“1 in 5 US Young People will be Obese by 2020″

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Nixon Elite

In order for the nation to achieve goals set by the federal government for reducing obesity rates by 2020, children in the United States would need to eliminate an average of 64 excess calories per day, researchers calculated in a new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. This reduction could be achieved by decreasing calorie intake, increasing physical activity, or both. Without this reduction, the authors predict that the average U.S. youth would be nearly four pounds heavier than a child or teen of the same age was in 2007-2008, and more than 20% of young people would be obese, up from 16.9% today.

“Sixty-four calories may not sound like much individually, but it’s quite a consequential number at the population level, and children at greatest risk for obesity face an even larger barrier,” says Y. Claire Wang, MD, ScD, assistant professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and lead author of the study. “Closing this gap between how many calories young people are consuming and how many they are expending will take substantial, comprehensive efforts.”

The daily difference between how many calories young people consume and how many they expend through normal growth, body function and physical activity is known as the energy gap. The 64-calorie difference between consumption and expenditure is an average for the population. Dr. Wang and her colleagues note it is not intended to represent a change for any individual young person, and that many young people would need to see even greater reductions.

In particular, children and teens who currently have higher obesity rates would require larger energy gap reductions to reach the obesity rate goal. For instance, based on their current obesity rates, white youths would need a 46-calorie reduction, on average, in their energy gap to reach the goals. But given their higher obesity rates in 2008-2010, the average reduction needed to close the energy gap for Mexican-American youths is 91 calories and, for black youths, it is 138 calories. Youths in lower-income communities also need greater reductions than their peers in higher-income areas, again due to higher rates of obesity. Additionally, an earlier study by several of the same researchers found that the problem is especially acute for teens who are already overweight.

In order to project how many young people would be obese in 2020, Dr. Wang and her colleagues analyzed decades of data on obesity rates. Height and weight among U.S. youths ages 2-19 were taken from National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 1971 to 2008. Based on the trends, the authors projected that the childhood obesity rate would be about 21% in 2020, up from 16.9% now.

Dr. Wang and her colleagues then compared the projected rate of 21% to the goal of 14.6% set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a 2010 report titled Healthy People 2020 and calculated how much of a daily energy gap the average youth would need to close in order to achieve that goal. A childhood obesity rate of 14.6% has not been seen since 2002.

“Reaching the 2020 goal will require significant changes to calories consumed and expended,” said C. Tracy Orleans, PhD, co-author of the study and senior scientist at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “Because we know that children and teens who already are overweight or obese will need larger reductions, and that preventing obesity will be more effective than treating it, we must focus our attention on the policy and environmental changes likely to have early, broad, and sustainable impacts.”

The authors outline several policy strategies that could help to close the daily energy gap for American youths. For instance, they point to research showing that:

replacing all sugar-sweetened beverages in school with water and not consuming any additional sugary beverages outside of school could reduce the energy gap by 12 calories per day;
participating in a comprehensive physical education program could eliminate 19 calories per day among children ages 9-11; and
engaging in an after-school activity program for children in grades K-5 results in an additional 25 calories expended per day.

In a commentary accompanying the study, William H. Dietz, MD, PhD, director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, writes that the research “provides important data that highlight the promise of prevention and raise the challenge of treatment in children and adolescents.”

Steven L. Gortmaker, PhD, Professor of the Practice of Health Sociology at Harvard School of Public Health was senior author of the study. Funding for the study was provided by grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U48/DP00064-00S1) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

For FREE tips you can follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nixonelite and twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/NixonElite @nixonelite

Please free to use this content on this site as long as help spread the word about Nixon Elite. Use the following link with article for my consent to use the content. http://nixonelite.com

Obesity and Diabetes Pose 1-2 Threat to Young Americans!

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Nixon Elite

“They could be first generation to not live as long as their parents”

Doctors have long been concerned that increasing rates of childhood obesity could fuel a diabetes epidemic.

Study results have now underscored that fear.

Researchers have found that the length of time a person carries excess weight directly contributes to an increased risk for type 2 diabetes.

In other words, because today’s children are expected to receive a larger lifetime “dose” of obesity, their chances of developing diabetes at some point in their lives will be greater.

Dr. John E. Anderson, vice president of medicine and science for the American Diabetes Association, said that the findings reflect what is already happening in society, with more young children and teenagers diagnosed with type 2 diabetes than ever before.

“A disease that used to be confined to older people is creeping into high schools,” Anderson said. “At best, this is alarming. This obesity epidemic we have is fueling an epidemic of diabetes in young people.”

Obesity among children and adolescents has almost tripled since 1980, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Today, nearly one in five American kids ages 2 to 19 — or about 12.5 million — are obese.

Obesity has long been linked with the development of type 2 diabetes, which occurs when the body gradually loses its ability to properly use insulin to convert blood sugar into fuel, a condition known as insulin resistance.

“Extra weight gets in the way of the ability of tissues to absorb insulin and use it to convert glucose,” Anderson said. “The more obese you are, the more insulin resistant you can become.”

But researchers now are finding that the time spent carrying extra weight matters as much as the amount of extra weight itself.

A research team at the University of Michigan that studied the health records of about 8,000 teens and young adults found that those with a body mass index (BMI) indicating overweight or obesity for a greater length of time had a higher risk for diabetes.

For example, the researchers found that a person who carried a BMI of 35 for 10 years — a BMI of 30 or above is considered obese — could be considered to have the equivalent of 100 years of excess BMI.

The findings, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, jibe with projections that show diabetes rates exploding as more people spend more of their lives either overweight or obese.

