The Holiday Season

Thanksgiving has come and gone and we have now entered the holiday season. It's a wonderful time of year where we all get to celebrate and spend time with our family and loved ones. It's also a time to reflect on the past year and see how far we've come in terms of achieving any personal goals.

At Dr. Feiz & Associates, we understand that when it comes to our weight loss goals, keeping track of our progress throughout the year can be a challenge. Moreover, we know that it is especially challenging during the holiday season when we are tempted to stray from our healthy eating habits with holiday treats.

While this may be a time to celebrate and let loose a little, keeping our healthy eating habits in line should remain a priority. Taking some extra time to reflect on our habits can really help us with our weight loss goals in the long run.

Luckily, we not only offer our patients with cutting-edge bariatric surgery procedures, such as a sleeve gastrectomy, to help them achieve their weight loss goals, our friendly and understanding team of medical professionals are available to answer any questions or address any concerns our patients may have. We know that with the right support, our patients can maintain their healthy eating habits and enjoy the many benefits following a weight loss surgery procedure.

So this holiday season, keep your health and healthy eating habits in mind. Take some time to reflect and surround yourself with supporting people to help and motivate you during your weight loss journey.

Getting the Whole Story

One of the biggest problems we face in every endeavor of any kind is making sure we have all the information need. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," goes the old saying, because it can be only too easy to think we know more than we do about a given situation and get ourselves into trouble. At Dr. Feiz & Associates, we are big believers in providing our patients with all the information they need to make a truly informed decision about their weight loss options. The usual result is an outstanding outcome.

The fact of the matter is that we humans have a tendency to believe what we want to believe. This is why so many dubious weight loss supplements have, unfortunately, made a lot of people wealthy. Bariatric surgery, on the other hand, is a highly effective intervention that definitely works, which is the good news. The less good news is that it's a very serious step and really not for everyone, but for the right patient it can truly be a lifesaver.

Whether patients end up getting a sleeve gastrectomy or some other procedure, our goal is to make sure patients have the complete story and understand fully what to expect before, during, and after their procedure. Weight loss surgeries are extremely safe and very effective, but they are still surgeries. Patients should know all the important details, and we work hard to make sure they do.

A Lifelong Effort

While the road to a healthy weight may seem daunting at first, the significant health and lifestyle benefits make it all worth while. We at Dr. Feiz & Associates remind our patients of the powerful and positive outcomes that await them following their weight loss journey.

Research has revealed that bariatric surgery has improved or even resolved a variety of life-threatening diseases and health complications. Ranging from type-2 diabetes to heart disease, a significant weight loss positively impacts individuals suffering from these complications or who are seriously at risk of developing them. In addition, patients can also experience a reduced risk of developing other related complications, such as eye and nerve damage for diabetes patients.

Moreover, it's also important to remember the lifestyle benefits that are related to a significant weight loss. Obesity is often related to bone and joint pain that can make it extremely difficult and uncomfortable for patients to complete simple daily tasks. A significant weight loss following a bariatric procedure, such as a sleeve gastrectomy, can relieve the constant pressure on a patient's bones and joints and enables patients to have a more active lifestyle that, in effect, allows them to maintain their healthy weight in the long run. 

All in all, the health and wellness benefits following a significant weight loss can really make a difference in the overall quality of our lives. While we may be successful in achieving our goal weight, we must also remember to continue to put some effort in maintaining our health and well-being throughout our lives. 

Setting a Good Example

We know this won't exactly come as a big shock to you, but one thing we've noticed at Dr. Feiz & Associates is that parents are only human. Shocking, yes, we know.

The thing is most parents who are severely obese are extremely concerned, and for good reason, about the possibility that their children might also run into weight issues as they get older. Without going too deep into the whole nature vs. nurture questions, it's clear that weight issues really do run in families for reasons that are probably both genetic and environmental. It's also very likely that a parent's good example can rub off on a child, as a recent Washington University study found when it looked at parent's weight loss and some corresponding weight loss in their adolescent offspring.

Which brings us back to that whole matter of parents being only human. We're learning more and more that the reason bariatric surgery is necessary for some many people boils down to one fact. It's not that traditional diet and exercise solutions don't work -- they do. It's just that, largely because of hormonal and also some metabolic factors, it's just so incredibly difficult to sustain a large weight loss over time that very, very few people are able to do it. It's as if the body is doing everything it can to make losing large amounts of weight into a full time job that most people simply find impossible.

