Health News

Health News Blog provides coverage of current health news.

Archive for the ‘Weight Loss’ Category

Jul
13

HOW TO FACE GIVING UP THE FOOD: THE PRODUCTS OF SUFFERING

Posted by admin
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)
God has placed so much symbolism for death on this physical earth. Let me try to explain this paradox by some illustrations.
A caterpillar essentially “dies” in its cocoon so that a butterfly can emerge. Consider the spring that follows a harsh, deadly winter. Every year we watch trees lose their leaves, appearing to die; yet they come back to life bigger and stronger than before. Another symbol of life from death around us is the daily example of   ^ * the long, cold night and the warmth of the morning sun rising again. We have to believe that the sun will rise again. Jesus drew a great word picture for us:
“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” (John 12:24-26)
God wants to build our faith in the idea that life comes from death. If we stay in the cooker, it will dissolve the self-will. If we live and die in the little ways and watch Him give us jewels, character or rewards of any kind after obedience; then we will be able to handle physical death with faith that He is going to take care of us. Then we can truly say with the prophet Hosea, “Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?” (Hosea 13:14b). It was rephrased by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:55, ” ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ “
God does not want us to be empty bodies without personalities or original ideas. When we die to our will and get off the throne— He puts His great personality (Holy Spirit) in its place. We become unified and married, so to speak. “The two shall become one.” What a fantastic mystery!
He does not want a zombie, but rather a willing servant. This is delicate surgery, and God will not let it go so deep that it kills the very spirit that He is trying to transform. God is performing this delicate surgery of stretching your heart into immortal character. It is somewhat like the artistry of blown glass. If the glass is blown and stretched too hard or too fast, it may break apart. God does not want to stretch our hearts to the point that we break apart; rather, He wants our hearts to grow. The rain showers in our life, when we have to stretch to navigate the puddles, prepare us for the big storms.
We do not need to blame God or get angry at the training of God. After all, God created this “Life from Death University,” and He created the students. Jesus is the Great Professor because He lived out the instructions we should live by.
I would say that the unity that comes from submerging our will into His will is the biggest allure to the suffering and death to self, in that it helps transform us to no longer desire overeating or any other worldly desire. There is no more internal strife or battles—just peace, deep peace.
We do have natural tendencies, or temptations, to jump out of this Desert of Testing. When the cooking pot gets to boiling temperatures, we often quit. I know. I have been in the boiler many times because my own will is so stubborn. We can resist the hand of God and wind up no better for all the pain that we have been through. Such was the plight of the Israelites referred to in Ezekiel 24:10-13:
So heap on the wood and kindle the fire. Cook the meat well, mixing in the spices; and let the bones be charred. Then set the empty pot on the coals till it becomes hot and its copper glows so its impurities may be melted and its deposit burned away. It has frustrated all efforts; its heavy deposit has not been removed, not even by fire.
” ‘Now your impurity is lewdness. Because I tried to cleanse you but you would not be cleansed from your impurity, you will not be clean again until my wrath against you has subsided.’”
This is not a pretty picture. Oh, our stubborn hearts! God wants so badly for us to understand His ways and His love for us, but we have some wild, untamed hearts. We are bucking stallions that need to submit to the rider’s hand. Once we understand God’s rules, we can be guided left and right and be allowed to gallop full speed ahead. We are like some of the trees in the fall that refuse to drop their leaves, until a strong November blast removes them. We must yield to His hand. Then we develop the faith to die more and more. None of us has suffered for God so much that we have lost blood. “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Hebrews 12:4). At almost every public presentation when I address an audience, I ask them, “Do I look dead from dying to my will? No! I look alive!” Do the people in this book who have lost 100 pounds of their will look dead? No, alive! Life comes from death!
That dying produces life is a mystery that confounds the world, but it is the mystery that sets Christianity apart from other religions. And there is a difference between self-selected self-denial just for the praise of man and denial decided by God and accepted because you trust God. Following this path that Jesus walked will bring life to every fiber of your soul.
God wants your soul. All I want to tell you is that life comes from death in such a powerful way. The suffering that we go through to give Him our very soul does not compare to the glory that we enjoy.
When Jesus was in His darkest hour, on the cross with the nails in His hands and feet, feeling forsaken by God, witnesses to the crucifixion called out to Him save yourself… save yourself… save yourself. (See Luke 23.) Save yourself will be the overwhelming temptation when you are giving up more food, being falsely accused by a family member, church member, or co-worker. You will be tempted to take care of yourself and remove yourself from the altar. But if you give in to the temptation, you will miss the incredible work and rescue of the Mighty Warrior and Savior, our God. You will miss it!
God calls us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, but we keep crawling off the altar, jumping out of the cooking pot, or rolling off the surgery table. Do we not know that we will live even more? The answer is to remember Jesus … “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51).
Jesus resolutely set out to obey God and face the death He was called to. We must resolutely set out and face Jerusalem—death to this desire to eat. For Jesus said, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again” (John 10:17). If you do not, you will miss feasting on the will of the Father.
*64\237\2*
Weight Loss
Comments Off
Jun
12