“If you’re born in the year 2000 and the current trends continue unchecked, you will have a one in three chance of developing type 2 diabetes,” Anderson said. That risk increases for certain ethnic minorities, including African Americans, Native Americans and Hispanics.

Diabetes is a systemic disease, and by its nature can affect almost every part of a person’s body. Someone with diabetes has a shorter life expectancy, and on any given day has twice the risk for dying as a person of similar age without diabetes, according to the CDC.

“We worry this will be the first generation of Americans who don’t live as long as their parents did,” Anderson said.

What can be done to alter the potentially grim outlook? To start losing weight, kids need to adopt a set of healthy living skills that become part of their daily routine, said Sheri Colberg-Ochs, an exercise science professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., who works with the American Diabetes Association.

“It’s not just the weight, per se,” Colberg-Ochs said. “It’s the lifestyle they’ve developed that caused them to gain the extra weight.”

First, kids need to be taught to eat healthy foods and to avoid foods that are fatty, sugar-packed or heavily processed, she said.

“When food is a lot more refined, it’s lacking in a lot of vitamins and minerals that are essential to your effective metabolic function,” she said. “Kids eat empty calories, and those calories go straight to weight gain.”

But they also need to become more physically active, she said. Exercise has been shown to both battle obesity and help better control blood glucose levels in the body.

“Those two things alone would probably solve the problem of childhood obesity, were society to pursue them vigorously,” Colberg-Ochs said.

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
Link to the story: Industry Science Journal

SOURCES: John E. Anderson, M.D., vice president, medicine and science, American Diabetes Association; Sheri Colberg-Ochs, Ph.D., professor, exercise science, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Va., and adjunct professor, internal medicine, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Va.

For FREE tips you can follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nixonelite and twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/NixonElite @nixonelite

Please free to use this content on this site as long as help spread the word about Nixon Elite. Use the following link with article for my consent to use the content. http://nixonelite.com

Maryland woman has her type 2 diabetes under control at 38, and her future is brighter!

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Nixon Elite

A Life-Saving Lesson That Took Decades to Learn. Maryland woman has her type 2 diabetes under control at 38, and her future is brighter

Doctors diagnosed Ronda Keys with type 2 diabetes when she was 19 years old and a student at the University of Maryland.

Now 38 and living in Montgomery Village, Md., Keys had been suffering the classic symptoms before her diagnosis — fatigue, extreme thirst, frequent urination. “That prompted me to just go to the doctor,” she recalled. “That’s when I found out.”

But the news wasn’t completely out of left field. Her father was diabetic, as were her grandmother and several aunts and uncles.

“There’s a long line of it in my family,” Keys said. “It wasn’t really a surprise once I was told that I had it, but I guess I had never thought of myself as getting it, especially that young.”

Nonetheless, Keys admits, she took the diagnosis with a small amount of resentment. “I was a little taken aback,” she said. “I didn’t do anything to go out and get this. I thought it was kind of unfair. You’re just told you have this, and oh, by the way, there’s no cure.”

Keys’s doctor put her on oral medication and encouraged her to exercise more and eat a healthy diet. But she was young and at college and found it hard to reconcile her diabetes treatment with her lifestyle.

“The issue for me was just being different from my friends,” she said. “I didn’t want to be the odd ball out. I just wanted to fit in with everyone else.”

Those college years established a pattern for Keys. She would half-heartedly pursue self-treatment for her diabetes, and then get serious about it when she began to feel really sick. “I would try for a while, and then I would fall off the wagon and stay off,” she said.

Things continued that way until three years ago, when Keys was hospitalized with a serious infection. Her body didn’t respond to treatment, which she was told was due to her diabetes.

“My blood sugar was fighting against the medicines the doctors were giving me,” she said. “I was very, very sick. As a result, I had to go on insulin, which I had been fighting.”

Keys was hospitalized for 14 days. The insulin helped save her life, but she hated having to resort to it. “It just felt like failure,” she said. “Insulin equals failure. You didn’t do what you were supposed to do, and now you have to take insulin.”

That feeling didn’t last long, though.

“I found out it was the best thing that could have happened to me,” Keys said. “I love to travel, and I’m very active, and I didn’t feel well. I was getting sick. I was having trouble with my kidneys. After going on insulin, it was an immediate turnaround for me.”

Since then, Keys also has become more serious about her exercise and diet, getting to the gym three times a week and practicing moderation when she eats.

“I’m doing a lot better than three years ago,” she said. “I feel better. I’m able to do everything I want to do. I’m very active. Diabetes is not stopping me now.”

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
Story Link: HEALTHDAY

For FREE tips you can follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nixonelite and twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/NixonElite @nixonelite

Please free to use this content on this site as long as help spread the word about Nixon Elite. Use the following link with article for my consent to use the content. http://nixonelite.com

Reduce Inflammation! GPR120 Receptor Key to Anti-Inflammation

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Nixon Elite

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified the molecular mechanism that makes omega-3 fatty acids so effective in reducing chronic inflammation and insulin resistance.

The discovery could lead to the development of a simple dietary remedy for many of the more than 23 million Americans suffering from diabetes and other conditions, said the university in a statement.

Writing in the advance online edition of the September 3 issue of the journal Cell, Jerrold Olefsky, MD, and colleagues identified a key receptor on macrophages abundantly found in obese body fat. The scientists said omega-3 fatty acids activate this macrophage receptor, resulting in broad anti-inflammatory effects and improved systemic insulin sensitivity.

