They have recently put out what they call the obesity vaccine.  They claim it will reverse a disease that causes you to increase metabolism, hold onto fats, slow your metabolism, and lower your energy.  Yes, it sounds familiar to many, because it is rather common.  But despite what you may think, that could be due to the extra weight in and of itself.  In short, your obesity frustrates you in and of itself.  But when you go into the explanation of why people supposedly need this injection and vaccine, it is definitely not a miracle cure for weight loss, and it is completely bunk. 

Let me explain myself before you get outraged.  The hormones they talk about fluctuate with your weight and eating habits.  When you eat fatty foods in bad fats, don’t exercise, etc, you experience a rise in the bad hormone whereas it beats out the good hormone. It’s simple right?  There’s no buts coming, it’s just simple.  However, if you eat good foods, exercise, etc, that bad hormone subsides and the good hormone comes into play.  So in short, will this vaccine do anything for you, no, because obesity is not a disease.  It can be a symptom of some diseases.  But it is not a disease, and the hormones they target are directly manipulated by chosen diet and exercise.

If you think you want to go on a low fat or no fat diet that Alli would require, think again.  No fat could actually frustrate your diet efforts.  It is true that with antioxidants and the right low fat diet, you could actually lose weight, clear your clogged arteries to a certain degree, and otherwise control your cholesterol levels among other things.  And that’s why 20 years ago, everybody was on the no fat or low fat diet plan.  But since then, of course things have changed and we have learned more about good cholesterol levels and the simple facts of dieting rather than the surface things that we like to believe.  We of course discovered part of this with the introduction of the Atkins diet that focused only on proteins and fats for the most part.

But since then, we have educated ourselves more and discovered that if you want to promote weight loss, you do need fat.  You just have to make sure it’s good fat.  You can get good fats from vegetable oils, olive oils, salmon, nuts, and other sources rich in omega fatty acids, CLA, and other linoleic acids among others.  All of these good fats provide greater balance and therefore greater results.

The Atkins diet was created by Dr Robert Atkins, and many men and women across the world have found it rather appealing and lost weight using it.  Ironically, it has been speculated that Dr Atkins actually died from a heart attack, which is not that unlikely considering the high content of fat consumed by many Atkins users for the simple reason that they can.  It would be far more advisable to stick to lean meats and proteins, but that would make the diet far less appealing. 

However, many have found that even with high fat allowances, it is still a struggle as they are forced to cut out many foods they did not think about such as pizza, pasta, and even hamburgers as they often use buns, sauces, and other carbs.  Most users also do not use it for life, meaning they often gain the weight back.

However, if you follow the new and redesigned Atkins Diet, many have found it to be more livable and more reasonable, teaching them healthier habits such as sticking to lean and healthy proteins, for long term benefits.  With this newer plan, you still start out with virtually no carbs.  But unlike others that simply stick to a certain carbohydrate intake, the Atkins Diet essentially allows you to cut out all carbs until you lose the amount of weight you want, and then they slowly introduce carbs back into the diet to maintain.  You never eat a high carb diet again.  But they slowly increase the calories per day until you find an amount that maintains weight loss and does not cause weight gain.  That is supposed to be your plan for life.  If you plan to use this product, you have to consider all your options and your lifestyle in general to determine better results.  However, if you do, you can see greater benefits than previously imagined.

While obesity certainly has its known health risks, more recent studies have found yet another problem surrounding obesity.  They say that obese men are more likely to develop gingivitis or periodontal disease.  I don’t know if this came from the stereotype that those who are obese don’t necessarily take care of other areas of the body or otherwise who even suggested the idea.  But apparently, the studies confirm their suggestion, whoever brought it up.  Ultimately, these cases turn into periodontis if not taken care of, which can result in teeth falling out among other things.

