Book Description
In Exodus From Obesity, Paula F. Peck provides the information, encouragement and guidelines for maintaining long-term success after weight loss surgery. Ms. Peck interweaves intelligent discussion with humorous stories about herself and individuals that have faced diet after diet and ultimately chose the gastric bypass procedure. This book is a clear, easy-to-read guide for patients, potential patients, loved ones, parents and friends.

Based on scientific research and reflecting Paula F. Peck's many years of personal and professional experience, this clear, authoritative guide provides readers:

- A thorough, step-by-step approach for undergoing gastric bypass surgery.

- Lifestyle changes necessary AFTER surgery for maintaining long-term weight loss.

- Tips for preventing binge eating when hunger returns.

- Skills for dining out at restaurants, salad bars and parties.

- Identification of the triggers that set off out-of-control eating.

- Approaches for overcoming self-defeat.

- Ways to change a distorted self-image.

- Methods for restructuring relationships and dealing with sexuality.

- New attitudes for raising self-esteem and celebrating a new life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (36)

A Must for anyone considering/planning to have a Roux en Y bypass
This book is very thorough.Everything I read reinforced what I been told by my surgeon, other patients, the nutritionist and social worker.I recommend it for anyone who is considering or planning a Roux en Y gastric bypass.Note: this book does not discuss any other procedures, so you wouldn't benefit as much from it if you're planning on a different procedure, however, she does talk about much more than the surgery itself.

Not what I thought
This book is ok if you have very little knowledge about Gastric Bypass.It also has a lot on before the fact.I was looking for something with more on after the surgery and keeping the weight off and dealing with emotional eating.

The book info made it sound like it covered more on this.I would not buy again.

In fact, will probably put up for sale here!

Excellent Book!
I've read several books on the subject of weight loss surgery and this one is by far the most "Honest" accounting! I found it to be very informative and reinforcing. A "Great" book for family members to read as well, since many do not understand the great changes and obstacles we go through! I'd like to read more of her story, more of her struggles further out from her "re-birthday"!

Thought provoking and informative
Halfway through this book I realized there were many points I wanted to highlight for future reference, so I started at the beginning again and ended up highlighting almost everything.This is a well-rounded book on all the aspects of gastric bypass surgery. The author mentions a second book focusing on the aftermath of the surgery, but apparently that book has not come to fruition.Pity.This is one I will keep on the shelf for future reference!Highly recommend.

Excelent Resouce for Weight Loss Surgery
At almost a year out from my Gastric Bypass Surgery, I can attest to how helpful and true this book is.Paula Peck not only talks about the physical experience and process of the surgery, but also addresses the emotional changes which many people experience.The book is mostly geared towards women, as that is her experience and women constitute a greater portion of Gastric Bypass patients.

Peck talks about how scary it can be when you realize that you are hungry again.She talks about Body Dismorphia: how even though the scale says a dramatically lower number, in your head, you still think you weigh what you did when you started.She talks about ways in which she battled this and learned to see her body as it actually is.

Paula Peck explores so many of the issues that I myself experienced that if I could only recommend one book to a friend about to have Gastric Bypass Surgery, this would be that book. ... Read more

Product Description
This book, the result of over 20 years of research, looks at the conditions of obesity, cancer and depression through a new physiological perspective and offers a new approach in preventing and treating these conditions ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Water, water!
Let's see.Our body is 75% water (so is the surface area of the earth).Our brain is 80% water.Need we say anymore?

Obesity Cancer & Depression: Their Common Cause and Natural Cure
This interesting clearly written book gives insights into how the human body actually requires considerable amounts water, salt and exercise, when these are adequately supplied the changes that the practitioner can expect.Helpful asides are given in various places including how to calculate your water requirement using your actual weight, and how to use salt as a sleep inducer.A carefully written work which will be useful to both the professional and layman alike.The clear style almost pedestrian pace will allow all readers to gain valuable insights in how to manage their water and salt intakes to facilitate health improvements.
Having changed nothing in my diet except follow this book's guidelines on adequate water consumption for two months my cholesterol level and weight have significantly changed for the better, the diabetes sugar readings have lowered and the acidic perspiration has gone (we live in a humid rather hot area).
I recommend this book to those discerning people who having tried to follow the present day hype and found their health deteriorated as a result.The healthy water intake requirements of our bodies today are often needlessly ignored to our detriment and this book addresses the imbalance that exists in many peoples busy lives.It was so simple to read, understand and implement but the benefits have been excellent, I recommend this book to all who are concerned about their health and want to do something safe and beneficial that will either impact on problems which may already trouble the person, or prevent deleterious conditions developing in the first place.