Macrophages are specialized white blood cells that engulf and digest cellular debris and pathogens, said researchers. Part of this immune system response involves the macrophages secreting cytokines and other proteins that cause inflammation, a method for destroying cells and objects perceived to be harmful. Obese fat tissue contains lots of these macrophages, producing lots of cytokines. The result can be chronic inflammation and rising insulin resistance in neighboring cells overexposed to cytokines. Insulin resistance is the physical condition in which the natural hormone insulin becomes less effective at regulating blood sugar levels in the body, leading to myriad and often severe health problems, most notably type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Olefsky and colleagues looked at cellular receptors known to respond to fatty acids. They eventually narrowed their focus to a G-protein receptor called GPR120, one of a family of signaling molecules involved in numerous cellular functions. The GPR120 receptor is found only on pro-inflammatory macrophages in mature fat cells. When the receptor is turned off, the macrophage produces inflammatory effects. But exposed to omega-3 fatty acids, specifically DHA and EPA, the GPR120 receptor is activated and generates a strong anti-inflammatory effect.

“It’s just an incredibly potent effect,” said Olefsky, a professor of medicine and associate dean of scientific affairs for the UC San Diego School of Medicine. “The omega-3 fatty acids switch on the receptor, killing the inflammatory response.”

The scientists conducted their research using cell cultures and mice, some of the latter genetically modified to lack the GPR120 receptor. All of the mice were fed a high-fat diet with or without omega-3 fatty acid supplementation. The supplementation treatment inhibited inflammation and enhanced insulin sensitivity in ordinary obese mice, but had no effect in GPR120 knockout mice. A chemical agonist of omega-3 fatty acids produced similar results.

“This is nature at work,” said Olefsky. “The receptor evolved to respond to a natural product—omega-3 fatty acids—so that the inflammatory process can be controlled. Our work shows how fish oils safely do this, and suggests a possible way to treat the serious problems of inflammation in obesity and in conditions like diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease through simple dietary supplementation.”

However, Olefsky said more research is required. For example, it remains unclear how much fish oil constitutes a safe, effective dose. High consumption of fish oil has been linked to increased risk of bleeding and stroke in some people.

Should fish oils prove impractical as a therapeutic agent, Olefsky said the identification of the GPR120 receptor means researchers can work toward developing an alternative drug that mimics the actions of DHA and EPA and provides the same anti-inflammatory effects.

To view the full article: Nutrition Industry Executive

For FREE tips you can follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nixonelite and twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/NixonElite @nixonelite

Please free to use this content on this site as long as help spread the word about Nixon Elite. Use the following link with article for my consent to use the content. http://nixonelite.com

Sarah’s Weight Loss Journey – Blog #5 – Sleeve Surgery Experience

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Nixon Elite

Monday, 11/21/11 Day before surgery:

Starving…. A little bit nervous. I drove up alone to Decatur…hubby had to work. I had appointments with everyone it seemed like, but I met a lot of the people in the hospital that were going to be involved in the surgery. They did an EKG, blood work, and chest X-ray. Finally they put me up in a really nice motel across the street from the hospital. Clear fluids all day today… it is kind of amazing to me how depressed you can get just knowing you won’t be ABLE to eat for several weeks. I put a lot of my life into eating. I love food. This is going to be hard but it really is what I want to do. Up at 5am in the morning. I am the first surgery tomorrow.

11/22/11 Surgery day. Tuesday:

I got there at 6am. The pre-op nurses were so sweet! Met the anesthesiologist… he was great too. He actually put caffeine in my IV! This place rocks!!! I didn’t know they did that. He said it decreases the amount of pain meds you need. Hmm. Learn something every day. I couldn’t have my coffee this morning so this is the next best thing! Sat around for about an hour waiting for all the nurses and the surgeon to come in…then it was time. They rolled me in the freezing cold operating room, and told me to think of a happy place. Sadly, the happy place I thought of instantly was around the dinner table with my family eating. Ironic huh?

I wake up from surgery and was told everything went well. Details sketchy obviously, but I was moved up to the fifth floor where I slept and slept, and slept some more. I had a Demerol pump since I am allergic to morphine. That was a great thing. Demerol dose every 10 minutes… I was feeling GREAT. But then learned I could still have NOTHING by mouth for that entire day. They were going to do a Barium swallow the next day so I had to wait until that was done to start drinking anything. Torture! They asked me questions and I couldn’t even answer them because my tongue is literally stuck to the roof of my mouth. More sleep! It was a long night with all the docs and nurses in and out and the itching from the Demerol, but finally made it through the night.

11/23/11. Day One Post-Op. Wednesday

I went down for the Barium swallow finally about 10:30am. The taste of that stuff is not even describable. They tell you absolutely, positively, do NOT throw up or it can mess things up, but then they make you drink THAT? I drank a few sips and they said it wasn’t going down like it should. Too much swelling keeping things closed off. It felt like when things were stuck with my lap band. Brought back some bad memories. They sent me back to the room, again with nothing to drink and said they would be back in an hour to do another xray and make sure it went down. . Incision sites still didn’t hurt much. I felt like I had done about 100 sit-ups, but it wasn’t too bad. I have six incisions total. Belly kind of looks like a target with my navel the being the bulls eye. I’m pretty swollen around the middle, but still, it’s not too bad. I just need water!!!!! X-ray folks came back about an hour later and did another x-ray . Good news. It all went down. I can go home today if I can start drinking enough liquids to make them confident that it will go down. Scott and Zach came about noon. It was so great to see someone and have someone to talk to. I took my Kindle with me but all those pain meds made the words drift around on the page. I apologize now to anyone I tried to email. I’m sure it was entertaining if nothing else. So, I started sipping on water. Wow… water never tasted so good! They gave me one ounce, got it down, then two… got it down. No problems. I was finally ready to go home to my own comfy bed!! However, I learned pretty quickly never to judge how great you feel while you are still attached to a Demerol pump.

