WEIGHT PICTURE

back at the bariatric facility for this picture.

293.0.thats a drop of (at the time) almost 3 pounds.

MICHELLE

CELEBRATED 'SETTING A DATE FOR SURGERY" WITH A MEAL OUT.

it was pretty typical for me, to celebrate and go out to eat, for any reason. but THIS was a special reason. we had set a date for my gastric surgery.

and it called for a celebration.

so, we went to eat at a place that wasnt so unhealthy.

SOUPER SALAD.

and these are pictures of my meal.

PROTEIN, PROTEIN, PROTEIN..and a side of mushrooms and pepperoni (high in fat, but so delish!) eggs, nuts, olives (black and green) and mixed greens -heavy on the spinach. balsamic vinaigrette dressing

and..yucky water. blah! got to be my way of life now, cant have sodas, because of the carbonation filling up the belly, making it full.

MICHELLE

WEIGHT PICTURE

i dont remember which office i was at, ould have been my bariatric facility. (one reason youll want to make sure you blog in a timely manner, events start to fade and details get lost, lol)
anyway, this was the weight at the time i stood on the digital scale at this office.

MICHELLE

295.8, might as well have read: 296.

NEWS - JACK LALANNE-FITNESS GURU - DIES AT 96

 my husband and myself were just talking about this man last week! i even went and WIKId his name to see if there was a death date yet for him, because we wanted to know how old this fitness guru was IF he was still alive, and now..hes gone.

He was never anyone in MY generation. No, that honor is held by: RICHARD SIMMONS, lol

but i couldt go through life with my mother and NOT know who Jacl LaLanne was, she knew who he was and what he stood for.

HE may have been one of the very 1st "in your face" Fitness people on a nationwide program, encouraging better health, and low weight.

id say he was the grandfather of all the fitness shows we see, and exercise equipment were told to buy.

a dream of a better and healthier world, started with Jack. 

hell be greatly missed.

MICHELLE

Jack LaLanne dies at 96; brought fitness to masses

By ANDREW DALTON




LOS ANGELES (AP)—Jack LaLanne was prodding Americans to get off their couches and into the gym decades before it was cool. And he was still pumping iron and pushing fruits and vegetables decades past most Americans’ retirement age.
The fitness fanatic ate well and exercised—and made it his mission to make sure everyone did the same—right up to the end at age 96, friends and family said.
LaLanne died Sunday at his home in Morro Bay on California’s central coast, longtime agent Rick Hersh said. The cause was respiratory failure due to pneumonia.

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“I have not only lost my husband and a great American icon, but the best friend and most loving partner anyone could ever hope for,” Elaine LaLanne, LaLanne’s wife of 51 years and a frequent partner in his television appearances, said in a written statement.
Lalanne, who had heart valve surgery two years ago, maintained a youthful physique and joked in 2006 that “I can’t afford to die. It would wreck my image.”
“He was amazing,” said 87-year-old former “Price is Right” host Bob Barker, who credited LaLanne’s encouragement with helping him to start exercising often.
“He never lost enthusiasm for life and physical fitness,” Barker told The Associated Press on Sunday. “I saw him in about 2007 and he still looked remarkably good. He still looked like the same enthusiastic guy that he always was.”
LaLanne credited a sudden interest in fitness with transforming his life as a teen, and he worked tirelessly over the next eight decades to transform others’ lives, too.
“The only way you can hurt the body is not use it,” LaLanne said. “Inactivity is the killer and, remember, it’s never too late.”

His workout show was a television staple from the 1950s to the ’70s. LaLanne and his dog Happy encouraged kids to wake their mothers and drag them in front of the television set. He developed exercises that used no special equipment, just a chair and a towel.
He also founded a chain of fitness studios that bore his name and in recent years touted the value of raw fruit and vegetables as he helped market a machine called Jack LaLanne’s Power Juicer.
When he turned 43 in 1957, he performed more than 1,000 push-ups in 23 minutes on the “You Asked For It” television show. At 60, he swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco—handcuffed, shackled and towing a boat. Ten years later, he performed a similar feat in Long Beach harbor.
“I never think of my age, never,” LaLanne said in 1990. “I could be 20 or 100. I never think about it, I’m just me. Look at Bob Hope, George Burns. They’re more productive than they’ve ever been in their whole lives right now.”
Fellow bodybuilder and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger credited LaLanne with taking exercise out of the gymnasium and into living rooms.
“He laid the groundwork for others to have exercise programs, and now it has bloomed from that black and white program into a very colorful enterprise,” Schwarzenegger said in 1990.
In 1936 in his native Oakland, LaLanne opened a health studio that included weight-training for women and athletes. Those were revolutionary notions at the time, because of the theory that weight training made an athlete slow and “muscle bound” and made a woman look masculine.

