"Every man [woman] is a builder of a
temple, called his body, to the god he worships,...
We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood
and bones."---Walden, Henry David Thoreau
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When it comes to weight loss, the article that came out in this
weeks New England Journal made some helpful points (but
it left out a few important points as well);
The article covers the non-surgical treatment of obesity.
It starts off by mentioning that the person under discussion is not
obese enough to "qualify" for gastric-bypass surgery.
Unfortunately, I know that it happens commonly that when people find
out that they don't qualify, they will work to GAIN weight
so they can "qualify" for this holy grail of
treatments-- where most people gain most of their weight back and a
1% mortality is acceptable.
On the other hand, i do not blame people for looking to the surgeon
to help them lose weight when there has been so little agreement on
how to help people lose weight without surgery. Snide remarks like
"just push back from the table" unfortunately are still spouted by
some physicians.
So reading this updated, review of the non-surgical treatment of
obesity in the latest New England Journal, I attacked the article
with much anticipation--hoping to see new ideas of enlightenment.
Such was not the case; not really.
The
article backs up the idea that meal replacements have been proven
repeatedly to help with weight loss (and I agree). But, there
is almost nothing about the metabolic/hormonal changes that can
cause weight gain and nothing about the specifics of how to exactly
instruct someone to increase physical activity and make it a
life-long habit.
Today, I saw a woman who lost 30 pounds with me after I found a high
prolactin level and corrected it. I find prolactinomas routinely in
the obese because I always look for them (blood test). I saw
another woman today who lost 55 pounds with me after I corrected her
low testosterone level (yes testosterone is a weigh loss hormone and
is supposed to be there in adequate female levels in a woman). This
article mentions nothing of these strategies.
As long as medical doctors continue to ignore the research showing
that optimization of testosterone, growth hormone, and thyroid will
lead to weight loss and correction of metabolic syndrome and
diabetes, people will continue to gain weight so that they might
qualify for surgery that increases their risk of suicide and kills
in round numbers one person for every 10 that is saves.
Peace & Health,
Charles Runels, MD
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Still the best selling sex manual on Amazon.com (because it's more about health than about sex...)