On the way home: As soon as I get in the car, I started to get nauseous! We had to go to the pharmacy down the road to pick up my anti-nausea and pain medications. I hurt all over and really thought I was going to throw up. Where is my Demerol????? This was not going to be a fun trip home. Every tiny crack in the pavement hurts going over it. My hubby brought a pillow along thank goodness, so that helped a little. So we set off for home with the AC blasting in my face to keep me from throwing up. I finally got one of my pain pills and the anti-nausea meds down. It should be okay from here. I think I slept most of the three hours home and don’t remember much about getting into bed. But I must have made it. I woke up about 3am in my bed searching for more pain meds. It wasn’t horrible pain, just kind of annoying. I was still a little sick to my stomach too, but after another round of medication, I finally slept through the rest of the night.

11/24/11 Day two Post-op. Thursday. Thanksgiving Day.

Woke up feeling pretty good actually. Not too much pain. I was up walking around the house. Scott was worried I was going to get dehydrated so he gives me some water to sip on. OUCH. This pain was totally unexpected and very scary. Every time I swallowed anything, water or even my own saliva, as soon as it got down to my stomach there was an excruciating pain!!!! Nobody mentioned this before I left. I was afraid something was horribly wrong. I fought Scott all day…he wanted me to get meds and fluids down, but honestly, I would rather die of dehydration at this point than have to swallow one more time. It was THAT bad! This continued all day. I was to the point of tears but I managed to get a couple ounces of water down and my pain pills…then off to bed again. Enough of that! I was up and down throughout the day. At this point I was honestly wondering if I had made the right decision. This was exactly the same thing that happened after my surgery last year when things totally fell apart. Decided to just go sleep some more. Scott made Thanksgiving dinner for him and Zach. I sat with them while they ate, but I don’t think either of them really enjoyed their Thanksgiving since I couldn’t eat. It really wasn’t too bad, I can honestly say I have not been hungry since the surgery. The only thing that got to me was the pie. I didn’t realize how much of a comfort food pie was to me. I LOVE pie!!!!!! It actually made me sad, which to most people is silly I’m sure. The ham and everything else didn’t bother me, but I was pretty upset about having to miss my pie. I can tell this is going to be a major change, not only for how and what I eat, but for my overall feelings about food. If the pain is this bad tomorrow, I’m calling the doctor. I hate to complain to Scott since he didn’t want me to do this anyway… so I just held it in and went to bed early. I hope tomorrow is better. This was the worst day of the whole thing so far. Glad when it was over.

11/25/11: Day three: Friday.

I got to sleep late this morning. I was really nervous to try the swallowing thing, so I started with some warm broth. ( I’m supposed to be on clear liquids for one week, then full liquids for a week, then I can start trying soft foods) It’s a miracle!!!!!!!!!! No pain with the broth going down. It’s going to be a good day! I didn’t take my pain meds this morning. I felt quite a bit better. I did take one of the antacids that the doctor prescribed. There isn’t much pain, but it feels really acidic. I’m just happy I can swallow!!! I drank about 4 oz of warm broth, then tried a sugar-free popsicle. Even whipped up a protein shake… Not bad! I think I might live! I was beginning to wonder yesterday! Okay, so I did make the right decision. I’m still not hungry, but by 2pm, I am starting to hurt a little bit. Scott went to work, Zach is at my brother’s house. I think it’s time for a pain pill and a nap.

(My son didn’t realize I had actually done the sleeve surgery until yesterday. He thought I was just taking the band out. He did NOT want me to do this so he was a little upset with me…but I understand. I thought he knew. We talked openly about it over the days before surgery. I guess it’s too late now. But with neither Zach nor Scott wanting me to do this, I try my hardest not to complain about anything. Scott said he would support me either way, and he has been GREAT. But still… I hate to whine about stuff and have them think, “We told you so”. ) I laid around on the couch and tried to rest. I managed to get down about 8 oz of protein drink, 8 oz of water, and probably 8 oz of broth. I also chewed a couple of gummy multivitamins. Not a bad day at all.

11/26/11 Day 3 Post-op. Saturday.

After today, I will probably go back to posting once a week. Today was the best yet. I didn’t take any pain medication at all and didn’t have much pain. I got out a little and went to Walgreens. I started picking up the house a little, doing some laundry… just trying to be more active. I can get down just about any liquid now with no pain. Just about 1/4^th to ½ of a cup though, and then I feel really full. I guess that is what I’m going to be able to eat in a couple weeks too. Wow. I read on the internet that a LOT of doctors only require the clear liquid diet for a couple of days instead of a whole week, so I tried a little bit of a Slim Fast this afternoon. It actually tasted wonderful after all that clear stuff. I did fine with that, so I think I’ll go ahead and slip in a few full liquids for now too. Not ready for steak and potatoes, but I don’t think a protein shake will hurt anything. I did notice for the first time that I actually missed eating and I really wanted to take a bite of those Thanksgiving leftovers. I’ve had to stay busy cleaning or messing around on the internet to keep my mind off of food. I’m not really actually hungry, I’m just bored and wanting to eat. I’ve got to work on that mindset!!! So, things are going great so far! I will post my weight progress next time. The batteries on my scales are broken… but I’m still off with my fluid balance and also still swollen, so it’s probably a good thing. Again, thanks for reading