“You have to understand that it was absolutely forbidden in those days for athletes to use weights,” he once said. “It just wasn’t done. We had athletes who used to sneak into the studio to work out.
“It was the same with women. Back then, women weren’t supposed to use weights. I guess I was a pioneer,” LaLanne said.
The son of poor French immigrants, he was born in 1914 and grew up to become a sugar addict, he said.
The turning point occurred one night when he heard a lecture by pioneering nutritionist Paul Bragg, who advocated the benefits of brown rice, whole wheat and a vegetarian diet.
“He got me so enthused,” LaLanne said. “After the lecture I went to his dressing room and spent an hour and a half with him. He said, ‘Jack, you’re a walking garbage can.”’
Soon after, LaLanne constructed a makeshift gym in his back yard. “I had all these firemen and police working out there and I kind of used them as guinea pigs,” he said.
He said his own daily routine usually consisted of two hours of weightlifting and an hour in the swimming pool.
“It’s a lifestyle, it’s something you do the rest of your life,” LaLanne said. “How long are you going to keep breathing? How long do you keep eating? You just do it.”
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Dan and Jon, and a daughter, Yvonne.

NEWS - WALMART TO MAKE /SELL HEALTHIER FOODS

Jan. 20, 2011

Wal-Mart to make, sell healthier foods

By MARY CLARE JALONICK - Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Wal-Mart, the nation's largest grocer, says it will reformulate thousands of products to make them healthier and push its suppliers to do the same, joining first lady Michelle Obama's effort to combat childhood obesity.

The first lady accompanied Wal-Mart executives Thursday as they announced the effort in Washington. The company plans to reduce sodium and added sugars in some items, build stores in poor areas that don't already have grocery stores, reduce prices on produce and develop a logo for healthier items.
"No family should have to choose between food that is healthier for them and food they can afford," said Bill Simon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart's U.S. division.

As the largest grocer in the United States, Wal-Mart's size gives it unique power to shape what people eat. The grocery business is nearly twice the size of No. 2 competitor Kroger. The company also has massive influence on products made by other manufacturers and sold at the store.

Mrs. Obama said the announcement has "the potential to transform the marketplace and help Americans put healthier foods on their tables every single day."

"We are really gaining some momentum on this issue, we're beginning to see things move," she said.
The nation's largest retailer plans to reduce sodium by a quarter and cut added sugars in some of its private label products by 2015. It also plans to remove remaining industrially produced trans fats. The foods Wal-Mart will concentrate on our products like lunch meats, fruit juices and salad dressings, items that contain high levels of sugar or sodium that consumers don't know they're ingesting..

A number of food makers have made similar moves, lowering sodium in their products based on shopper demand and increasing scrutiny by health groups. Bumble Bee Foods, General Mills Inc., Campbell Soup Co., PepsiCo Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc. all announced sodium reductions to their products last year.
During the press conference Wednesday, Andrea Thomas, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of sustainability acknowledged those industry efforts but said,"Our goal is not to supplant these efforts, but to encourage their widespread adoption. We see our role as a convener and a catalyst. "

Food makers say they are trying to reduce sodium gradually, making it a more palatable change to its customers and giving the industry time to reformulate products. Most said they support efforts to curb sodium in American's diets but are waiting to see if the Food and Drug Administration decides to mandate a reduction.

Wal-Mart said it would reduce prices on fruits and vegetables by $1 billion a year by attempting to cut unnecessary costs from the supply chain. The company also said it would work to reduce price premiums on healthier items made with more expensive ingredients.

"Our customers often ask us why whole wheat pasta sometimes costs more than regular pasta made by the same manufacturer," said Thomas.

Mrs. Obama has a history of working with Wal-Mart. She once served on the board of Westchester, Ill.-based TreeHouse Foods Inc., a food supplier for the store, but resigned in 2007 while her husband was campaigning for the presidency. Barack Obama had criticized the store over wages and benefits it pays employees.

NEWS - DO YOU HAVE METABOLIC SYNDROME?

Do You Have Metabolic Syndrome?

As waistlines expand, so does the epidemic of metabolic syndrome. It’s estimated that nearly one of every four American adults has this condition(1). If you’re one of them, it puts you on the track to developing type 2 diabetes and triples your risk for heart disease down the road. The identification of metabolic syndrome two decades ago(2) is now recognized as a turning point in our understanding of how metabolism can go awry, resulting in obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. 

What Is Metabolic Syndrome?
Metabolic syndrome involves several conditions that predispose people to diabetes and heart disease. These include:

• Obesity, particularly excessive fat in the waist and tummy, giving an “apple-shaped” appearance
• High blood triglyceride levels, reflecting problems metabolizing carbohydrates
• Low HDL (“good”) cholesterol
• Higher levels of the small dense type of LDL particles, which can attach to artery walls and form plaque, although total LDL (”bad”) cholesterol is usually within normal range
• High blood pressure
• High-normal or elevated blood sugar

Additional markers include chronically elevated inflammation levels, such as C- reactive protein (CRP) and abnormal blood vessel function.
A person is defined as having metabolic syndrome if he or she has three or more of the following markers(3).