a breakthrough book!
dr. b should get a nobel prize for his breakthrough work on the vital importance of at least 8 glasses of water per day plus sea salt to prevent chronic dehydration of our cells and body - a condition all too prevalent and usually undetected by doctors and victims alike - we don't feel thirsty until the last stages of dehydration - read this book! it could extend your life -

Water, water, water
This author has a series of books with the same message: drink water! What I find helpful about his books is that he goes into great detail about the WHYs.[We read in many places that water is important, but without the very specific information he offers, I find it easy to brush aside the 'drink water' message.] He tells us how to determine how much water our own body needs and how to make sure you are getting the right balance of water and salt.

Water and Sea Salt = Wellness
This book is revolutionary. Everyone should have his, and Bob Butt's 2 web sites bookmarked, in case they ever forget about the important of water and sea salt. Most diseases are directly related to either dehydration or mineral deficiency. The water addresses the dehydration, and the unrefined sea salt addresses the deficiencies. The tandom go hand in hand, and you really can't go wrong.

Mixing the sea salt into the water makes a "saline solution" type of water, that I find to be extremely balancing, hydrating, and the minerals in the sea salt structure the water (reducing the surface tension). The water becomes "alive" and ready to nourish your 60 trillion cells.

I can't say enough great things about his work. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent presentation of complex topics
As an internist, I am a little closer to the obesity side of things but I found the entire book informative and very easy to comprehend. The chapters are purposefully short to facilitate the episodic reading that is often the only reading possible in a busy practice. I particularly like Dr. Brownell's public health and environmental approach to the problem of obesity. This textbook is a great way for the uninitiated to "catch up" on the current concepts of obesity and eating disorders. ... Read more

Amazon.com
When an entire society is told that thinner is better and studies everywhere agree diets don't work, it's time to take a look at the assumptions behind the messages. For better or worse, this happens in Paul Campos' (Jurismania) book The Obesity Myth. Packed full of lengthy discussions of popular studies (particularly the Harvard nurses study), dense chapters run through statistics and conclusions at a breathtaking pace. Campos regularly insists on two points: BMI is basically meaningless, and a variety of media-based sources are contributing to an enormous industry that blends oversized portions with trendy, potentially harmful, diets.He grabs attention to the first claim with early assertions that by BMI standards, Brad Pitt is overweight and George Clooney is obese; more detailed discussion covers how insurance companies developed the BMI tables in their earliest forms and the federal government later tinkered with measurements in a way that accounts for much of the sudden "explosion" in obesity (yes, a BMI chart is included at the end of the book). Repeatedly, Campos rails against media stars whose main qualification is their leanness, questions medical conclusions, and demands that we look at weight as a class issue. Also highlighted is the idea of the diet industry being an extremely powerful political force, which may be at the root of the controversy; the hollering about his sources is likely to be louder than the comments about his accuracy in assessing those sources. As with any highly inflammatory topic, a single book presents only a part of the whole picture--but the myth-busting opinions offered here are an important part of the weight-based discussions. --Jill LightnerBook Description
“Campos makes his case against the “fat kills” dogma with unimpeachable evidence. The Obesity Myth should be required reading for every health professional in America. I believe any open-minded person who reads this book will conclude that we’ve been duped by a pack of self-serving lies. And we cannot get at the truth without first recognizing those lies. The Obesity Myth is a great place to start.” —Glenn A. Gaesser, Ph.D., professor and director, Kinesiology Program, University of Virginia

Is your weight hazardous to your health? According to public-health authorities, 65 percent of us are overweight. Every day, we are bombarded with dire warnings about America’s “obesity epidemic.” Close to half of the adult population is dieting, obsessed with achieving an arbitrary “ideal weight.” Yet studies show that a moderately active larger person is likely to be far healthier (and to live longer) than someone who is thin but sedentary. And contrary to what the fifty-billion-dollar-per-year weight-loss industry would have us believe medical science has not yet come up with a way to make people thin.