Sarah

Please send your comments and questions for Sarah to us by using the Contact Us link on www.nixonelite.com

For FREE tips you can follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nixonelite

Please free to use this content on this site as long as help spread the word about Nixon Elite. Use the following link with article for my consent to use the content. http://nixonelite.com

Sarah’s Weight Loss Journey – Blog entry #4: Tummy Tuck Nightmare

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Nixon Elite

I was so excited to have lost 140 pounds! Going from a size 22 to a 10 was an accomplishment I never thought I’d be able to reach. So next step for me was the tummy tuck. I was really excited up until the morning of surgery when I was sitting there in the pre-op room talking to the surgeon one last time. I suddenly had a really bad feeling and was scared to death. This was going to hurt! She was going to do an extended tummy tuck so I was going to be cut almost all the way around…cut in half!!!! What was I thinking? But I went ahead with it. Looking back now, I can say it was one of the worst experiences of my life, and it was not the doctor’s fault. She was amazing! It was after I woke up and was sent to a regular room that the nightmare began.

First thing, I am in excruciating pain unlike anything I had ever felt. It was like I had been cut in half with a chain saw rather than a scalpel. I think I yelled to the nurse that I needed pain medication and quickly! She slowly waltzed back in at least 10 minutes later saying that she couldn’t find any orders from the doctor for pain medication. You can’t even imagine what went through my head at that second. If I didn’t hurt so bad, she wouldn’t be walking today! I cried and cried and told her that I HAD to have something, to please call the doctor, anything. So she slowly walked out, came back in another 10 or 15 minutes later saying that all she could give me for pain was Phenergan. I know my pharmacology, and Phenergan is NOT for pain. I argued, cried, and yelled, and she shot me full of Phenergan anyway. I’m not sure how long it took, but my surgeon finally got up there and told them to put me on a morphine pump and showed the idiot where it had been written the whole time.

So, things calmed down a little bit. Actually, most of the next day or two is a total blur. I don’t remember much except them saying that I had to drink a glass of water and then I could go home. I tried, and it went down slowly, but it hurt like it was getting stuck. I wasn’t too concerned a the time, but now I know I should have been VERY concerned!!! Scott takes me home and props me in the recliner, which will be my ‘home’ for the next week. I remember the pain being almost more than I could take every time I moved. But, my first attempt at getting pain medication down was a complete failure. It got stuck. My lap band was really really tight, if not closed off completely. I threw that up, and after being cut in half, throwing up was torture. A little later, I tried to sip some water, but it also came back up. We tried crushing the pain meds up with a sip of water and even that wouldn’t go down. I had antibiotics I was also supposed to be taking…and those weren’t getting down either. I spent a lot of time just crying and sleeping hoping that maybe tomorrow would be better.

Next day was even worse. I hurt worse, I could hardly get up to go to the bathroom, and still, nothing was going down. After a couple of days, I was getting dehydrated, so Scott started calling around to the emergency rooms and the out-of-town bariatric doctors to find someone to take all of the fluid out of my band. Nobody would touch me with a ten foot pole because they hadn’t been trained on the lap band system.

Next day I was desperate and it was getting pretty serious. I was in so much pain my body just sort of shut off reality, and I was so dehydrated and weak, it was now an emergency. We went back to my tummy tuck doctor and she gave me an IV for fluids. By then end of that hour I already felt better. She gave me some liquid pain meds and I think I got a few drops of it down. But we had to find someone to take this fluid out.

Finally, I think the fourth day or so, Scott found a doctor in Wichita Falls that agreed to see me. We drove over 3 hours in the car to his office. He was a complete jerk and kind of creepy to me. I didn’t like him, but he took all the fluid out of the band and charged me over $400 for this and that. I was pretty angry, but relieved. I could finally drink water, and eat, and I might live through this.

Things got a little easier over the next few weeks…it was still one of the most painful things I’ve ever gone through, but probably just because I had to do it with no pain medication. I would NOT do this again, ever.

Over the next several months, the wound healed, but the swelling was horrible. With my lap band now empty, I could eat whatever I wanted, and I did… to the extreme. I felt like I could make up for the nightmare by turning to food. And I was just hungry all the time. We went back several times to fill the lap band back up, but it never gave me any constriction. I was gaining weight back quickly…but every ‘fill’ I did cost me $150 and they weren’t working. So I just gave up. Over the next 11 months, I just got in the mind-set that I was just going to be fat again. My belly looked great when it healed, until I gained ~50 lbs back. Now it was flat still, but just big. So, that led me to the sleeve revision surgery. I had to come up with the 12K on my own this time…and found a wonderful doctor in Decatur, and we got it set up for November 22^nd, 2011. So this brings me to present day. My next post will be the experiences up to this time with my new sleeve surgery. Again, thanks for reading!

