EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK:

" This book will help you increase the longevity of your life by attacking the root cause of these devastating illnesses caused or made worse by being obese. When you treat the correct medical problem, losing weight and maintaining weight is easier. More importantly, this book gives you the information you need to encourage your doctor to take a more aggressive approach in your treatment. The only reason people say maintaining their weight is impossible or more difficult than losing weight is because they did not have the underlying cause of their weight gain fixed. This only holds true for those that lose their weight and continue to practice the big three: drinking water, exercising, and eating healthy. In other words, once we discover the root cause for the weight gain, the big three need to be a part of your life if you want to maintain your weight loss. "

" The real success will come when doctors begin to accept responsibility for the reasons why their patients are overweight. When that root problem is diagnosed the treatments for diabetes or hypertension will actually begin to have purpose. We as physicians should strive to cure patients not just satisfied with simply keeping a condition like diabetes “under tight control.” Let us look at an example of a patient with high blood pressure. Is the overweight condition of the patient because of a hormone disorder? If the hormone condition was the focus and the patient was able to better control their use of calories and lose weight would the patient even have developed high blood pressure? Probably NOT! How about a patient with diabetes? If the doctor treated the diabetic condition with the definitive goal of losing weight at the forefront, would it make the diabetes treatment more sensible or more effective? With so many of my patients stopping their high blood pressure or diabetes medicines after losing weight, the answer is a resounding YES! "

" Physicians need to take the time to help their patients get through psychological issues. This step is just as important as figuring out medically why their patient is overweight or obese. The doctor must decide whether they are willing to take the time to treat these psychological issues on their own or refer them to a specialist. If the physician is not willing to take this time or refer them to a specialist, the weight gain is not the patients fault! The providers are responsible for treating all of the health issues related to the obese condition. The health issues include the psychological issues as much as the physiologic issues. "

" You need to beware of eating in response to how food may make you feel. Sweets actually do increase certain hormones in the brain that make us feel less depressed! Sweets can increase the levels of serotonin, the same brain chemical raised when people take Prozac and many other anti-depressants. Research shows that harsh cravings that are difficult to control may be due to a low level of dopamine. Those of us most susceptible to addictions to drugs are the ones measuring low levels of dopamine. Wellbutrin is a medicine that can help to raise the levels of dopamine. The important part to remember is that eating in response to these signals can be an addiction. People throw around the phrase, “I am addicted to eating.” Yes, they are addicted to food in a biological, chemical way that leads a person to the food that fulfills the craving signal coming from the brain. However, this addiction is treatable! "