After years spent scrutinizing medical studies and interviewing leading doctors, scientists, eating- disorder specialists, and psychiatrists, Professor Paul Campos is here to lead the backlash against weight hysteria—and to show that we can safeguard our health without obsessing about the numbers on the scale. But The Obesity Myth is not just a compelling argument, grounded in the latest scientific research; it’s also a provocative, wry exposé of the culture that feeds on our self-defeating war on fat. Campos will show:

* How the nation’s most prestigious and trusted media sources consistently misinform the public about obesity
* What the movie industry’s love affair with the “fat suit” tells us about the relationship between racial- and body-based prejudice in America
* How the skinny elite—with their “supersized” lifestyles and gas-guzzling SUVs—project their anxieties about overconsumption on the poorer and heavier underclass
* How weight-loss mania fueled the impeachment of Bill Clinton

In this paradigm-busting read, Professor Campos challenges the conventional wisdom regarding the medical, political, and cultural meaning of weight and brings a rational and compelling new voice to America’s increasingly irrational weight debate.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (52)

the diet industry's reality check
I had first heard of this book a few years back,
but never got around to reading it until last
night.This book completely changed my view
of my body, the diet industry, and America in
general.

The best parts of the book talk about how the diet
industry plays on people's insecurities, in order
to make money.Does the pharmaceutical companies
really care about the average American? No.

Unlike most diet commercials and products, Campos
uses hard-hitting facts to hammer home his main
point: that by yo-yo dieting, Americans are playing
a dangerous game with their bodies.

Kudos to Campos for destroying the stereotypical
notion that fat people cannot be fit.The correlation
between Bill Clinton, weight, and his impeachment
is also very, very interesting.

This book is recommended for anyone, fat or thin, who
is ready to make peace with their bodies and tired
of buying the hype that fuels the diet industry.

Tells it Like it Is
If you want to see how the government and doctors and others are trying to convince us how the majority of us are killing ourselves with fat, read this book.

Fat fit people are healthier than skinny unfit people.

Read the book and learn more.

They have been lying to us again.
This is a very interesting book. It is not a book that will tell you how to become a normal eater, although it is obvious that he not only knows about normal eating trends, but approves of them. The book is mainly about how the diet industry has been lying to us about the obesity research out there, and how 95% or more of all diets result in people not just gaining it all back, mostly very quickly, but gaining back more than they lost in the first place. He also says that the height/weight charts are not reasonable and that the whole BMI thing is a fraud.

His main focus is that a person who is overweight, or even obese, is not necessarily unhealthy. If they are active physically, they can be more healthy than someone who is very thin and sedentary. He also thinks that the point where the height/weight charts say a person is overweight, and the second place where they are supposed to be obese, are set way too low.

And then he had to admit he had been losing weight the whole time he was writing, and that it ended up being a substantial amount of weight. He knows that part of it was that he began running in races, so he was training for competition for the first time in his life. I think he also began normal eating techniques, and what he calls healthy eating. Not a weight loss diet, but a diet for health that most people would not lose weight on.

Most of the normal eating books go into some of the material in this book in an attempt to explain why we need to give diets up, but they don't have the room for it in this detail. He after all, used 250 pages to tell his story.

Eye Opening
This book made me think in a whole new way about todays culture. I didn't agree with every thing in it but it made me open my eyes to so much that I think it is a must read for anyone no matter what their size.

The problem with definitions...
This is an excellent book. Paul's main point is that the basis for judging 'Obesity' is highly questionable.

True obesity is a very serious problem and there are a lot of men and women out there who are genuinely obese. I actually know a woman who weighs 200 pounds more than I do as a 6'2" male, so it is a real health concern for people who are ACTUALLY in that category.

However, the problem with the figures we are being presented with is that many of the people who are technically 'obese' do not look remotely obese to the person in the street. Paul's view, that this much-publicized level of obesity is greatly exaggerated, is a very important perspective.

Yes, genuine obesity leads to numerous health problems, including severe joint damage to the knees and hips above all, but how many of the people who are technically 'obese' are truly in this risk range?