The good news is that, like most illnesses, obesity is a lot easier to prevent that it is to cure. It's possible that parents really can help to prevent severe obesity in their children by setting an example, eating a great deal less and losing weight permanently as as result. However, since it's too late for prevention for the parents, they're likely to need the help of a procedure such as a sleeve gastrectomy  to really be able to do things right.

Parents should also realize that they are sending a pretty positive message by getting a procedure. Their kids will learn it's by no means "the easy way out" -- it's more like the only way out -- and they'll admire their ability to do what needs to be done to make a positive change. Then, they'll see the change in the parents actions that result from the procedure...and we know that all the good advice in the world is nothing compared to the power of a good example.

Trick or Treat?

With the upcoming Halloween festivities underway, we know how tempting it is to indulge on our favorite candy and sweets. Although the idea of biting down on a delicious caramel apple may not seem so bad, especially since an apple is often considered a healthy food choice, these treats are not the best way to stick to our healthy diets.

We at Dr. Feiz & Associates are well aware of the many snack and food temptations that are especially popular around October and spill on to the holiday season. During this time, it's especially essential to reflect on our food choices and make sure that we stay on track. 

While we may sometimes feel at fault for having these cravings and diverging a bit from our regular healthy diets, extensive research points to our hormones and brain as large factors that influence our food preferences. These factors, however, shouldn't dissuade us from thinking that we are unable to combat our obesity. There are a number of cutting-edge bariatric surgery procedures that can really make all the difference in helping us reach our weight loss goals. 

It's also important to remember that even after a a weight loss procedure, such as a gastric sleeve, we have to continue to make efforts to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle. Luckily, these procedures can make our weight loss goals alot easier to achieve and maintain throughout our lives. 

We hope that you have a happy and safe Halloween and remember not to let those seemingly healthy treats trick you!

The True Cost of Obesity

A recent review which looked at improvements in illness and sick leave by employees who have had bariatric surgery got us thinking about the true cost of obesity. Of course, many of the impacts of being severely obese especially are impossible to put into dollars and cents. Still, there's no getting around the fact that, on top of the non-financial cost of being obese in terms of the length and quality of life, it's also very expensive.

The most obvious part of the equation, as we're keenly sware of of here at Dr. Feiz & Associates, are increased health care costs. Even with a decent insurance plan, prescriptions, frequent office visits, tests, outpatient procedures, and hospitalizations can really add up over the course of a lifetime.

That's just  one aspect of the cost side of the equation. Being severely obese can also really cut into income in a number of different ways. There's the increased number of sick days that may or may not be covered by employers but, more seriously for the individual, there's an increased chance of being out of work entirely. Sometimes there are health reasons for this and, sadly, workplace discrimination is a genuine issue for very obese obese individuals.

Fortunately, modern medical science is here with techniques that really do work, including procedures like a gastric sleeve with it's very many well documented benefits. It's a solution that really does add up.

Combating Obesity and Its Health Risks

As more research and studies are conducted to better understand the causes and risks of obesity, the results all tend to have a similar message; obesity leads to a number of life-threatening health problems. We at Dr. Feiz & Associates stay up to date on the latest discoveries so that we can continue to help patients significantly improve the overall quality of their lives through the latest and best bariatric surgery procedures.

Recently, new research has revealed that obese individuals with type 2 diabetes are at a much greater risk of developing liver cancer. Obesity has also been linked to a number of other health conditions such as osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, and heart disease. That's why, now more than ever, it's important to address obesity so that patients can improve their health as well as their quality of life.

Many of our patients have experienced significant health improvements after losing their excess weight following a bariatric surgery, such as a sleeve gastrectomy. Apart from higher levels of energy and increased mobility, patients have also noticed that a variety of their health conditions have improved or have even been completely resolved.

Losing weight isn't just about looking better, it's also about reducing our risks of developing life-threatening health conditions and living happier and healthier lives. There are a number of bariatric surgery procedures that can provide patients with significant health improvements and long-term results. It's up to us to continue to make solid efforts to maintain our weight and keep our health in check so that we can experience the best that life has to offer.

Of Diet and Delusion

It doesn't matter whether you're dealing with severe obesity or the kind of smaller but still important weight issues that are now facing the majority of Americans, you are probably perfectly aware that you're eating more food than is good for you. Yet, you continue to eat that way. Even those of us here at Dr. Feiz & Associates find ourselves making food choices that may be less than ideal, while giving ourselves an excuse that may not be consistent with reality.

