There has been a great deal of discussion in the media about anorexia and bulimia being very significant eating disorders faced by our population. Of that, there can be no doubt. However, a far more common, yet much less discussed eating disorder is binge eating. Whenever it’s mentioned it is often confused with bulimia and there’s no clear agreement from the medical community as to what the symptoms are to correctly diagnose the disorder in the first place. It’s no wonder binge eaters are left to fend for themselves with no real support to deal with this very real problem.
In a recent study conducted by researchers at the Harvard University affiliated McLean Hospital in Massachusetts, it was revealed that binge eating affects roughly 2% of men and 3.5% of women. While binge eating has been known to occur in those of average weight, it generally is more common amongst people who are obese.
So does eating a tub of rocky road ice cream in one sitting classify you as a binge eater? Not necessarily. There are a host of signs associated with binge eating, however to truly qualify as a binge eater one must experience at least 3 of the following conditions more than 2 times a week:
Eating an unusually large amount of food in one sitting.

• Eating when not hungry.
• Eating when depressed.
• Eating alone to avoid having your eating disorder discovered.
• Eating quickly and keeping it as a secret.

According to the National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC) roughly 1 in 5 obesity sufferers engage in binge eating. The NEDIC adds that there are two primary reasons for binge eating. One reason is that people over-eat in an effort to feel more comfortable in otherwise uncomfortable situations. Another reason is that “they are very hungry because they have been dieting or restricting their eating in some way.”
While binge eaters may eat a lot of tasty foods and snacks that are high in fat, sugar and salt, those foods generally lack the proper nutritional value (vitamins and minerals). As a result, they become prone to various illnesses including certain types of cancer, heart disease, depression, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol levels and a risk for type 2-diabetes. Generally those with binge eating disorders work hard to control their overeating, going so far as to avoid social settings so that they’re not in situations where they are prone to eating until they are uncomfortably full.
This feeling of being uncomfortably full is one shared by many who have sought the assistance from Slimband. The Slimband solution works to ensure that this feeling of being full occurs long before you ever have a chance of overeating. The minimally invasive Slimband surgical procedure ensures that your stomach sensors more quickly experience the feeling of being full and subsequently causes you to control your eating. By controlling binge eating, you not only greatly reduce your risk of suffering from any of the associated diseases, but you also give yourself the opportunity to once again resume your life and not miss any more of the social scene.

According to a new article on CNN.com, being an overweight woman might cause you to receive sub-standard medical care.

 Recent studies have found, if you are an overweight woman you: 

• May have a tougher time getting health insurance or have to pay higher premiums
• Are at higher risk of being misdiagnosed
• Are more likely to receive inaccurate drug prescriptions
• Are less likely to find a fertility doctor who will help you get pregnant
• Are less likely to have cancer detected early and get effective treatment for it

In their defense, doctors say extra body fat can literally obscure some illnesses, including heart disease and different types of cancer. For instance, it’s more difficult to hear heart and lung sounds in an overweight patient.

Ultrasounds are also more difficult to interpret when a person has more than eight centimeters of subcutaneous fat because the beams can’t penetrate the tissue. For women, this is particularly relevant because ultrasound is used to diagnose uterine tumors and ovarian cysts and to evaluate health during pregnancy.

There’s no doubt that medical professionals need to take a hard look their individual prejudices that may be effecting how they care for overweight women. Neglecting heavy women means ignoring the obesity epidemic.

You don’t have to be morbidly obese with over 100 pounds to lose to benefit from weight loss surgery like adjustable gastric banding. More and more, people with only 50 or so pounds to shed who’ve struggled with weight loss for many years are choosing to have surgery as a long-term solution to yo-yo dieting and unhealthy weight fluctuations.

Advancements in surgical techniques have turned gastric banding into one-hour (or less) procedure with very few incisions. The speedy procedure coupled with a short recovery time has made lap banding more approachable to slightly overweight adults, overweight or obese teenagers and people with difficult-to-control diabetes.

Doctors are starting to view weight loss surgery as a form of early intervention that can help prevent future medical problems associated with carrying significant amounts of extra weight. Problems such as type 2 diabetes, and the heart disease that often goes with it, are becoming increasingly common in aging baby boomers as well as young adults.

A conference of influential medical groups recently came to the conclusion that bariatric surgery is a “legitimate” treatment options for some people with Type 2 diabetes who are not yet morbidly obese — those with a BMI of 30 to 35.

BMI is an index used to evaluate body weight based on your weight and height. Over 25 is overweight while a BMI over 30 is obese.

To give you a sense of what a moderately obese person looks like, a woman who is 5’ 5” with a BMI of 30 would weigh in at 180 pounds and would need to lose 30 pounds or more to get to a healthier BMI of 25.

Awhile back, a number of studies came out showing that people who were a few pounds overweight but still physically active had less risk of developing heart disease than people who were of normal weight but inactive.

These findings lead some doctors to think that if a heavy person has normal blood pressure, normal cholesterol and normal blood glucose levels - they are healthy and there is no reason they should have to lose weight. Before you relax your weight loss efforts, take head to new research from the American Heart Association journal, Circulation.

In studying overweight and normal men with or without other heart disease risk factors, Swedish researchers found that being overweight with no other risk factors leaves you at significantly higher risk for heart disease than if, with the same risks, you were not overweight.

