Bellevue Health Clinic

Archive for the ‘Weight Loss’ Category

On medical issues, there are different ways of interpreting events. Go back ten years and the question of surgery for weight loss – the so-called bariatric surgery – was viewed as an extreme response to the problem. In some senses this represented caution on the part of surgeons who wanted to ensure the procedures were safe. But it also reflected a desire to encourage people, wherever possible, to achieve weight loss through their own efforts. The concern was that, if people had proved incapable of controlling their intake of food before eating, they might continue to eat unwisely and undo the surgeon’s good work. For this reason, access to surgery was limited to cases where individuals were more than 40 BMI or more than 35 BMI if their health was adversely affected. More importantly, people had to demonstrate a genuine effort at weight loss before surgery would be authorized. This always involves dieting, an exercise routine and use of one of the anti-obesity drugs. Read the rest of this entry »