Sarah

Please send your comments and questions for Sarah to us by using the Contact Us link on www.nixonelite.com

For FREE tips you can follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nixonelite

Please free to use this content on this site as long as help spread the word about Nixon Elite. Use the following link with article for my consent to use the content. http://nixonelite.com

Sarah’s Weight Loss Journey – Blog entry #3: I Finally Get the Band! (The first two years)

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Nixon Elite

I think I left off about the time of my lap band surgery. I went in for surgery on December 14^th, 2008. I was going to get the 10cc Realize Band put in place. The surgery itself was a breeze! Maybe it’s just because it was almost 3 years ago, but I don’t have any memory of anything horrible. I was a little sore and there was some discomfort from the gas they fill you full of, but overall things went great and I was off to a new start. So for the first few weeks I did everything as directed, ate tiny bites, and counted 25 chews for everything that went in my mouth, and to my astonishment, I wasn’t hungry. I was loving this so far. My doctor was right here in the same town I am in, so it was super easy to hop in the car and go for my regular fills. You go about once a month and let them put a little more saline solution so the band gets slightly tighter every time. My first fill scared me to death! THAT needle was going to go IN MY BELLY??? But the doc used Lidocaine so I didn’t feel too much. Actually, the Lidocaine hurt worse than the needle as I would find out later. This was amazing! I was never hungry! I would usually eat breakfast and then not even think about food for the rest of the day. My poor family!!!! I had to set an alarm to remind myself that people around here do still eat and I should probably do the motherly thing and fix them something. Things were off to a great start! The weight started falling off pretty quickly. I thought this was the greatest solution to weight loss that was ever invented. Then…..something got “stuck”.

I thought I was going to die. Every band patient does it… you get a little too complacent with the bite size or don’t chew, and you know it the instant you swallow it, but it’s too late. I had company over so I had to run to my room and lock the door. There was a horrible, excruciating, stabbing pain in my chest, my eyes started to water and turned red. I started foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog. I grabbed the trash can and it just poured out of my mouth while my body tried to water it down enough to make it go down. I thought I was going to die! This went on for a good 15 minutes before I finally felt this odd, “thunk” in my chest as the food finally went down and then there was an instant relief. The whole ordeal scared me to death! I never wanted to go through that again. I had read that if you get something stuck, all you had to do was make yourself vomit and it would come up. But you are also told by the doctors that this can make your band slip and really mess things up. But after that experience, I was pretty sure I would rather risk that than feel like that again. I just had to be more careful!!!

After that, I became more careful and didn’t have any problems for a while. I probably lost about 10-15 pound a month at first… and you could always tell when it was time for a fill because the weight loss would slow down, or you could start to eat more than you knew you should be able to. One bit of advice for you though… DON’T get it filled too much! I was lucky that my doctor was less than 5 miles from me, so on the rare occasion that the fill was too much, I could run right back and get some taken out. Except for the one time my doctor left town before I realized I couldn’t get anything down. That was a Thursday, and the doctor wasn’t in town until the next Monday. It is not fun, safe, or healthy to go five days barely able to get even a sip of water to stay down. It was so tight that I didn’t even have the option whether to throw up or not, everything I swallowed came right back up. It was horrible. I lived off of sucking on ice for five days until I could finally get back in and get it unfilled a little bit. On the plus side, I lost like 10 pounds in that week…but wouldn’t recommend it. I had another round of it being too tight towards the last few months that it was working. I had really bad reflux when I went to bed, and I was throwing up about once a day, if not more because things were getting stuck all the time. I think it was more disturbing for my family than for me. I was dropping weight like crazy at the time, so I didn’t go back to the doctor. Again, looking back, probably not a very good way to go about losing the weight.

Overall, I was very, very happy with it. I will skip a huge chunk of time… in two years I had lost just over 140 pounds. I bounced back and forth between 155 and 160. I went from a size 22 down to size 10. (I’m 5’10” tall so 155 to me is pretty good!) It was SO much fun to go shopping! I gave away all my old fat clothes. My high blood pressure went back to normal… People I hadn’t seen didn’t even recognize me anymore. People treated me differently (this actually kind of irritated me but I was on the better end of it now so it was okay). I felt like a million bucks! I even decided to reward myself and going the final step by getting a tummy tuck. I can’t say that I regret the decision, but I do believe that is what caused my lap band to mess up. It was a nightmare. I will pick up with that horrible experience next time.

At the current time: Saturday, 11/19/11. It’s been almost a year since my tummy tuck and the lap band nightmare. I’ve decided that the lap band revision is the next step. I am two weeks in to quitting smoking, and five days in to my pre-op liquid diet before my Sleeve Revision surgery on Tuesday. I’m really not sure which is harder… not eating or not smoking. It is horrible! I’ve questioned whether it is worth it or not, but after gaining 40, maybe nearly 50 lbs back, I have decided it is. I got depressed after the tummy tuck messed up the lap band, and once again turned back to food. I also think maybe the lap-band ordeal kind of messed up the psychological aspect of eating for me. I went so long not being able to eat without throwing up that when I could finally eat, I lost control again. I started eating all the time, anything and everything, just because I could. It felt GOOD to eat instead of it hurting when I ate every time. And I am HUNGRY now all the time. I wasn’t used to that either. So, yes, I think this will be worth it. This blog about the sleeve surgery will be more “real-time” so I can give you many more details about it than trying to remember about things that happened three years ago. I’m getting a little nervous now. The weekend is almost over and my pre-op appointment is on Monday. Surgery Tuesday morning. I should be home on Wednesday, but I don’t know how goofy I will be on pain medication. But I will be on and let you know how it went as soon as I can. Thanks again for reading. Sorry it was a long one this time.

Sarah

Please send your comments and questions for Sarah to us by using the Contact Us link on www.nixonelite.com

For FREE tips you can follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nixonelite

Please free to use this content on this site as long as help spread the word about Nixon Elite. Use the following link with article for my consent to use the content. http://nixonelite.com

Sarah’s Weight Loss Journey – “Catching Up”

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Nixon Elite

Today is World Diabetes Day! It is reported that the number of adults with Diabetes will DOUBLE by the year 2030. This would mean 552 Million people would be diagnosed with diabetes. This doesn’t count the massive numbers that go undiagnosed.

