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More American's are overweight today than ever before, and because of our growing waist line we are obsessed with a fast and easy fix to this national epidemic. We are looking for an easy way to save us from our own overeating.
We are looking for a miracle. We are looking for magic pill. We are looking for a great American invention that lets us stuff ourselves with cheesecake, brownies, and butter while still looking like Scarlett Johansen the second we get up from the table. Unfortunately, David Blaine is not a dietitian, and our dreams of pigging out and staying skinny are almost as dangerous as our obsession with having the ideal body.
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Regrettably, many of us think that such an invention already exists in the latest "diet craze" the Lap-Band system. In fact over 170,000 American's went under the knife for some time of weight reduction surgery in 2006..
A few years back Al Roker of the Today Show made getting your stomach stapled a chic phenomenon by losing over 100 pounds right in front of our eyes. What we didn't see on a daily basis was how his stomach had been reshaped from the size of a football to the size of an egg. Nor did we see him vomit when he would over eat even slightly. The daily effects were hidden from the public, while the nearly miraculous results were paraded before eyes for our imaginations and eyes to feast on.
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Roker's Gastric bypass surgery was dangerous and permanent. But as American medicine has a way of doing, the technology was improved upon with the Lap-Band System. A device that is inserted around the top of your stomach to essentially squeeze the hunger out of you.
The Lap-Band Adjustable Gastric Band is an inflatable banding system that is placed around the upper stomach to limit food intake in severely obese individuals. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) gave BioEnterics' Inamed unit permission to market the Lap-Band Adjustable Gastric Band in June 2001. However, recent concerns have surfaced regarding the safety of the medical device. Some doctors now think that the FDA's approval was premature.
Let's take a look at the bare facts of this weight loss device: Not everyone will qualify for the Lap-Band Surgery. To be eligible you must have a Body Mass Index of at least 40 and you must have spent the last 5 years at that weight.
Additionally you are not qualified for the Lap-Band surgery if you are under 18, or if you ulcers, heart or lung diseases, hypertension, cirrhosis, or pancreatitis. Additionally, you cannot have the Lap-Band surgery if you are addicted to drugs or alcohol.
Make no mistake - having the Lap-Band installed is a major surgery and it can have serious consequences and sports a VERY high occurrence of post operational problems that can be far worse than being overweight. In clinical tests, 88% of patients that underweight the lap band knife experienced complications. Eighty-Eight percent!!! The most common problems include vomiting, regurgitation, diarrhea, difficulty swallowing, constipation, band slippage/pouch dilatation, and stoma obstruction. 25% of those that get the surgery must have it removed because of complications.
Additionally Lap-Band patients run the risk of having the band erode into their stomach and with all stomach operations patients run the risk of spleen or liver damage, damage to major blood vessels, lung problems, blood clots, stomach or esophagus damage.
Another downside of the surgery is the extreme cost associated with the surgery. According to the official Lap-Band website, patients must be prepared to endure an $18,000 annual cost.
After the Lap-Band surgery, patients will still need a strict diet and exercise program - similar to a plan that would significantly reduce their weight had they elected not to get the surgery. The biggest difference is that if you cheat on your Lap-Band diet serious health problems or even death can occur.
In the weeks following the Lap-Band surgery patients will be restricted to a liquid only diet, because that is all the body can tolerate at that point. After the body can tolerate solid foods again patients will no longer be able to drink anything liquid with meals or for the hour before or after. Additionally, patients must stay away from high fiber, high fat, or dry foods. Patients must also avoid foods with little nutritional value but high calorie content such as milkshakes, syrups, jam, and pastries. Additionally, some breads, dried fruit, nuts, popcorn, fried foods, and pasta must be avoided.
If patients are committed enough to have a life altering, life threatening surgery then they are committed enough to follow the diet and exercise routine that accompanies such a procedure without having their mid section cut open
This surgery should only be considered as a last ditch effort to save a life. Even then the risks are great.
A sensible diet and exercise program, as always, are the best and safest way to lose weight. All the Lap-Band system and similar surgeries do are make poor eating choices associated with extreme physical harm. And for the $18,000 yearly cost associated with such a surgery you could pay a part time assistant to cook your meals or physically remove the donut from your mouth.
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