Posted on June 24, 2009 in Latest News, Patient Updates
Roasting Vegetables
By roasting veggies, you’ll caramelize the natural sugars that they contain and add a depth of flavor that naked veggies lack.
Set the oven to 450 degrees. Slice the veggies about ¼ to ½ inch thick lay them in a single layer. Lightly spritz with olive oil to prevent them from drying.
Beets: 1 to 1 ½ hours
Winter squash: 8 to 12 minutes
Carrots: 15 to 20 minutes
Green beans and read peppers: 12 minutes
Onions: 30 minutes
Sweet potatoes: 15 minutes
Summer squash or zucchini slices: 5 to 8 minutes
Eggplant: 10 to 15 minutes
Hints for healthier cooking:
Use sun-dried tomatoes in recipes to add the mellow richness and smokiness that fatty pork adds to soups, stew, and pizzas.
Swap fruit for most of the fat in baked goods: Reduce the amount of fat to about ¼ of the original amount and replace the rest with prune pill filling (lekvar) or applesauce.
Brown butter to use less: Heat a bit of butter in a skillet until it becomes fragrant and turns nutty brown. This increases its flavor so you’ll need to use less. A little bit drizzled over corn, eggs, or vegetables tastes like you’re using a lot.
Posted on June 20, 2009 in Latest News, Patient Updates
When my husband died in 2005, I knew I had to do something about my weight. My husband was morbidly obese and died from a massive heart at the age of 49. I was terrified that I was on the same path. I did a lot of soul searching and finally decided to contact Dr. Champion. I truly believe he saved my life. At 5′3″, I weighed 246 lbs, had high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, osteo arthritis, and couldn’t walk to the end of my driveway without stopping to catch my breath.
I had RNY on 3/12/08 and after one year feel like a new person. I now weigh 140 ( on my scale) and am able to walk without pain, and garden again. I can play outside with my yorkies now! Dr. Champion gave me my life back - there is no way I can thank him enough.
I can not say enough good things about Dr. Champion – he is truly a caring, professional man. His program WORKS and he has an excellent staff made up of people who can answer all your questions quickly and efficiently. Thank God for Dr. Champion.
Kim
Before
After
Posted on June 9, 2009 in Latest News
JK Champion MD
2009
Questions
1.What are the keys to patients succeeding after bariatric surgery?
2.What are the causes of patients failing bariatric surgery?
3.What can patients do to deal with post-op weight regain?
Keys to success after bariatric surgery
1. Healthy food choices (reduce carbohydrates in diet to 50% or less with 35-40% protein and 10-15% fat, concentrate on meats, colored veggies and fruit, limit simple carbs such as bread, potatoes, rice and pasta to 2 days a week and never twice on the same day, no high calorie liquids such as soda, fruit juices, smoothies or protein supplements, no ice cream, no cream soups, no “sugar free” snacks, no junk food such as chips and nuts or candy, limit alcohol consumption to 2 drinks per week
2. Increased activity and exercise ( 45 minutes of aerobic activity three times a week: that means patients sweat and increase their hear rate) take the stairs, park in the back of the parking lot, get a pedometer and walk 6 miles per day
3. Behavioral changes (eat every 4 hours by the clock, no snacking between meals, don’t skip meals, don’t drink with meals and for 30 minutes afterwards, Slow down eating and chew food well, stop eating when full, eat protein first and then veggies or fruit, practice portion control with small plates, don’t utilize food to deal with emotions: anger, boredom, sadness, stress)
Causes of failure after bariatric surgery
A. Behavioral Noncompliance with recommendations
Maladaptive eating or “eating around the operation”, (snacking, drinking high calorie liquids, eating sweets, high carbohydrate diets), lack of exercise, unresolved emotional issues
The surgery requires significant changes in a patients’ behavior towards food and eating and physical activity; it is not a magical procedure that changes their metabolism and allows them to eat whatever they want and still lose weight. Their metabolism only requires around 1200 calories per day and if they eat 1600 calories they will regain 6 pounds per year. The changes they adopt the first 12 months after surgery must continue the rest of their life. Some patients think they only have to comply with the guidelines the first 12-15 months until their reach their target weight and then they can go back to eating their old way and the result is they regain weight.