Read Sarah’s blog below and support her and the millions of others who are fight to get the weight under control.

“Catching up.”

Most blogs are written about what is going on ‘today’. This one is going to be a little different for a while until I can catch you up to current day. I will talk first about my experience up TO this point with my lap band surgery. But since I also have another surgery coming up in just over a week (Nov.22nd), I will also add a small “At The Present Time” section at the end of each post to keep you up to date with other and then I will just post about what is currently going on. Those that know me will not be surprised. I could never do things the easy way.

Lap Band: So as I mentioned before, it was in the fall of 2008 when I decided that I really had no choice about losing weight. It was do or die, literally. Having tried unsuccessfully at every diet plan out there, and being too big to really be able to exercise, I started looking online at the bariatric surgery options. I was horrified with the description of the by-pass, but the newest and greatest thing at the time was the Lap-band. So I spent many hours researching the procedure online and talking to as many people as I could find who had gone through this, and decided that this was the thing that was going to change my life. Next step…funding. At the time, this surgery was a little higher than it is now. Most places in the Dallas area were charging well over $16,000 for self-pay, and the doctors here in Abilene were a little less than that, although not much. I knew Blue Cross, my insurance carrier from the college, would not pay for it regardless how unhealthy you were or how many obesity-related issues you had. I could blog for days ranting about how dumb this is!!! But as luck would have it, my husband was currently active duty army so we were also covered under the Tricare insurance policy. I found out that if you had a BMI of 40, Tricare would pay 100% of this surgery. So, I called up Dr. Einspanier’s office here in Abilene and made the most important appointment of my life! I was beyond excited!! Cut to my first appointment. Imagine my disappointment when the doctor tells me that I am not big ENOUGH for this surgery. Really??? My BMI was a 43. But apparently Tricare felt that with a BMI of 43, you should have at least a few other health problems, and I did not. So my sweet doctor told me that unless I had 15 grand to shell out, I needed to gain about 10 pounds. I can’t say I was too upset. Tell a fat girl to go eat cookies and ice cream for a few weeks? No problem! And I must admit, out of the three years of this whole ordeal, THAT was the easiest three weeks of the whole experience. It didn’t take long at all. Cake, ice cream, Starbucks mocha lattes, Little Debbies… my last blow out only took about two weeks and I had hit my all-time high of 304 miserable pounds. NOW it was time to start heading the other direction. So I waddled, literally, back in to the good doc’s office and was finally scheduled for surgery on December 14th, 2008. I had to wait until my Christmas break to ensure enough recovery time before going back to work. My family gave me their full support and I was super excited. I would soon be on my way to a new me.

At the present time: I am currently scheduled for a lap-band to sleeve revision surgery on November 22nd. My lap band has quit working. I will tell you more about that in future blogs. I had lost a total of 140 pounds over two years with the lap band, but in the last 12 months I have gained 40 of that back. My new doctor believes that although my BMI is at 31, I still qualify for the revision surgery. I am required to quit smoking, again, and also to start an all liquid diet for a week before surgery. So this will start in a couple of days. I will post more about this experience when I jump on the liquid band wagon.

Sarah

Please send your comments and questions for Sarah to us by using the Contact Us link on www.nixonelite.com

For FREE tips you can follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nixonelite

Please free to use this content on this site as long as help spread the word about Nixon Elite. Use the following link with article for my consent to use the content. http://nixonelite.com

Eating Ourselves to Death!

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Nixon Elite

One of the greatest gifts we possess as humans is the power to choose, and we use it recklessly. We choose all kinds of things that are horrible for us. This has never been truer than when it comes to our daily nutrition choices. As Americans we have access to the best foods in the world, but unfortunately we also have access to the worst. This is where we take the turn to reckless. Instead of making healthy decisions, we make all kinds of excuses as to why it is easier and cheaper to just go thru the drive-thru and grab a happy meal. Which should be renamed the unhappy meal for the havoc it wreaks on our bodies, but that is for a different conversation.

Based on obesity rate from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) we are the unhealthiest country in the World!

This is extremely sad to me. When I am in public, sometime I just sit and observe the crowds of people. I have determined based on my purely visual study, that 80 percent of the people I see are overweight. I am not saying by any means that everyone needs to be in excellent shape and be able to run a 4 minute mile. What I am saying is that as a society we are out of control. We are growing at an excessive rate.

We will successful bankrupt on healthcare system by eating ourselves to death!

Here are some statistics to wrap you head around. The following statistics are from the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

33.8% (1/3) of adults in the USA are obese (for details on how the CDC defines obese visit their website at http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/defining.html)

17% (12.5 Million) children and adolescents (age 2-19) are obese.

These numbers don’t include the millions that are overweight and borderline obese. As a result of these staggering numbers the disease of diabetes is at an all-time high. The American Diabetes Association states that 25.8 million children and adults in the USA have diabetes. They estimate the cost of diabetes on the healthcare system to be $174 Billion Dollars (this dollar amount was based on 2007 statistics). Can you imagine what the 2011/2012 cost will be? $250 Billion? Maybe more?

The sad true is that we can stop this epidemic. We have the power to choose and we MUST start choosing our health over the happy meal.

For FREE tips you can follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nixonelite and twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/NixonElite @nixonelite

Please free to use this content on this site as long as help spread the word about Nixon Elite. Use the following link with article for my consent to use the content. http://nixonelite.com

High Protein Breakfast Curbs Snacking Later in the Day!