As he suggests, there are various vested interest groups who by definition have something to gain by setting suppressive standards for weight attainment and maintenance. The fashion industry is the one of the biggest culprits, by establishing the 'norm' of the 105 lb woman. Woman? Try bio-mechanical coat hanger.

I went ballistic a while ago when an Amazon editorial reviewer described goddess Sarah Brightman as being 'pudgy' on her Eden DVD (check out my review). When a divine creature like Sarah can be seen as 'pudgy' instead of 'womanly', we have to fight back.

Moderation in all things is one of the keys to good health across the board. Arming yourself with knowledge is another. Regarding weight issues, this book is a darn good place to start.
... Read more

Book Description
Features fun, kid-friendly activities to get them moving


A positive and safe plan for lifetime weight management

Concerned about your child's weight? This practical guide provides effective strategies for improving nutrition, increasing physical activity, and dealing with weight issues at home and in the classroom. You'll see how to change your family's lifestyle, help your child make healthier choices (and stick to them!), and foster a lifetime commitment to health and fitness.

Discover how to
* Introduce good eating habits
* Keep your family fit and active
* Prepare healthier meals
* Maintain your child's weight loss
* Find outside professional support
* Fix over 30 tasty recipes ... Read more

Book Description
It seems almost daily we read newspaper articles and watch news reports exposing the growing epidemic of obesity in America. Our government tells us we are experiencing a major health crisis, with sixty percent of Americans classified as overweight, and one in four as obese. But how valid are these claims? In Fat Politics, J. Eric Oliver shows how a handful of doctors, government bureaucrats, and health researchers, with financial backing from the drug and weight-loss industries, have campaigned to create standards that mislead the public. They mislabel more than sixty million Americans as "overweight," inflate the health risks of being fat, and promote the idea that obesity is a killer disease. In reviewing the scientific evidence, Oliver shows there is little proof that obesity causes so much disease and death or that losing weight is what makes people healthier. Our concern with obesity, he writes, is fueled more by social prejudice, bureaucratic politics, and industry profit than by scientific fact. Misinformation pushes millions of Americans towards dangerous surgeries, crash diets, and harmful diet drugs, while we ignore other, more real health problems. Oliver goes on to examine why it is that Americans despise fatness and explores why, despite this revulsion, we continue to gain weight. Fat Politics will topple your most basic assumptions about obesity and health. It is essential reading for anyone with a stake in the nation's--or their own--good health. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Fascinating research, weak conclusion
Fat Politics is a gripping read because it highlights how certain oft-repeated mantras about weight can start to achieve the status of "truth" even though there is little empirical backing for these claims.Indeed, what is most disturbing, as Oliver outlines, is how the media replays and fails to really investigate claims that quickly associate weight with ill-health.Oliver also deftly shows how the ideas of what is classified as "overweight" and "obese" are constructed and hence permits us to get away from a kind of "scientism" where we believe anything passed off as fact is indeed so. My only criticism is the book seems to just end and not really conclude or suggest new paths of inquiry.While it certainly seems to be the case that politics, and not careful research, motivates our hysteria about weight, what is the connection between the research on health and weight?He thinks snacking mindless calories is some kind of answer (he uses his cookie-dough in the fridge as an example) and this "conclusion" is weak in comparison with the first part of the book which is compelling and well-researched.In one is interested in more elaborate discussion of weight and science surrounding weight, look at the Obsesity Epidemic which is a drier and less fun read but provides more quality research around just how little we really do know about the connection between weight and health.

Mostly right but
In the opening chapter of this book Oliver shows just how unclear and arbitrary are notions of what it is to be 'fat' or 'overweight'. This will be the first step in making the argument that the present hysteria over the 'overweight epidemic 'in the United States is just that 'hysteria'. He will go on in the book to confute the notion that overweight is the main factor in most major illnesses. He will make a strong argument that vested economic interests, including drug and insurance companies have promoted the 'America is Fat' campaign.
He too will make the case that a more critical health factor than one's weight is one's physical fitness, dependent in good part on the way one exercises.
All of this is in one sense very convincing. And yet there are clear signs and statistical evidence indicating that Americans have in the past ten years alone become considerably heavier. Oliver acknowledges that being very overweight does contribute to arthritis , aching joints, and makes physical activity more difficult. Moreover feeling overweight and feeling pain because of it connect very probably with an increased level of individual depression .
I am not a specialist in any of these areas, but my overall feeling is that while there may be much exaggeration, panicking, idiotic worshipping of thinness, futile and even damaging dieting, there is also a lot of illness and sorrow which comes from being overweight and worrying so much about it.
Oliver is probably right that this is not as massive a problem as it is being made out to be. But I do not think he is right to by and large deny its existence.

