Resources to get started on the road to weight loss
The No. 1 rule as you consider how to change your habits: Don't lose hope. Remember, even small changes in the way you eat and exercise can reap benefits for your health. So, where do you start? Here are a few Web sites with clear, intelligent, up-to-date information on exercise and weight loss. At IdahoStatesman.com/Health, you can link to each of these sites, find experts in the Treasure Valley and online support groups for Valley residents, plus more information about weight-loss surgery in the Valley.
On the Web
Smallstep.gov: Little ways to help yourself can add up to big changes if you are patient.
Ask the Dietitian: Healthy Body Calculator goes way beyond your typical BMI calculator, which determines how much body fat you have based on weight and height. The BMI method (Body Mass Index) often is criticized because it isn't accurate for athletes. This calculator doesn't solve that dilemma, either, but it takes into account your age, sex, size of your frame, the circumference of your hips and waist and your activity level, among other things, as it determines your ideal body weight, healthy body-weight range and how many calories you should eat in a day. That comes in a box labeled "Your Nutrition Facts." It also gives you exercise ideas.
Medline Plus: The tried-and-true Web site sponsored by the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health offers scores of diet and weight loss articles, from how to stop emotional eating to the merits of various diets. It also offers news, such as an August 2007 article titled, "Few obese adults get treatment plan from docs."
Take the "portion distortion": Interactive quiz by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. They just don't make serving sizes like they used to. Twenty years ago, a cup of coffee was about 8 ounces of liquid with cream and sugar added. Today's cup of coffee typically is 350 calories in 16 ounces of steamed whole milk and mocha syrup.
The New England Journal of Medicine offers a collection of research articles on obesity, for those who want more detail. The collection covers gastric surgery, ghrelin (a hormone that appears to be linked to appetite), physical activity and treatment of obesity.
"We Can": Part of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Web site, this information is intended to help children, but much of it applies to entire families. Make smart food choices and stay active. Discover simple ways you can help your family adopt healthy habits.
National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements: Get fact sheets on hundreds of dietary supplements, vitamins, access to database on research into supplements, how to spot fraud, etc.
Google "obesity" and you'll be surprised what comes up. Stories are arranged neatly into categories at the top of your search results, such as Treatment, Alternative Medicine, Tests/Diagnosis, and more.
In the Treasure Valley
Idaho Diabetes Prevention and Control Program
Humphreys Diabetes Center in Boise and Meridian. Call 331-1155.
American Diabetes Association, call: 342-2774.
American Heart Association, call: 384-5066.
Idaho CareLine, dial 211 for information on health-related resources in Idaho.
Idaho Coalition for Natural Health
Weight control programs such as LA Weight Loss Centers and Jenny Craig Personal Weight Management are in the phone book yellow pages. For one review of such plans, see MayoClinic.org.
Boise Parks and Recreation Department, activity registration. Call 384-4486.
YMCA of Caldwell, call 454-9622.
YMCA of Meridian, call 855-5711.
Curves, 2523 S. 10th Ave., Ste. 103, Caldwell, 453-1920; 1312 S. Edgewater Circle, Nampa, 461-4534. (Also in Ada County.) A nationwide franchise that bills itself as a fitness and weight-loss facility dedicated to providing affordable exercise and nutritional information for women.
Positive Changes Hypnosis Centers, 8030 W. Emerald St., Suite 165, Boise. 376-6900. A nationwide franchise, Positive Changes offers hypnosis for losing weight, quitting smoking, even improving your golf game. "Yes, It Works" is what you’ll hear each time you call the center.
Weight-loss surgery
If you are considering weight loss surgery, many of the Valley’s hospitals, including Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, St. Luke’s Health System and Mercy Medical Center in Nampa, offer free informational seminars, often monthly:
At St. Luke’s, call 381-1200 to register for classes.
At Saint Al’s, call the hospital’s resource line at 367-3454 or send an email to weightlosssurgery@sarmc.org to learn more about surgery.
At Mercy Medical Center, Jim Valentine performs the laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery.
Hospital Web sites have lots of information on weight-loss surgeries.
American Society for Bariatric Surgery is a national organization that sets standards for doctors and hospitals where patients go for weight-loss surgeries. It lists two of what it calls "Centers of Excellence" in the Treasure Valley.
St. Luke's Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Clinic, at St. Luke’s Boise Regional Medical Center. That is where Dr. William Christian Oakley performs mainly the laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass on patients who usually are at least 100 pounds over their ideal weight. During the surgery, doctors separate the upper and lower portions of the stomach and attach a segment of the small intestine to the upper "pouch" with a narrow opening. Patients get full sooner and lose weight. Usually, but not always, the doctor performs surgery through tiny incisions that get patients out of bed and back to work more quickly than with traditional surgery. Oakley's Web site offers lots of information on the pros and cons of weight loss surgeries and even a monthly support group with regular opportunities for patients to exchange clothes as they get smaller. Call: 381-7190.
Dr. Robert L. Korn performs gastric bypass and Lap-Bands in conjunction with Saint Luke's Health System. He has seminars at St. Luke's Boise and St Luke's Meridian.
Dr. Robert Cahn performs surgeries at Saint Al’s. He also has his own Web site, LapBandIdaho.com, for Valley Bariatrics. He performs the LAP-BAND procedure.
Dr. Bryan J. Anderson performs gastric banding weight loss surgery (i.e., Lap-Band surgery) for patients in the greater Boise Idaho area. He works through Saint Al’s, too. His Web site is Anderson Gastric Band Weight Loss Surgery. Call 367-3454.
The Lap-Band surgery is the most commonly performed operation for the treatment of morbid obesity worldwide. Doctors put a soft, adjustable and removable silicon ring around the upper stomach. Doctors can adjust the ring through a port under the skin of the patient’s abdomen. This is the surgery and the doctor patient Cheryl Ginsberg opted to use when she underwent surgery in September 2006. A year later, she was 100 pounds lighter and hoping to lose 100 more. Read her story.
In Canyon County, Mercy Medical Center and Dr. Jim Valentine also provide weight loss surgeries for obese patients. ObesityHelp.com offers detailed information on the number of surgeries he does each year, how long they take and how long patients remain in the hospital afterward.
The American Society of Bariatric Physicians, or ASBP, lists four doctors in the Treasure Valley who help patients lose weight through a combination of drugs diet, exercise, lifestyle changes and prescription medication, over the counter drugs and nutritional supplements.
They are Dr. W Allen, Rader, Boise; Dr. Mary Hafer, Boise, and Dr. Michelle Freshwater, Boise. They all are with The Rader Institute, and their Web site is IdahoWeightLoss.com. Call: 343-3652.
A clinic also is in Fruitland. Freshwater works with Rader, according to the Web site. No information was available on Dr. Mary Hafer.
A bariatrician is a licensed physician with special training in bariatric medicine, the medical treatment of overweight and obesity and its associated conditions. Bariatricians treat patients using diet and nutrition, exercise, lifestyle changes and prescription appetite suppressants and other medications.
Compiled by Colleen LaMay