On average, the obese men without so-called metabolic syndrome weighed 220 pounds and accrued a 95 percent increase in heart disease risk just because of their weight. Overweight men who averaged 180 pounds still had a 52 percent higher risk of heart disease than their slimmer peers even though their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose levels were normal.

Clearly, body weight is emerging as an independent risk factor for heart disease – and you don’t have to be really heavy to be bumping up your risk. Obesity, like heart disease, is a medical condition which requires medical attention. If you are concerned about your weight and how it’s affecting your health, talk to your doctor about an effective, long-term solution like gastric banding.

A recent study out of the US examining the health of women over a 33 year period has produced some alarming results. The results suggested that for every 2.2 pounds gained (over the healthy BMI range) since the age of 18 women’s chances of living past 70 years old in good health are reduced by 5 per cent. The study defined ‘in good health’ as ‘not only being free of chronic disease, but having enough mental and physical ability to perform daily tasks like grocery shopping, vacuuming or walking up a flight of stairs.’

Aviva Must, the professor and chair of the public health and community medicine department at Tufts University School of Medicine, commented on the implications of this study over the long term, “We know we’re extending life span, but we don’t know if we’re extending healthy survival. If one is going to spend the last three decades of one’s life with compromised physical and mental function that may not be the picture of aging we have when we think of living into our 90s.”

To read the full article, visit News.ca.msn.

The results of a study out of the University of North Carolina examining marriage and weight gain probably come as no great suprise. As discussed in the Metro today (www.metronews.ca), the longitudinal study concluded that of the 6,949 participants involved, those who got married were twice as likely to be obese than those who had remained single.

While the study suggested that marriage had the greatest impact upon weight gain, living with a romantic partner for more than 2 years also increased the rates of inactivity, a sedentary lifestyle and in turn obesity.

While no one is suggesting that we should not get married in order to avoid weight gain, the authors of this study suggest that with this knowledge in hand perhaps more can be done to target such households to help establish healthier behaviour patterns.

To read the Metro article visit Metronews.ca or to view the study see the Obesity journal.

A recent case study of Michigan patients suffering from Swine Flu has caused health officials raise concerns about obesity being a possible risk factor in the H1N1 flu.

Dr. Tim Uyeki, a flu expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said clinics need to be aware of the severe complications that can occur when a patient has the H1N1 virus and is also suffering from obesity.

Health officials have said that might the correlation might be due to the fact that heavy people also tend to have to have asthma and other weight-related conditions which are making them more susceptible to complications with the H1N1 flu.

You can read more about this article here.

According to CNN.com United Airlines has recently formalized a policy which calls for larger passengers to purchase two seats for themselves when flying. As outlined in the article, obesity rates have continued to climb with one third of all American’s now categorized as obese. However, the size of airplane seats has failed to increase accordingly, with the average seat size remaining at approximately 17-18 inches. 

A 2004 study into the effects of obesity on the airline industry, suggested that an increase in the average weight of Americans by approximately 10 pounds during the 1990s, cost airlines an extra $275 million dollars in fuel during 2000. Furthermore, United Airlines received 700 complaints during 2008 from passengers who were ‘upset because a larger passenger encroached on his or her seat’.

However, is forcing larger passengers to pay for an additional seat discrimination? Peggy Howell from the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance suggested in the article that rather than asking passengers to pay for the extra seat, airlines should make bigger seats. With one third of Americans now obese, should the airlines adapt to the changing needs of the population and provide larger seats? Or should the responsibility remain with the individual to purchase another seat if need be?

Interesting results from a Swedish study examining the effects of weight loss following bariatric surgery were published on CancerConsultations.com last week (06/26/09). The link between obesity and weight associated health issues, including an increased prevalence of cancer has been well established. However, this study examined the impact of bariatric weight loss surgery in particular, on the incidence of cancer amongst obese individuals.

The results of the study suggested that obese women who underwent bariatric surgery to lose weight were less likely to develop cancer than those in the control group that did not receive surgery. The participants in this study included over 4,000 individuals who had a BMI greater 38 for women and 34 for men. Over the 10 year period that the study was conducted, participants who received the bariatric surgery had lost and maintained a loss of 44 pounds on average. Comparatively, during the same time period the non surgical participants had gained 3 pounds on average. The study suggested that bariatric surgery was more effective in reducing the prevalence of cancer amongst women than men, with women 42% less likely to develop first-time cancers than the control group of women who did not undergo bariatric surgery.

To read more about this research visit The Lancet Oncology or CancerConsultations.com.

According to an article published today on Reuters.com, U.S researchers have found that following weight loss surgery morbidly obese and super obese individuals with private health insurance lost more weight than those who were covered by Medicare. The study found that a year after surgery both groups of patients had lost a large amount of weight, however those with private health insurance had lost approximately 82 percent of excess weight, compared with 57 percent for those with Medicare.

The suggested reasons behind this weight loss difference included the patients starting weight (with the Medicare group heavier to begin with) and that these inidividuals needed greater support with exercise and nutrition to succeed. These individuals were also typically more likely to suffer from depression, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, cholesterol and sleep apnea.

According to Dr. John Morton of Stanford University School of Medicine, bariatric surgery has been very successful and is often the only successful treatment for morbid obesity (BMI between 40 and 49) and super-obese patients (BMI greater than 50).

To read the full article visit Reuters.com.