In Canada we get a lot of stories in the news about obesity in the US and sometimes I thing that we look at ourselves as immune to the obesity issue. Of course that is not at all true and bad habits in the US are the same as the bad habits in Canada. While many people look at the magic BMI number of 30 as the divider of obese or not (I of course hate the whole BMI numbering) I found this article in the Calgary Herald newspaper here in Canada.

According to the 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey, 2.7 per cent of the population had “class III” obesity, meaning a BMI of 40 or more. But Padwal and others believe the prevalence of extreme obesity is now closer to four or five per cent, or about 1.5 million Canadians who are severely obese. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: bad habits, bariatric surgery, BMI, Calgary Herald, Canada, Canadian Cancer Society, cancer, David Lau, depression, diabetes, director of the bariatric surgery program, fatty liver, gallbladder disease, health survey, Heart and Stroke Foundation, heart disease, hiatus hernia, high blood pressure, joint pain, leg ulcers, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital, Nicolas Christou, obesity, obesity surgery, Rome, sleep apnea, stroke, surgery, the Calgary Herald, United States, weight gain, Weight Loss

A couple years ago my wife was considering weight loss surgery as her years off dieting and exercise and the yoyo weight loss/gain nightmare had mad her tired of the whole weight loss industry. Using Weight Watchers and getting the exercise to a more moderate lvel have helped Michelle lose three pounds or so per week and she is quickly dropping the weight that was so stubborn just a couple of years back. Yesterday Michelle got a call for the gastric bypass surgery consultation which here in Alberta Canada takes 19 months, I am happy to say that she turned it down because a healthy lifestyle has maed the difference for her. As you probably know there are a lot of instances where this surgery is really helpful for people but only in cases where there is a risk of imminent death by now doing something as drastic as this surgery is.

I have found an article from Bloomberg that I think really shows the importance of this surgery and the possible implications. Below are some exerpts from that article.
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