The actual study started in 1986.  But most of us have never heard about it.  They had 37000 men in this study, and when they started, every one of these men were free of periodontal disease or any other major dental defects.  They found some men that were obese and some that were not.  But according to study results, those with a BMI over 30 were 29% more likely to develop periodontal disease than those who were at a healthy weight or just slightly overweight.  It apparently jumps significantly at that specific line of obesity.  They also say it increased with waist size.  Those with a waist of 40 inches or more had a 19% higher risk of gum disease than others.  So while gum disease may seem like a small concern as compared to some of the other risks of obesity, that is one that has been quite recently added to the listings in terms of reasons to stay at a healthier weight.

There are a few diet mistakes that many people make, and sometimes they find them effective at first.  But of course, they never end up paying out in the end, really being innately harmful to your efforts.

1.      Crash diets-you want to lose 10 pounds for that big wedding or something.  So you eat nothing but cabbage for a week before.  You eat 500 calories per day, and you do experience serious weight loss in that week.  But your metabolism slows down rather quickly than this, and then you are stuck with this body that is still burning fewer calories, even though you are eating more afterwards.

2.      Skipping breakfast-breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Drink a glass of orange juice or preferably make breakfast the most substantial meal of your day.  It gets the metabolism going in the morning, and it can actually have an effect on your appetite later in the day.  The biggest thing is stick to greater amounts of protein, that helps to control later appetite.

3.      Eating snacks that you don’t count-snacks always count!  Whether you are eating fruits or that jelly donut, snacks always have to be noted as whether you realize it or not, they are still going to count in the calories your body can burn off.

4.      No snacks-snacking throughout the day does help your body.  You eat smaller portions throughout the day, keeping your metabolism constantly in action, and you eat less theoretically in those big meals as well, again allowing your body to burn calories more efficiently.

They say that physical education cannot solve the problem of obesity in America.  But why not?  I mean they could definitely make it more enjoyable, that goes without saying, and there are kids who will always try to find some way to get out of it such as faking sick.  There are also kids who will be too sick to participate in certain ways.  But if you start them early, that is one hour per day where kids are actually engaging in physical activity.  It should be ideally combined with a good diet as well.  But kids have naturally higher metabolisms as it is than they will as adults. 

Essentially speaking, the average adult that does exercise spends 30 minutes working out, because we have been taught that is the highest time quotient to see results and burn calories.  I don’t know that it pans out in reality, but that’s what we believe.  Some of us walk, and some of us follow the guidelines that were meant to accompany those guidelines of getting your heart rate up, sweating a little or a lot, etc.  We have work schedules to attend to, kids, family, friends, etc.  Especially in elementary school, the likelihood is kids aren’t going to be involved in that many extracurricular activities as compared to adults.  they don’t have to go to work.  They just go to school for a few hours a day, and yet when they’re not there, they are not exercising and there is a growing obesity epidemic. 

It would be ideal if every parent were to sign their child up for an extracurricular team of some kind in a sport that they actually enjoyed.  But the reality is, it isn’t going to happen in most cases.  So, assuming that kids would participate in a fairly rigorous hour that you don’t necessarily find in all classes of physical education, I don’t know that it would solve the obesity epidemic.  But it would certainly lessen it.  There are plenty of kids and parents that can attest to that kind of concept, because their kids suffered from childhood obesity up until a point when they joined  some kind of sports team that they liked, spending at least an hour every day at practice and therefore getting into physical activity.  Some have shown more dramatic results obviously, but it does pan out.

It’s ironic really.  In rich nations, first world countries, obesity rates are on the rise.  This we might expect due to excess, even though we also spend more on drugs and otherwise to counteract obesity.  In poor countries, the food is often of poor quality, and in extreme cases in third world countries primarily, food can be hard to come by.

Even though the fact is people make more money, even when they’re homeless and jobless in first world countries, you might expect the same thing of the homeless.  Food would be harder to come by, and therefore you would see greater rates of certain diseases, but lower rates of obesity.  It is in fact exactly the opposite.  Obesity rates are higher among the poor in richer countries than it is among the rich and middle class.  How does that happen?  I mean I understand they have less control over what they get to eat and may gorge the time when they do get food.  But still.  When food is harder to come by, you tend to be skinnier from malnutrition and flat out lack of food. 

