Americans are getting bigger. Fact. And the latest statistics paint a bleak picture of just how big of a problem obesity has become.
This week the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention released its latest map showing adult obesity rates in individual states. According to the CDC’s annual Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) report, Mississippi is America’s most obese state for the sixth year in a row. The report shows that over one-third of Mississippians, 34.9%, are obese. Louisiana comes closest to Mississippi with 33.4% of its citizens classified as obese, and West Virginia rounds out the top three with a 32.4% obesity rate. And with the disease growing at 0.5% this year, it is equating to 1.54 million new obese Americans in a single year.
With obesity becoming a headline story on a daily basis, the problems associated with it are both physical and emotional.
Obviously, there are no quick fixes, but leading bariatric surgeon Dr. Carson Liu has pioneered a new type of weight loss surgery he calls the No-Band Surgery, that is similar to the Lap Band.
Liu has become the first to perform a new out-patient laparoscopic surgical weight loss procedure that eliminates the need for a Lap-Band. He came up with the idea of this surgery for people who suffer from crippling acid reflux and he realized the same procedure is perfect to help people with weight issues.
The No-Band is a great alternative for patients who find bariatric surgery too extreme or are afraid to have the lap band. The No-Band is also a good option for those or who aren’t covered by insurance for bariatric surgeries as the cost is $5,000 to $8,000 less than lap band surgery.
His pioneering surgery is only a one hour laparoscopic procedure that involves folding the stomach in half, stitching it together and wrapping around the top of the stomach to control the food intake. The procedure makes the stomach about half its normal size and therefore, the patient fills up quicker and obviously, feels full quicker.
Some hybrid results of this procedure are blood pressure becomes leveled, Type 2 diabetes can be reversed and as stated before, severe and crippling heartburn (acid reflux) that affects many overweight or obese people can be eradicated.
Dr. Liu believes that patients can lose roughly 50 lbs in 6 months if they maintain healthy eating habits after having the No-Band procedure.
For more information on Dr. Liu’s weight loss procedures click here.
What do you think?