Everyone has their own excuses and it's easy to make fun of them in others, but harder to see in ourselves. For example, we've heard of one older gentlemen who always select strawberry ice cream, not because it's his favorite flavor, he says, but because he assumes it's healthier as there might be a small amount of actual strawberry contained within it. In reality, he might as well go with chocolate, but then why was it we found ourselves saying it was perfectly okay to eat that large bowl of super-rich, butter-laden Indian chicken curry because it had chicken breast and vegetables in it? Of course, the dish would have been fine...without the hugely fattening sauce which we nevertheless consumed in its entirety, while also downing every grain of rice and all the naan on our plate! Oh, did we mention that we walked an extra block before we ate and burned maybe 35 additional calories? Never mind.

Yes, if we're at all overweight, we all delude ourselves to some degree when we eat. There's a reason for it, however, and it's not that we're weak or lacking in self-control. It's actually very largely because of the hormonal impulses which are subtly encouraging us to eat as much as we can. The more overweight we are, the stronger and more difficult to fight those impulses become, which is why procedures like a gastric sleeve have proven to be such a godsend. These surgeries actually appear to address the hormonal impulses -- once useful to mankind when food was scarce, but now something of a curse -- which have been designed to make us eat more than we really need at any given time.

Of course, we humans are pretty good at deluding ourselves about all kinds of things, not just food. It's possible we'll never cure that problem in most areas of our lives, but at least a bariatric surgery can help us to be a bit more realistic about our eating.

Different Approaches to Weight Loss

At Dr. Feiz & Associates, we often hear about theoretically new methods of weight loss. Some seem more promising than others, of course. Others are modestly helpful. Lately, there's been lots of talk about weight loss therapy and how it can help people struggling with their weight.

This form of therapy, called Acceptance Based Behavioral Treatment, helps individuals cope with their feelings related to hunger and food. Although this form of therapy may be helpful, particularly for folks trying to lose a fairly small percentage of their body fat, severely obese people for the time being generally need the support of a bariatric surgery in order to make serious progress in the fight against obesity. It has been to actually change the mental impulses that often cause us to overeat in the first place.

Even so, it's important for bariatric surgery patients to remember to be mindful about the things they eat and the amount of physical activity we incorporate in our lifestyles. It's crucial to remember that weight loss always requires some significant effort and commitment. While the thought of having to make efforts to have healthier lifestyles and eating habits after a weight loss procedure may seem daunting to patients who have not yet received a procedure, they generally find their up to the task. That's the good news.

Don't Stress Out About It (Too Much)

Here at Dr. Feiz & Associates, we know that studies that can seem a bit confusing come out on a regular basis. A new one about the relationship between a tendency towards stress and anxiety being linked in some way to obesity got us thinking about how hard it is to figure out just what it is that triggers the overeating which is responsible for obesity, and also about how challenging it can be to achieve the truly healthy lifestyle we need to defeat it.

Indeed, aside from the matter of whether or not anxious people are more likely to be obese than calmer folks, there's the interesting everyday matter of what tends to trigger overeating. Yes, "stress eating" is a very common phenomenon, experienced by obese and non-obese individuals alike, who find that food tends to calm their anxieties.

Others, however, including at least some people with weight issues, actually tend to eat less and may even lose some weight when they are under some amount of stress. These people experience the equally common phenomenon of losing their appetite entirely when they are deeply worried about something. Indeed, for many people with weight issues, it's not so mcuh stress which can make them overindulge, it's boredom. At the same time, it's important to remember that not all stress is a bad thing; it can help us make important changes in our life and, at the right levels, can actually increase our enjoyment of life. It's all a matter of getting the right balance.

With all these subtleties and differences between individuals, it's no wonder that understanding how obesity works, and how to deal with it, has proven so incredibly difficult. Fortunately, we at least know that bariatric surgery really does seem to be the one thing that helps severely obese individuals to permanently reduce their food intake without being constantly distracted by excessive food cravings. At least there's one thing we don't have to stress out about!

Exercise Anyway!

For people trying to lose a lot of weight mostly by exercising a lot, the news has not been good. Evidence seems to indicate that, while exercise is certainly helpful for controlling weight -- and is absolutely excellent at improving our health and staving off the worst impacts of obesity -- it is not as powerful in terms of weight loss to try to expend more calories through exercise as it is simply to ingest fewer calories in the first place.