But the better question is what exactly are we defining as homeless or poor?  I mean we’ve all heard the story of the man who would sit on the streets of New York making money off of people who felt bad for him during the day and then go out back at night, catch a limo, and go to a huge penthouse.  That’s a scary thought that drives many of us away from trying to help others.  And the fact that there actually is a relatively prevalent rate of people who are not actually that poor or homeless doing things like that is even more scary, especially when you see it first hand.  There were days when people were actually homeless and were actually trying to help themselves, but were desperate.  My grandpa for one used to actually take homeless guys out for breakfast or lunch and listen to their stories when he saw them homeless on the street.  There may have been a few fakes, but not as many as there are now.  And this was when he was actually rather poor himself, living in a one room shack behind the hospital and eating spam every day and other cheap foods at the time.  I know this because my grandma, my dad, and my uncles talk about it.

In other countries, third world countries specifically, obesity rates are higher among the rich, because it is a sign of prevalence.  If you are fat, it means you are rich, because you actually have a regular supply of food.  But again, in richer countries, the statistics go the other way entirely.  In a 1965 study of Manhattan residents, they found that obesity was 6 times more likely among the homeless than among those with homes, jobs, etc.  That was in 1965.  You can imagine how much worse it is now.  This is evidenced by the fact that there are a number of free clinics where you actually have to qualify to go in for free drugs, free medical care, etc.  All patients have no houses, no belongings, no jobs, no regular money stream.  But the most common complains have to do with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and other obesity related diseases.

There are several hypotheses to try to explain why this happens, why poor people in more developed countries have higher rates of obesity.  But at this time, they remain theories and hypotheses.  There are no solid conclusions.

Multiple TV personalities have undergone bariatric surgery to lose weight, some losing their status for it such as Star Jones, and some like Al Roker actually being embraced for it and gaining some kind of acceptance in their field and in the general society.  As such, Al Roker has now become one of the most popular weight loss spokesmen, and he has recently created a documentary called “Childhood Obesity: Danger Zone.”

This 52 year old underwent a prolonged and difficult weight loss battle in the public eye including years of obesity and his struggle through bariatric surgery.  Due to his own experiences with obesity both in childhood and as an adult, Roker felt fueled to address the now reported 12 million children and teens already suffering from obesity and the health risks associated with it.  The current documentary features children who are suffering through obesity as well as those who have overcome their weight loss battles.

The show was officially aired on the Food Network Channel Saturday March 31 at 9:00 PM EST.  He focused on the facts, such as the fact that in the past 4 decades the rates of childhood obesity have quadrupled, crediting sugary sweets and lack of physical education programs or physical education in general in the schools and at home as well as the increased consumption of fast foods as some of the major causes of childhood obesity.  I thought it curious, yet encouraging that Roker did not even entertain the idea of genetics or other causes outside our control as even a small part of the obesity epidemic in children.  I was almost expecting it, considering his own battles and the fact that is he constantly in the media’s eye.  In short, Roker did not mince words when he stated that children tend to mirror and mimic the behavior and basic habits of their parents in more ways than one.

Though Roker found himself seeking outside help to be able to reach a state where he felt able to stick to healthy diet and exercise habits, he did achieve success.  He is now 230 pounds.  But at his lowest, he dropped down to 200 pounds following surgery.  He had reached 330 pounds in 2002, and at that time he elected to undergo gastric bypass surgery, after which he changed his plans to include a healthy eating schedule and a steady exercise plan.  He now does the majority of the cooking in his own home, preparing healthy and low fat meals, and he encourages his younger children, at the ages of 8 and 4 to also participate in sports.

There is a reason that most surgeons will not perform bariatric or any other obesity related or cosmetic surgery on children, teens, anybody under 18.  They often believe that children can more easily fight it for one thing or might grow out of it, and the risks are much higher for that age group than it would be for most adults within a certain age range of course.  Though childhood obesity is growing and therefore the demand for the few doctors that will perform these surgeries on children is growing.