In normal weight people it takes 30 minutes for the hunger control switch to be activated after beginning a meal. By slowing down, everyone will eat less by allowing the body’s natural control process to “catch up”. This is particularly important in patients attempting to lose weight from diets or surgery. Patients must choose coarse dense foods high in protein and low in carbohydrate which will stay in their pouch for 30 minutes after meals (meats and colored veggies) to control their appetite for the next 4 hours. The small gastric pouch controls hunger by filling with dense food and staying in the pouch for 30 minutes to stimulate the Vagus nerve to produce satiety, replacing Leptin (a hormone produced in fat cells) as the hunger control. If patients drink with a meal it washes the pouch out and hunger will return in about 45 minutes. If the meal is high in carbs the blood sugar will raise causing insulin to be released and again hunger will return quickly. A high protein diet causes the blood sugar to be level and not get the wide swings which cause increased hunger. Patients must eat by the clock every 4 hours and not skip meals or go too long between meals. Eating every 4 hours and not skipping meals keeps the body’s metabolism level; otherwise the body will slow the metabolism and make it harder to lose weight, or regain weight eating the same amount of calories. Skipping meals will result in overeating at the next meal and extra calories get stored as fat, or it results in snacking due to hunger. A healthy afternoon snack is scheduled to break up the interval between lunch and supper if it is going to be more than 4 hours between meals.
B. Mechanical or physical problems with the surgery
Gastro-gastric fistula, staple line breakdown, tubing or balloon leak, pouch or stoma dilatation, poorly constructed bypass with short limb or poor pouch construction, bariatric surgery intolerance (chronic nausea and vomiting, acid reflux, difficulty swallowing chronic abdominal pain, or excessive weight loss), poor initial choice of operation for the patient.
These are potentially correctable problems, but may require additional surgery for a revision or conversion to another operation and carry additional operative risk compared to the first operation. These problems will require an evaluation and testing to identify. Approximately 50% of Lap-band patients and around 10% of Gastric Bypass patients won’t lose sufficient weight or will be dissatisfied with their initial procedure. Recent studies and our own experience indicate around 25% of Lap-band patients will have their band removed due to weight loss failure or band problems.
What can you do to deal with post-op weight regain?
1.Go back to the basics!
2.Exercise 3 times weekly for 45 minutes. Aerobic exercise with sweating and increased heart rate over 110. Walking, Shopping, Gardening, House cleaning, Playing with the kids, etc is not aerobic exercise.
3.Restrict carbs and re-institute the rules for eating post-op.
4.Get counseling if you’re eating to deal with emotions.
POST OP DIET TO IMPROVE WEIGHT LOSS
Reduce “simple” carbohydrates to two days per week. (Like Tuesday and Saturday). Simple carbs cause a rise in blood sugar and hunger in 45 minutes after eating. If extra calories are absorbed in a meal with simple carbs the calories will be immediately converted to fat cells and either weight gain or a slowing of weight loss.
Simple carbs are any food in the BREAD, RICE, POTATOE or PASTA family. These food groups are usually white but it doesn’t matter if they are white or brown or any color.
Concentrate on eating meats, fruits and colored vegetables. Colored vegetables are complex carbohydrates and the body must burn calories to digest them so it takes longer to absorb and doesn’t cause increases in blood sugar, late dumping syndrome, and “craving” or hunger after 45 minutes.
Your surgery works by filling your pouch with coarse foods like meat, green beans, and carrots etc which stay in the pouch for at least 30 minutes. This sends a signal to the brain you’re full and will control your hunger for 3-4 hours and then you will be hungry again. This is why we have you eat every 4 hours and don’t drink with meals which will wash the pouch out and make you hungry again in 45 minutes. Soft mushy foods like mashed potatoes, yogurt, and soups slide right through the pouch and do nothing to control your appetite and may actually make you hungrier.
Remember
1.Eat 3 meals per day and a healthy afternoon snack: something every 4 hours.