	Men	Women
Waist Circumference	≥ 40 inches	≥ 35 inches
Triglycerides	≥ 150 mg/dL*	≥ 150 mg/dL
HDL cholesterol	≤ 40 mg/dL	≤ 50 mg/dL
Blood pressure	≥ 130/85 mm Hg or use of medication for hypertension	≥ 130/85 mm Hg or use of medication for hypertension
Fasting glucose	≥ 100 mg/dL or use of medication for high blood glucose	≥ 100 mg/dL or use of medication for high blood glucose

*Milligrams per deciliter.


What Causes Metabolic Syndrome?
The prevailing opinion is that all of these markers are signs of insulin resistance, meaning the diminished ability of a given amount of insulin to exert its normal effect. When insulin resistance develops, it can impact metabolic processes in many ways, resulting in the specific markers listed above. However, different individuals respond to insulin resistance in different ways. Also, the time frame in which certain signs develop varies. This variability makes defining—and treating—metabolic syndrome tricky.


Treating Metabolic Syndrome
How to treat metabolic syndrome is controversial. Because there are several potential markers, the public health community has struggled with the decision of how best to define, diagnose and treat it. Nutritional approaches have generally been downplayed in favor of multiple medications that target the individual markers. Conventional recommendations tend to emphasize caloric restriction and reduced fat intake, even though metabolic syndrome can best be described as carbohydrate intolerance. The most effective treatment for metabolic syndrome is to control the intake of carbs, not fat. In fact, restricting dietary fat and replacing it with carbohydrate actually makes many of the problems of metabolic syndrome worse. The metabolic syndrome paradigm has therefore caused a great deal of distress—and pushback—among those advocating low-fat diets. For more on how to prevent metabolic syndrome, see How to Reduce Your Risk for Metabolic Syndrome.

NEWS - WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY FOR DIABETICS

Weight Loss Surgery for Diabetics

 By Rosemary Black 

 

If you're overweight and just can't seem to shed the unwanted pounds, you may be wondering whether surgery could be helpful in your quest to lose weight and get your blood sugar back in the normal range. Before you make a decision, weigh all the options. Many choices are available today to diabetics who opt for weight loss surgery, each with pros and cons.

Here's a rundown of what surgical options are out there. For each, the success rate means how many patients successfully lost and kept off the weight over time.

Gastric bypass surgery: The procedure involves stapling the stomach, creating a little pouch and a passageway for the food to bypass part of the small intestine.
This is the "gold standard" of weight loss surgeries, says Vadim Sherman, MD, a bariatric surgeon at Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. The success rate is high, about 70 to 80 percent of patients who have gastric bypass surgery continue to keep off the weight for 20 to 30 years, he says. Sherman says gastric bypass "has been shown to be the only surgery to resolve diabetes before any weight loss has even occurred." And, he adds, sometimes he sees patients have normal blood sugars even before they leave the hospital.

Gastric band surgery, (also known as Lap-Band adjustable gastric banding): This option is often a good choice for a recently diagnosed diabetic, says Mitchell Roslin, MD, chief of bariatric surgery at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mt. Kisco, New York.
To perform this, an inflatable band is put into place and divides the stomach into two parts as it wraps around the upper part. Once pulled tight, the band restricts the amount of food a person can eat. "We put a belt on the stomach that has a balloon inside and the balloon squeezes the stomach," Roslin explains. While it's simpler than the other surgeries and has a lower rate of complications, it's not as effective.
Individuals who have the gastric band surgery tend to lose less weight and to lose it more slowly than those who have the more radical procedures. The success rate is about 50 to 60 percent, Roslin says. This procedure also has the highest reoperation rate, he adds.

Duodenal switch: This is a more intense operation with a higher rate of complications. In this procedure, about 80 percent of the stomach is removed. A valve that lets food into the small intestine remains, as does a portion of the small intestine. But the majority of the intestine is bypassed during the operation, which connects the intestine's end portion to the duodenum near the stomach.
"Technically it is a more demanding operation but it has a high success rate - about 95 percent," Roslin says. "And it can be done laparascopically." Patients who've had this procedure are at a higher than average risk of malnutrition, and some report diarrhea as well, Sherman explains.

Sleeve gastrectomy: With this procedure, in order to limit the number of calories your body can absorb, the stomach's structure is modified so that it looks like a tube. "It makes the stomach look like a banana rather than a kidney," says Roslin. "And you can easily go from a sleeve to a duodenal switch." In fact, for certain patients, a sleeve gastrectomy is performed to facilitate weight loss in a patient before the duodenal switch is performed.
The success rate is about 80 percent. This is a newer procedure, Sherman says, and one potential drawback is that since it is so new, "we don't know the long term effects or how durable it is," Sherman says.