the body constantly loses fluids in perspiration and through urinating. How much of these fluids are lost will depend on our activities and the temperatures that are prevailing at the time.
If you are in weight-loss journey, it is important to note that during the summer months especially, we tend to be more active in the heat with sports, gardening and vacationing. Increased activity plus the higher temperatures will cause us to sweat more. Sweat will evaporate on the skin helping your body to cool down. This happens during the cooler months, but during the summer months that the body is at greater risk for it to become dehydrated.
The N.E.W. Program’s weekly workshop series continues Tuesday when Karla Campbell, RD, presents “Hydration: How Much is Enough?” The workshop will be presented at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 1 at our Newport Beach location.
Laparoscopy effective tool in weight-loss treatment
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Laparoscopy is where surgeons perform abdominal operations through smaller incisions, using specialized instruments and magnification cameras, in order to optimize patient outcomes and comfort. Gallbladder surgery was one of the first laparoscopic procedures developed because of the skills involved are relatively basic to learn. Whereas gallbladder surgery is routine among most practicing surgeons, other procedures are much more advanced and require specialized training.
Our surgeons have taken the time to develop the special expertise necessary offer minimally invasive surgery to our patients. The field has become far too complex to learn during the course of most general surgery residency programs. In fact, the field of advanced laparoscopic surgery is now recognized as a specialty to itself – with one-year training programs to teach surgeons the special skills.
Why perform surgery laparoscopically?
Study after study has documented the benefits of laparoscopic surgery. Most obviously, post-operative pain is significantly decreased. These incisions cut very little muscle and thus cause much less pain than the traditional incisions used for surgery. This not only translates into improved patient comfort, but there is a decreased risk of developing pneumonia and other lung problems because breathing and coughing is so much easier without significant pain.
Because laparoscopic cameras magnifying the images on a large TV screen, we can see the intestines and internal organs much better than through a traditional incision with our unassisted eyes. This allows for an exactness in operating that cannot easily be replicated with the unaided eye. This creates a difference in incisions between the open and laparoscopic approach to weight loss surgery.
Minimally invasive surgery techniques have cut recovery times for many operations from weeks (or months) to days. The more “cutting” done by the surgeon, the higher the stress response the body undergoes. With a higher stress response there is an increase in heart and kidney problems as well as a decrease in immune function. Also, with smaller wounds, there is a much smaller chance to develop significant infections. And with less trauma there is also a decreased formation of internal scar tissue, or adhesions. Of course, cosmetically, the incisions after laparoscopy are often barely visible after they have completely healed.
The N.E.W. Program offers surgical and has non-surgical programs to help you restore control over your lifestyle and better manage your weight. As with any bariatric procedure, lifestyle modifications are paramount to achieving weight loss success after a revision and our comprehensive aftercare program will set you in the right direction.
If you think that you may benefit from one of these procedures, or would like to learn more about them, please call our office at (949) 722-7662 with any questions or to set up an appointment with our surgeons to see if you are a candidate. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. The N.E.W. Program will work with you to get you where you’ve always wanted to be – on the road to permanent weight loss.
Revisions can provide new hope in wellness journey
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In life, second chances don’t come along very often. When they do, you need to jump at them and take advantage of the opportunity. To be a candidate for a bariatric surgery revision should be viewed as a second chance to return to a healthier, more active way of life. But how does one know if they are a candidate for a revision?
Dr. Justin Braverman
Have you regained some of the weight you initially lost after surgery? Did you not lose as much weight as expected? Are you struggling to maintain your current weight? Can you eat larger portions and eat much faster? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be a candidate for a revisional bariatric procedure.
There are many possible causes of weight regain after successful weight loss surgery. Obviously, proper eating and exercise habits are paramount to success, but sometimes there is an anatomic cause for the weight regain. Although these problems only rarely happen, changes to your surgical anatomy can derail your success. The good news is that there are a multitude of options to treat these issues, and our staff at The N.E.W. Program will work to help you develop the proper eating and exercise patterns that will lead to long-term success.
The three most common bariatric operations (Band, Bypass, and Sleeve) all cause weight loss by essentially the same mechanism, helping a patient eat slowly and feel full with a smaller portion. Although it is a powerful procedure, the Band has the most variable amount of weight loss success of the three operations. There is a small minority of band patients who do not achieve their desired results, and their weight may hit a plateau higher than their goal.
If this describes your situation – Do Not Fret! There are options and you can convert to a gastric bypass or gastric sleeve. The surgeons at The N.E.W. Program have performed many band-to-bypass or band-to-sleeve operations. In expert hands these are safe operations with outstanding results. Converting to another type of procedure can give you the jump start you need to get back on track and lose the rest of your excess weight. As an added benefit, changing to a gastric bypass will help treat the metabolic diseases associated with excess weight, like diabetes and high cholesterol, which perhaps were not controlled by the band.
After gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy, although rare, some patients can experience dilation, or stretching of the small pouch. If this has happened, portion size gets larger, you can eat faster, and appetite returns too quickly after a meal. To determine if this is a possible cause of weight regain, an outpatient endoscopy is performed. This is a painless, 10-minute procedure where a small camera is placed through the mouth and the size of the stomach is measured.
If the pouch is too big, we can fix it. There is a variety of surgical options that can repair the anatomy, restoring the feeling of restriction to give you the leverage you need to refocus your lifestyle and better manage your weight.