But of course, we have reasons to blame the childhood obesity epidemic on parents and not just some kind of gene growing throughout the years.  Doctors have their reasons for continuing to refuse patients under the age of 18.  No one can come up with a definitive answer.  But many are blaming it on fatty food habits, busy schedules that result in people turning to fast food, video games and television, school lunches, and in general indulgent or absent parenting practices. 

But small children in general are not turning to bariatric surgery.  In general terms, it is teens who want the obesity.  For adults, surgeons require that you suffer from obesity for at least 6 months while being unable to lose weight with a weight management program or series of weight management programs under the care of a family doctor or pediatrician.  They also require that you be fully physically mature, be severely obese with a minimum BMI of 40, suffer from obesity related diseases, have medical and psychological evaluations pre and post procedure, suffer from no addictive behaviors, generally be healthy and normal, promise not to get pregnant for at least a year post surgery, be motivated to actually follow a specified diet plan, be mature enough to make decisions, and have a supportive family unit of some type.

In general terms, there are many people who have found ways to lose weight without surgery when they had a BMI of 40 or more.  Whether it meant slowly starting to exercise little by little, cutting out the fried foods, being realistic in general about your habits and contributions to your own obesity, etc.  Mostly, it means being honest with yourself.  And really, it seems that many are turning to this surgery as a way to avoid diet and exercise, which is unfortunate.  Teens are learning from their parents and simply turning to that alternative at an earlier age.

The reality is that for this surgery, only about 1% of patients die on the table.  But as the numbers of individuals seeking this surgery grow, so do the simple numbers of people dying on the table, though it may continue to remain at 1%.  Complications range from stomach leakage to stomach infection in 10% of participants, and even with psychological evaluations and precautions, there are still a significant number who basically go crazy after surgery and despite throwing up, continue to eat continuously and excessively until they basically burst their stomach.  Many don’t bother with the concept of healthy eating and suffer from severe malnourishment, partly because of unhealthy eating habits that continue after surgery and partly because the digestive tract is systematically less able to absorb nutrients.

In the long term and short term, there are a lot of things to consider before using bariatric surgery to try to solve your obesity related problems.  It is considered by many to be an easier way out.  But once you get there, the road is not as easy as some may think, and many fail for that reason.  They simply were not expecting many of the complications and required lifestyle changes.  For a growing number of teens, maturity and levels of understanding can be a huge issue.

If you want to increase your strength and stamina, allowing you some substance behind those muscles you work so hard for, there are certain exercises that help you more than others.  Jim Liston CSCS, the founder of Catz Sports in Pasadena, claims his routine will build muscles and endurance using pyramid type repetitions.  Here’s his routine.

1. Boxer’s Punch and Dumbbell Squat-The Warm-up

You use a small 5 pound dumbbell you use 32 punches, alternating between left and right of course for even muscles, and then you put your arms down to hang loosely at your sides.  You place your feet wider than hip width, but just by a bit, and you bend at the hips and knees to squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor.  Then you go back up, repeating this 16 times.

1. Push Up and Prone Row-The Workout

Using two six sided dumbbells, you put them under your hands to use for your push ups.  Grip themand push up, lower for 2 seconds, push up for one.  It gives you that extra kick.  For the Prone Row, start in the up position of the push up, and you have to remember to still use the dumbbells.  Bring your right hand with the weight, make sure you can handle it, up to your armpit, and lower the weight.  Then alternate between both hands.

1. Jump Squat And Curl

First, do the jump squat.  This is not as harsh as some methods, so it’s an easy start.  First, assume the squat position.  Hold small dumbbells at your side and increase the weight over time if you want to.  Your feet should be slightly wider apart than your hips.  Using your heels, jump after you squat and then land on the balls of your feet, sinking back into your heels.  After landing, let the dumbbells hang and curl without moving your upper arms.  For an increased workout, don’t use the dumbbells.  But go down to the floor, putting your hands on, jump your legs down to the push up position, bring them back up, and then jump.  Repeated sessions of this are harder and more effective.