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Nixon Elite

Body weight is one of the most basic issues of human life. Medically speaking, not all overweight people are obese. Obesity is defined as weight that exceeds 15 percent of normal weight for height and body type. “Morbid” obesity exceeds 20 percent of optimum weight. An obese or overweight person is at high risk for a number of serious health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, varicose veins, dementia, psychological stress, depression, osteoarthritis, high cholesterol, and diabetes. The body mass index (BMI) is a widely used formula to calculate obesity because body fat is considered within the calculated result. BMI must be 24 or less in order for one’s weight to be considered healthy. An individual with a BMI 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight. Obese individuals have a BMI greater than 30.

A GREAT choice for your morning meal is Elite Whey Protein.

High quality New Zealand whey protein from pristine herds in New Zealand!

Whey protein is a naturally complete protein that provides essential and non-essential amino acids to support healing, muscle building, muscle and tissue recovery, energy and the immune system.* Whey protein is a great source of branched chain amino acids for muscle support, precursors for glutathione production as well as alpha-lactalbumin and immunoglobulins for immune system support.*

Each serving of Elite Whey™ contains 21 grams of protein from soy free New Zealand whey protein concentrate and 2 grams of fiber from Fibersol-2™ (a water-soluble digestion resistant fiber).

Soy Free
Gluten Free
Yeast Free
Rice Free
Contains NO artificial sweeteners
Contains NO artificial flavors
Micro-filtrated
Rich in branched chain amino acids
Available in Vanilla flavor
Great tasting and easily mixed making it the perfect base for any health shake or smoothie
Combine with 2 g of Fibersol-2™ brand fiber to support regularity*
Low in calories and Lactose

Please free to use this content on this site as long as help spread the word about Nixon Elite. Use the following link with article for my consent to use the content. http://nixonelite.com

Don’t Be Bitter About Weight Loss! Try Bitter Orange Extract!

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Nixon Elite

Body weight is one of the most basic issues of human life. Self-esteem, acceptance among peers– and perhaps lifelong success or failure—are, unfortunately, all tied to our physical appearance. Medically speaking, not all overweight people are obese. Obesity is defined as weight that exceeds 15 percent of normal weight for height and body type. “Morbid” obesity exceeds 20 percent of optimum weight. An obese or overweight person is at high risk for a number of serious health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, varicose veins, dementia, psychological stress, depression, osteoarthritis, high cholesterol, and diabetes. The detrimental health effects of obesity are more than just a matter of weighing too much. Body composition–the amount of fat in the body compared to the amount of lean muscle–is also important. Body weight and composition are to a large degree determined by the “basal metabolic rate” (BMR), the amount of energy the body burns while at rest. Exercise builds lean muscle. As the ratio of lean muscle to body fat increases, so does the BMR. The higher our BMR, the more calories we burn.

Bitter orange refers to a citrus tree (citrus aurantium) and its fruit. Many varieties of bitter orange are utilized for their essential oil, which is used in perfume and as a flavoring. Bitter orange is also employed in herbal medicine as a stimulant and appetite suppressant. Slivers of the rind are used to give marmalade its characteristic bitter taste.

Researchers from Creighton University Health Sciences Center, Omaha Nebraska investigated the potential of p-synephrine (primary protoalkoloid of bitter orange extract) alone, or p-synephrine plus naringin, or p-synephrine plus naringin and hesperidin, compared to placebo, on the metabolic rate of 50 volunteers. Results of this double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial showed that p-synephrine alone increased the metabolic rate by 7 percent in comparison to placebo. When 50mg of p-synephrine was consumed with 600 mg naringin and 100 mg hesperidin the metabolic rate was almost 18 percent higher than the control group. None of the participants in any of the treatment groups exhibited changes in heart rate or blood pressure relative to the control group and there were no differences in self-reported mood changes between the treatment groups and the control group. In conclusion the authors stated “This unusual finding of a thermogenic combination of ingredients that elevated metabolic rates without corresponding elevations in blood pressure and heart-rates warrants longer term studies to assess its value as a weight control agent.

Please free to use this content on this site as long as help spread the word about Nixon Elite. Use the following link with article for my consent to use the content. http://nixonelite.com

Cinnamon Improves Markers of Diabetes!!!

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Nixon Elite

A growing body of evidence suggests that active compounds in cinnamon may improve markers of diabetes. Rajadurai Akilen, from Imperial College London (United Kingdom), and colleagues studied 58 people, average age 55 years, with type-2 diabetes, randomly assigning each to receive either a daily supplement containing a daily two gram dose of cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia) or placebo, for 12 weeks. At the end of the study, the team found that the cinnamon supplement decreased mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures, by 3.4 and 5.0 mmHg, respectively; no significant reductions were recorded in the placebo group. Glycated hemoglobin (a marker of blood sugar levels) decreased over the 12-weeks study period, from 8.22 to 7.86% in the cinnamon group, as compared with an increase in the placebo group from 8.55 to 8.68% over the same timeframe. Commenting that: “Intake of 2g of cinnamon for 12 weeks significantly reduces [glycated hemoglobin], [systolic blood pressure], and [diastolic blood pressure] among poorly controlled type 2 diabetes patients,” the researchers urge that: “Cinnamon supplementation could be considered as an additional dietary supplement option to regulate blood glucose and blood pressure levels along with conventional medications to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus.”

Please free to use this content on this site as long as help spread the word about Nixon Elite. Use the following link with article for my consent to use the content. http://nixonelite.com