Here at Dr. Feiz & Associates, we understand why people are not thrilled by this. For many of us, it actually seems easier to increase our level of exercise than it is to eat a great deal less -- and that's because, as we've seen time and time again, while exercise tends to become a habit, curtailing our diet actually gets harder and harder over time for most individuals.

This is why so many people manage to lose a very large amount of weight ultimately regain their weight. It's very much as if the body and the brain, driven by certain key hormones, really wants us to regain the weight and will do everything in our power to persuade us to overeat so that we return to our prior weight. This is why procedures like the gastric sleeve have proven to be such a godsend to severely obese patients; they seem to actually change the metabolic processes that make weight loss so difficult for the large majority of patients.

Even so, whether or not you're are a candidate for bariatric surgery, we strongly advise everyone -- and especially those struggling with obesity -- to work exercise into their daily lives. (Though, of course, if you've been completely inactive, you should consult a physician before embarking on a vigorous new regime.) For nearly all of us, it's one of the best favors we can do for ourselves, with a lot of proven physical and psychological benefits. For those of us with obesity, however, it's one of the few countermeasures we can take that can reduce a great many of the worst impacts of being  overweight.

Health is not always an either/or situation. Sometimes it's more of a "yes, but..." In this case. it's "yes, exercise probably won't cure your obesity by itself" and "but, even if you remain obese, it will make your obesity-related health problems possibly a great deal less severe and, if you lose weight, it will help you stay that way and be as healthy as possible." In other words, just get out and do something. Regardless of whether or not you lose weight, you'll be a lot better off.

It's All in Your Head

Earlier today we were looking at a tasty looking recipe for a low-calorie dish using spaghetti squash in place of actual spaghetti. Of course, squash is a vegetable (well, technically, a fruit) and pasta is a grain-based dish; there really aren't all that many similarities except that it's long and stringy. Still, cover it with the right sauce and it can be a very nice part of a low-cal healthy lifestyle, even if lacks a lot of the yummy starch most of us crave. For us humans, it seems, a lot can be accomplished by fooling ourselves in minor ways with what really amounts to psychological tricks.

At Dr. Feiz & Associates, we're keenly aware that there's no underestimating the psychological side of weight loss. We're not just taking about psychology in the usual sense of dealing with how our thoughts and emotions impact our desire to overeat, we also mean that the only way we know we're hungry -- and we mean physically hungry, not just desiring food in order to pass the time -- is through our brains. Every time we eat, whether we're eating just the right amount to nourish our bodies or far too much, our brain is at the center of the experience.

An example of this that we often discuss involves the production of a hormone called ghrelin. In a person without obesity, this hormone performs the essential function of telling an individual that food is needed. However, obese individuals seem to produce more of it and, worse, its production actually increases when we begin to lose weight. So, our brain actually thinks we need food even when we don't and we feel as if we haven't eaten nearly enough. No wonder the statistics on weight loss are so depressing.

Fortunately, it turns out that bariatric surgery, such as a gastric sleeve, has a pretty big impact in terms of reducing these deceptive and dangerous signals. Specifically, by removing a large portion of the stomach, we also appear to reduce the production of ghrelin, which apparently makes it a lot easier to stick to the reduced calorie regimen we need to lose significant a lot of weight and keep it off over the long term.

So, in a funny way, when it comes to dealing with obesity, the way to a person's brain is largely through their stomach!

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend is upon us and while we may take the day to relax and perhaps indulge in some home-made comfort food, it's important to remember that your journey to weight loss should never take a day off. We at Dr. Feiz & Associates understand that there are a variety of reasons that people struggle with obesity and although undergoing a bariatric surgery can certainly help a patient lose a significant amount of weight, the work very definitely doesn't stop there.

Though it's true that a bariatric surgery has proven to reduce lower levels of hunger inducing hormones and has also shown to improve a variety of health complications related to obesity, we still advise our patients to implement a nutritious and healthy diet as well as some exercise into their lifestyle after surgery. The sole purpose of a weight loss surgery isn't just to help you lose the excess weight, it's also about helping you keep it off in the long run and improving your overall quality of life. 

Indeed, a gastric sleeve surgery is an extremely effective method of weight loss, however, paired along with better food choices and more physical activity, you'll not only maintain your ideal weight and enjoy the many health benefits, but you'll feel good doing so too.

Our health is a lifetime project that requires our daily attention, even on holidays. 