2.Use a small plate to limit portion size and slow down. It takes 30 minutes to feel satisfied, and stop when you’re full: don’t clean your plate!
3.Limit simple carbs to 2 days per week.
4.Don’t skip meals: you lose less weight by slowing your metabolism.
5.Eat your protein first and then any veggies or fruit.
6.Nuts are a terrible snack.
7.All liquids must be low calorie and no liquid protein supplements after 6 weeks post-op.
8.NO DRINKING WITH MEALS
Posted on June 4, 2009 in Patient Updates
Please be proactive in your care. Call our office for your 3 month, 6 month, 1 year and annual appointments. Even if you cannot come into our office for you appointment, call us to give us an update and make arrangements to send us your lab results. It is very important for you to have the following labs checked annually:
- CBC
- Comprehensive Chemistry
- Serum Iron
- B12 Level
- Lipid Panel
Posted on in Uncategorized
Like many people reading this, food was my best friend, my entertainment, my way to deal with life. From the earliest age, food was my reward, whether it was from my family, friends, teachers, or myself. I cannot remember a time when I wasn’t overweight. At 6 years of age, I was 72 lbs, and when my brothers called me a ‘2 ton truck’, I would correct them by saying, ‘No, I weigh 72 pounds.’ My mother and I were the only ones in the house with weight problems, and her weight seemed to be excused because of her age and the fact she had given birth to five children. I was not so lucky, on the one hand, that no one ‘excused’ my weight. I was lucky, on the other hand, that I had a brain and wasn’t afraid to use it.
School is where I excelled and found acceptance. My obesity made people want to ignore me, but my intelligence didn’t allow them to do it. I had goals, very specific ones, and I had a plan to get there. Again, I was lucky, in that I had teachers who saw that I was serious, and they didn’t let my obesity cloud their opinion of me.
In my life, I never let my obesity stop me from doing what I wanted to do. I sang, acted, swam, did whatever activities I thought looked interesting. I worked two or three jobs and took a full load of classes at college. I dated some, but my education was my primary goal, and school and work took most of my time. I applied and was accepted to the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine, much to the surprise of my undergraduate advisor, who stated such. I think I know why he was surprised.
During veterinary school, I lost weight. I was in a challenging environment, away from home for the first time, and I was able to break some of the bad habits I participated in back home. My boyfriend of 5 years and I were married, I graduated, and began practicing back home in Savannah. I also started gaining weight, to an all time high of 300 lbs.
A little over 12 years later, my marriage fell apart, and I began single life in an obese body. I still did not let my weight stop me from participating in activities I enjoyed. What was stopping me was the pain in my feet. After being on my feet all day, I could barely walk. I saw an orthopedist, acupuncturist, physical therapist, chiropractor, all with no relief. My general practitioner had told me for years that I needed to have gastric bypass surgery, and he recommended Dr. J. K. Champion in Atlanta. I had been thinking about this for all that time, and now I decided to do it. Because I had to pay for the surgery, I had to rethink my ‘life plan’. I would have to second mortgage my home, work longer until retirement, and watch my spending much more closely, but it would be worth it.
And it has been. Six months and 99 pounds into my weight loss, my right foot stopped hurting. Nine months and 120 pounds into my weight loss, my left foot stopped hurting. Twelve months and at my goal weight of 160 pounds, I could wear heels. I could walk all day at work and still work my dogs after. It was incredible! And it still is…
Five years later, I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful my life has been since my weight loss. I gained the confidence to date again and am now married to a wonderful man. Frankly, I didn’t know men could be this fabulous! I can fly comfortably, no seatbelt extender needed. I learned to scuba dive and have enjoyed dive trips with my husband. Best of all, I can REALLY run with my dogs now!
I cannot thank Dr. Champion and his staff enough for their fabulous care and support. Nisa Grantham and our Savannah support group have also been invaluable to me. At the time of surgery, April 2004, at 5’7” tall, I weighed 291 pounds. My weight today is 160 pounds, the goal Dr. Champion set for me. Life is good.
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