Traditionally, the primary way to restore the size of a dilated stomach pouch was to operate and surgically “cut and sew” the pouch back to its original size. Often times covered by insurance, this technique is still frequently used. It is a safe and effective way to fix dilations, and weight loss with this option can be significant.
Today we have even safer and less invasive procedures. An adjustable band can be placed over a previous bypass or sleeve. During this procedure there is no cutting of the stomach or intestines. Since the band is adjustable, it can be tightened over time, putting the patient in control of portion size and appetite in order to help lose the regained weight.
The N.E.W. Program is also proud to offer the ROSE procedure. This is latest technique in minimally invasive surgery, and truly at the forefront of the field of bariatrics. In fact, the surgeons at The N.E.W. Program were one of the first to perform the ROSE procedure in the U.S. The technique is termed “Natural Orifice Surgery” because the entire procedure is performed through the mouth with no incisions. The ROSE device allows the surgeon to place stitches on the inside of the stomach to reduce the size of the pouch. Patients wake up from the procedure and immediately notice a change in appetite and portion size. With no incisions there is less pain and faster recovery time. In fact, the ROSE procedure is usually performed on an outpatient basis and patients are back to work in 1-2 days. Results are similar to the other traditional forms of revisions, with a much lower chance for complications.
The N.E.W. Program offers all reasonable surgical revision options and has non-surgical programs to help you restore control over your lifestyle and better manage your weight. As with any bariatric procedure, lifestyle modifications are paramount to achieving weight loss success after a revision and our comprehensive aftercare program will set you in the right direction.
If you think that you may benefit from one of these procedures, or would like to learn more about them, please call our office at (949) 722-7662 with any questions or to set up an appointment with our surgeons to see if you are a candidate. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. The N.E.W. Program will work with you to get you where you’ve always wanted to be – on the road to permanent weight loss.
Creative picnics bring healthy fare
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Summer months will soon bring the allure of holiday picnics and outdoor-recreational dinning. Picnic food need not be synonymous with unhealthy food and the nutrition experts at the N.E.W. Program are ready to show you how a little time in the supermarket will help you make the most of your outdoor dinning experiences.
Pick these picnic entrées
- Turkey or chicken breast sandwiches with low-fat cheese, sandwich pickles, tomatoes, and spinach leaves.
- Hummus stuffed into whole wheat pita bread with bean sprouts, diced tomatoes, and sliced grapes.
- A green salad topped with grilled chicken. Pack the dressing separately.
- Whole wheat wraps with smoked salmon, capers, tomato, avocado, hummus, spinach, and shredded carrots.
- Cumin, black bean, and corn salad. Rinse and drain a can of black beans and a can of sweet corn. Mix with a drizzle of olive oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, and a pinch of cumin.
- Ricotta, spinach, and Parmesan whole wheat wrap. Place 2 cups loosely packed raw spinach leaves in food processor and grind. Mix in 1/2 cup fat-free ricotta and 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, and wrap in a whole wheat burrito.
- Mediterranean tomato salad in whole wheat pita. Dice fresh tomato and cucumber, mix with a thinly sliced red onion and black olives, drizzle with a little olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper and stuff into a pita pocket.
The N.E.W. Program’s weekly workshop series continues Tuesday when Karla Campbell, RD, presents “A Trip Through the Supermarket: Options for the Holiday Picnics.” The workshop will be presented at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 81 at our Newport Beach location.
Weighing the costs: Living with obesity not cheap
By · CommentsSo you think that weight loss surgery is too expensive? Well, how much does it actually cost to stay fat?
It may be more costly than you realize. Two-thirds of U.S. residents are overweight and one-third obese. On a national scale, the cost of this excess weight is astronomical. America spends as much as $147 billion annually on the direct and indirect costs of obesity. This is projected to reach close to $1 trillion annually by 2030.
Economic experts tell us that we are spending outrageous amounts of money treating obesity-related conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. The personal lifetime medical costs related to diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, and stroke among the obese are $10,000 higher than among the non-obese.
How does this relate to personal finance? Your health is your most important asset. Not your house. Not your car. Not your job. Not your retirement account. These are secondary. Your health is your most important asset. The cost of weight loss surgery pales in comparison to the long-term costs of obesity health problems.
Dr. Justin Braverman
One study found that in 2006, obese patients spent an average of $4,871 in medical bills a year compared with $3,442 for a patient at a healthy weight, or $1,429 more for their medical care than did people within a normal weight range. That is a 42 percent higher cost for people who are obese. In fact, a study published by the American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC) found that bariatric patients pay as much as $900 less for healthcare per month as soon as 13 months after surgery than similar people who didn’t have surgery.
The analysis also showed that for those receiving laparoscopic bariatric surgery, costs of surgery broke even within 2 years.
On a more personal scale, researchers say each overweight driver burns a minimum of 18 additional gallons of gas a year. At more than $3 per gallon, this is a cost savings of more than $60 per year. Plus-sized clothing costs 10 percent to 15 percent more than regular sized apparel.
Research has shown that people who are not obese marry more, are paid more, are promoted more, sleep better and have better sex lives. Your productivity in the workplace will jump as you take fewer sick days and spend less time at work feeling unwell.
How much is a year of life worth?
A study from Tufts Medical Center estimates that $100,000 to $300,000 is the average value that Americans place on a year of life. It is well known that overweight people have shorter life spans. Morbid obesity has been shown to take between 3 to 12 years off a person’s life. That translates to somewhere between $300,000 and 3.6 million dollars!
You wonder if you can afford weight loss surgery. A better question is can you afford to stay overweight?