SURGERY FOR WEIGHT LOSS: WHEN SURGERY IS CONTRAINDICATED

Posted by admin
Some patients might decide not to opt for weight-loss surgery following screening, others might be deemed unsuitable; such patients should ideally be picked up in primary care.
The screening process might pick up biochemical evidence of an undiagnosed cause for obesity, or individuals for whom non-invasive management is clearly a better option. Patients might lose so much weight as a ‘preoperative’ measure that surgery is no longer necessary. In others there might be a psychological or underlying psychiatric condition that calls either for a different treatment altogether or needs to be dealt with before surgery is considered. Schizophrenia, personality disorder and uncontrolled depression are absolute contraindications for surgery. Individuals whose obesity is caused simply by love of food, or patients with binge eating disorder might find the postoperative adjustment of behaviour overwhelmingly difficult.
Prior to embarking on surgery, the risk : benefit ratio is considered and patients might be deemed unsuitable for surgery because of their comorbidities, anaesthetic risk and general well-being.
Women of childbearing age should be treated with extreme caution because of the increased nutritional needs of pregnancy being hampered by the reduced capacity for absorption of nutrients. Such patients are advised not to become pregnant after surgery until their weight has stabilized and their micronutrient status has been checked; contraceptive advice is essential.
*57/312/5*
Weight Loss
Comments Off
Apr
12

MANAGING YOUR WEIGHT: EXERCISE

Posted by admin
Approximately 90 percent of the daily calorie expenditures of most people occurs as a result of the resting metabolic rate (RMR). The RMR is slightly higher than the BMR; it includes the BMR plus any additional energy expended through daily sedentary activities, such as food digestion, sitting, studying, or standing. The exercise metabolic rate (EMR) accounts for the remaining 10 percent of all daily calorie expenditures; it refers to the energy expenditure that occurs during physical exercise. For most of us, these calories come from light daily activities, such as walking, climbing stairs, and mowing the lawn. If we increase the level and intensity of physical activity to moderate or heavy, however, our EMR may be 10 to 20 times greater than typical resting metabolic rates and can contribute substantially to weight loss.
Increasing BMR, RMR, or EMR levels will help burn calories. An increase in the intensity, frequency, and duration of daily exercise levels may have significant impact on total calorie expenditure.
Physical activity makes a greater contribution to BMR when large muscle groups are used. The energy spent on physical activity is the energy used to move the body’s muscles – the muscles of the arms, back, abdomen, legs, and so on – and the extra energy used to speed up heartbeat and respiration rate. The number of calories spent depends on three factors:
1. The amount of muscle mass moved
2. The amount of weight being moved
3. The amount of time the activity takes
An activity involving both the arms and the legs burns more calories than one involving only the legs, an activity performed by a heavy person burns more calories than one performed by a lighter person, and an activity performed for 40 minutes requires twice as much energy as the same activity performed for only 20 minutes. Thus, obese persons walking for 1 mile burn more calories than slim people walking the same distance. It may also take overweight people longer to walk the mile, which means that they are burning energy for a longer time and therefore expending more overall calories than are thin walkers.
*19/277/5*
Weight Loss
Comments Off
May
08

CRITICAL PERIODS FOR FAT GAIN: PHYSIOLOGICAL

Posted by admin

After weight loss. Preventing a regain after fat loss is a major challenge especially in people with a genetic predisposition to obesity. There is marked adaptation to fat losses generally regarded as fat loss plateaus. These may also correspond with changes in psychological factors including depression at not having achieved the losses expected.

Currently, there is little written about plateaus and little specific research in the area, even though this is one of the most critical concepts in fat loss maintenance. It is generally because of a plateau in fat loss, and the inability to do anything about this, that disillusionment sets in and a program is abandoned.

The length of time spent on plateaus is variable and appears to have individual idiosyncrasies. In general, the time period increases with the extent of initial fat loss. The magnitude of the fat loss off a plateau on the other hand decreases the greater the fat loss from the initial level. Plateaus, as well as overall fat mass decreases, also appear to be a function of the length of time an individual has been overfat or obese. It thus becomes more difficult to lose fat over the long term, the longer one has been fat in the first place and the longer a maintenance program needs to be carried out.

The length of plateaus is shown to increase and the rate of fat loss is shown to decline with increased loss, basically as a result of the adaptive mechanisms referred to earlier.

The postulated differences in the responses to summing between a long term obese and short term overfat person are shown. Note how the plateaus are likely to be longer and the rates of fat loss smaller in the long term obese than the short term overfat person.

It is important for anyone on a fat loss program to recognise that plateaus are inevitable stages that occur in the maintenance of fat loss. It’s necessary, therefore, for any professional working in the area to communicate that provided there is no increase in body fat during these periods (as there is likely to be due to disillusionment with the lack of success), they should be tolerated. A general principle is that ‘. . . as long as you’re not gaining, you’re winning.’ Plateaus should be regarded as the body ‘taking a breather’ to ensure it can survive under reduced energy balance.

*203\186\4*

Weight Loss
Add comments