Food for Thought

There's been lots of talk lately about the effects of bariatric surgery on the brain, particularly in terms of its response to food. We all know that part of the reason why most patients are unable to achieve long lasting results is because of the difficulty for many to keep on making healthier food choices over a long period of time. Yes, it can be incredibly hard to overcome our desires to overindulge in food at times, however, weight loss surgery can change that.

The good news is that recent studies have shown that weight loss surgery procedures, such as a gastric sleeve, not only limit the amount of food that is able to be consumed by severely obese patients, but can also radically change their entire relationship with food. The studies also point out that bariatric surgery patients showed lowered levels of activity in the brain's reward centers when they were exposed to images of food.

At Dr. Feiz & Associates, we work hard so that our patients can safely and successfully lose weight and most importantly, keep it off in the long run. With extremely effective and cutting-edge weight loss surgery procedures showing even more promising results thanks to these studies, you can really see that a healthy lifestyle is achievable.

Choose the Right Tool

There's no getting around it, weight loss is hard; people who think anyone with an obesity issue can easily adopt a healthy lifestyle when it comes to eating have almost certainly never faced a serious battle with their own weight. So, it's no wonder that so many of us keep looking for, and buying, products that claim to make losing weight easier in some way, or which even advertise nearly miraculous properties in terms of helping consumers win the battle of the bulge. The problem is that these products are rarely even mildly helpful and are, more often than not, a complete waste of money and time. Worse, a large number of them can actually be dangerous or, at least, unhealthy.

We obviously spend a great deal of time thinking about weight management here at Dr. Feiz & Associates, and while there are options for people in all kinds of situations, they are relatively limited. For those of us with a relatively small amount of weight to deal with, the battle is hard but achievable with a serious commitment to the right mix of a lower calorie diet and a healthy amount of exercise.

For those of us who are definied as severely obese, however, the challenge is all that much greater and many find it essentially insurmountable. For these people, sooner or later, the pangs of hunger that only increase as we lose weight become too hard to fight. Fortunately, bariatric surgery is the one tool that really has been proven to truly help. It's not a magic bullet that makes losing weight a breeze, but patient after patient has found that it lowers the hunger pangs enough to make redefining your relationship with food more easily doable.

Choosing the right tool is important in any job and, for severely obese people, we now have at least one that really does seem to work in most cases.

Finding the Right Balance

Following the hubbug around "The Greatest Loser" reality show study some months back, many of us latched onto the fact that contestants exercised between four and eight hours a day. Of course, that much exercise is not only impractical for those of us with jobs, families, and other responsibilities, it's actually dangerous without serious medical supervision. Worse, as the contestants on the show have learned since, it's unsustainable on a number of levels because of lower metabolic rates following that kind of a weight loss.

At facilities like Dr. Feiz & Associates, we're learning every day about how effective weight loss procedures have been in helping severely obese patients to finally defeat obesity. While we've long since proven that these procedures work, we're still learning exactly why it is that a bariatric surgery seems so much more effective than traditional approaches. Of course, the issue is not that simply eating a great deal less and exercising more doesn't work, it's that the "eating a great deal less" part of the equation seems to be nearly undoable over the long term because of hormones that go into overdrive and push us to resume our old dietary ways.

What we've found, though, is that procedures such as the gastric sleeve fit in with a truly balanced and healthy lifestyle, particularly as they help patients deal with the incessant hunger pangs that sabotage the vast majority of traditional weight loss attempts. The good news is that, with a weight loss procedure, while a healthy amount of exercise is very strongly encouraged, you won't need to exercise an abnormal amount just to lose weight, because you'll be able to consume few enough calories to first lose and then maintain your weight while still living a happy and well-balanced life.

The Pokémon Cure?

Earlier this week we came across a Forbes piece entitled 'Pokémon GO' May Be This Generation's Cure For Obesity." The article describes how it's writer, who was apparently so uninterested in exercise he had, it appears, broken up with a girlfriend rather than accompany her to the gym, starting walking more than he was used to while playing the game. It doesn't really explain how the game could be any kind of a cure for obesity.

Now, don't get us wrong, we strongly encourage our patients at Dr. Feiz & Associates to exercise in any way that they can, and walking is great. It can definitely help with weight loss somewhat, but its health benefits go far beyond the relatively very few calories we burn off when we exert ourselves. At the same time, there are more studies indicating that exercise might be more important for helping to reverse the bad health outcomes of obesity rather than actually causing weight loss.

