Happy Monday! Welcome to the second week of May, we have 23 days left in the month of May. I wanted to share with you some interesting tidbits that I read over the weekend. I always feel like starting off the week on a positive note and with some good information. As I like to tell my daughter, it helps to make good choices when you know what’s going on.
Governor Gets Busy
We have some good news from the political front with regard issues of weight loss, fitness and health. There is a national campaign by the states’ governors to get people to smoke and eat less while exercising more.
Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee currently chairs the National Governors Association. Innovations are being spread, state-by-state and he intends to travel to several states to promote this agenda. Arkansas is on the bandwagon with a statewide smoking ban in all workplaces and in any car where a child under the age of 6 is traveling.
The Arkansas governor is also a driving force behind movements such as banning soda in schools and targeting obesity and other unhealthy behaviors. He personally cites the health issues as overshadowing the health care issues in the country. The campaign efforts are being supported in part by funding from companies such as Wal-Mart, Kraft Foods and PepsiCo.
Huckabee is campaigning from an informed position. He changed his diet and began to exercise after being diagnosed with diabetes and lost 110 pounds.
Age Matters in Obesity and Weight Loss Concerns
The University College London released a study that indicated children who were overweight or obese at the age of 11 are more likely to carry that excess of weight into adulthood. The British Medical Journal published the study online. The study suggests that persistent obesity is already set by the time a child reaches the age of 11.
The study targeted British children specifically, but the results are likely indicative of the worldwide issue and not just British children. The International Obesity TaskForce expects that child obesity rates will continue to soar and they expect the number to reach around 26 million in Europe.
The study highlights less exercise, changes in diet and too much time in front of video games or television as a cause for the rise in obesity. The published study will hopefully serve as another chime in the warning bells for parents to modify dietary and lifestyle habits for themselves and their children.
Gastric Banding is an Option
The last piece I would share with you today is on a surgery called Gastric Banding. We’ve discussed Gastric Bypass Surgery and the weight loss success it has provided for men and women who were extremely overweight or obese. There is another form of surgery called Gastric Banding that is less invasive and according to Australian investigators.
The study indicated that current guidelines for gastric bypass requires severe obesity, however, gastric banding can be used on patients with far less severe conditions. The study indicated that patients who underwent gastric banding lost an average of 21.6% of their initial weight and 87.2% of their excess weight after 2 years.
Later today, I’ll discuss exactly what gastric banding is and what it requires.
Related Articles:
How to Prevent Childhood Obesity
Weight Loss Surgeries on the Rise