The point here is that some non-obese readers will undoubtedly argue that people who obtain a bariatric surgery are somehow being lazy because, they might say, all obese individuals really need to do is to find a reason to get out more and walk. The problem is that exercise, as wonderful as it is for both our physical and mental health, does little to reduce the desire to overeat that motivates our patients to get such procedures as the gastric sleeve.

Of course, anything that motivates people to exercise, including Pokémon GO, is a good thing. For children, it's possible the game could be very useful we're sure, in terms of getting kids in the habit of exercising, and possibly could help prevent obesity in adulthood. But, at least for adults, whose weight and eating habits are pretty much set, we're pretty sure a video game craze is not going to single-handedly cure many cases of severe obesity. On the other hand, if an obese person starts exercising more because of the game and continues the habit throughout their life, it really could be a lifesaver. So, we're definitely for people going out in search of cute monsters if that's what gets them to take a walk...just don't expect capturing that capturing Pikachu will make you thin!

An Active Life

We all know that exercise has a variety of health benefits. It can help with weight loss and improve the appearance of our bodies. However, severely obese patients oftentimes struggle to engage in physical activity that can help them reach their weight loss goals. That's why, we at Dr. Feiz & Associates recommend bariatric surgery to our qualifying patients. Besides the proven health benefits provided by weight loss surgery, losing a significant amount of weight also makes engaging in exercise a possibility for the patient.

In addition, increased mobility also motivates a severely obese patient to engage in social interactions that they might ordinarily shy away from. Indeed, a great improvement in the overall quality of life can be possible with a bariatric surgery.

At Dr. Feiz & Associates, we know that losing weight is not just about looking good. Helping our patients feel happy and healthy is also a big part of our focus. Our cutting-edge weight loss surgery procedures, such as the gastric sleeve, can help a patient do more than successfully lose weight. Changing your life with weight loss surgery is possible and we are here to help.

A New and Improved Quality of Life

It is common knowledge that obesity can significantly reduce the quality of a person's life. Excess weight can make it physically difficult to complete simple daily tasks and the variety of health conditions that obesity is linked to can prevent individuals from leading happy and healthy lives. That's why, we at Dr. Feiz & Associates are dedicated to helping those that need to lose a significant amount of weight through our various cutting-edge and extremely effective weight loss surgery procedures.

There is no doubt that diet and exercise are an important part of losing weight. However, for many reasons, individuals who are severely obese may find it difficult to stick to an effective diet plan and may also be physically unable to exercise. With the help of bariatric surgery, diet and exercise become easily achievable and an individual can then begin their life-changing journey towards a long-lasting weight loss.

We at Dr. Feiz & Associates have an outstanding group of highly experienced and extremely skilled medical staff that provide support to our patients every step of the way. Although several of our proven and cutting-edge weight loss procedures like the gastric sleeve help a patient effectively lose weight and look amazing, weight loss surgery is also likely to drastically improve their overall quality of life with the numerous health benefits they can experience.

At Dr. Feiz & Associates, we care about improving all aspects of our patients' lives through weight loss surgery. It's always amazing to hear how our patients are able to enjoy physical activities, see their children and grandchildren grow and feel happy and healthy after undergoing weight loss surgery. We understand that weight loss is not just about looking good, it's about feeling your best and enjoying what life has to offer.

Tips and Tricks

Most of the people who come to us here at Dr. Feiz & Associates have tried just about every approach to weight loss there is before finally deciding to take the surgical route. Indeed, as effective and safe as bariatric surgery now is, it's not surprising that most people would prefer to take some other approach to weight loss. It's a major step that alters the body in a very real way.

So. Why do people take this approach. It's not that -- as some might say -- "diet and exercise don't work"; they work great and are, indeed, the only way there is to actually lose weight. It's just that the body and brain are designed to maintain our present weigh, whatever it is, and very, very few of us are able to resist the urge to eat more than we need to lose significant weight, and then to keep on maintaining that weight loss.

Of course, there is an industry devoted to helping people lose weight. Indeed, while tips and tricks, as well as emotional support and coaching, can be somewhat helpful for people trying to lose, say, 10 or 20 pounds, when it comes to really dealing with severe obesity, they are of pretty limited assistance. Right now, however, there is one exception.

Bariatric procedures like a gastric sleeve have helped a great many people to lose weight and keep it off. That's because they actually get to the root of the problem by actually reducing our desire to eat so that we can focus on the task of relearning how to eat property, without being distracted by constant and unending food cravings. It's no trick, but the best tip we have for severely obese people is that it might pay to look into the bariatric approach.