Fat Politics
I found this book to be very informative and at last see that someone beside me feels that fat is being blamed on everything. Being a middle aged woman, though, I can attest to what the extra pounds have done to my knees, hips and ankles. I have spent my entire life, though, trying to not make myself a victim, but with discrimination being what it is, rude people being who they are, and being the butt of stares and comments, even though I have spent my entire life fighting fat, it is hard not to be the victim, here.I hope that a few doctors and a lot of men read this book. I hate being fat and fear dying early, but this book made me start to reason out that maybe I was not meant to be a thin person.I have had an echo gram, exercise stress test, and I pay regular visits to my Dr.The tests show I am in the lower third of the population to die of heart related illness.I try and take better care of my health, knowing that I am fat, and I think I am more conscientous than many thin people.

Good book, that I didn't fully agree with
At least this book mentions that osteoarthritis is highly correlated with body weight: the heavier you are, the more chance that your knees or hips will give out, especially if you are a woman (sorry, but it is true). I think that the author is right that to some extent, science has been manipulated by the diet industry and by scare tactics (let's face it, groups get heard by trying to scare us). I would not want to read this and then give myself the "all clear" as an overweight person, because I know about the impact (literally) of even 10 pounds of extra weight on the knees and hips. But this book is a good addition to the overall literature on dieting and weight.

It's not the fat, it's the politics
This is a book that should be read by everyone with a "weight problem." Oliver does a terrific job of showing how the so-called obesity epidemic has little to do with genuine health concerns. Instead, not surprisingly, it's all about money: drug manufacturers who finance "obesity institutes" that hype the dangers of overweight to sell diet drugs; diet and exercise companies with a vested interest in convincing people that their excess pounds are hazardous to their health; bariatric surgeons who want your insurance money; researchers who find that focusing on the dangers of obesity greatly improves their chances of getting grant money and publishing their findings.

Oliver isn't saying that it's OK to weigh 400 lbs; instead, he points out that (except in the most extreme cases) the dangers of overweight and the benefits of losing weight are greatly exaggerated -- in fact, trying to lose weight can be more harmful to one's health than staying fat, and very thin people are often far less healthy than fat people. Numerous studies (which he cites in detail) have disproved the conventional wisdom, but these are routinely ignored or misinterpreted. He also points out that the main reason that the incidence of obesity has increased in America is not that Americans have gained a lot of weight, but rather that the threshold for classifying someone as "obese" has been lowered (duh!).

Oliver's most noteworthy point, I think, is this: excess weight is not the problem, it's a symptom. The real culprits in "weight-linked" diseases aren't the pounds themselves, but the behaviors and conditions associated with them. Fat people who exercise are healthier than thin people who don't; following a healthy diet is beneficial even if it doesn't lead to weight loss; and many conditions (such as insulin resistance) are likelier to be the cause of excess weight, rather than the other way around.

From my own experience, I can confirm Oliver's contention that doctors' obsession with weight loss as a cure-all often diverts them from dealing with the real problem.High blood pressure runs in my family, and afflicts both fat and thin people; but the same doctors who prescribed medication for my thin relatives told me that ALL I had to do was lose weight and my blood pressure would go down. After 30 years (!), during which my weight was all over the map while my blood pressure steadily climbed, I finally found a doctor who listened to reason, and I've kept my blood pressure under control ever since with medication. (Footnote: A few years later, I lost 40 lbs -- and my blood pressure didn't budge.)

Being a political scientist and a statistician, Oliver also offers his conclusions about the social implications of fat, which I found interesting but not always convincing (his argument for why thinness is valued in white women seemed rather circular to me). The chief value of the book, I think, is that he's done an excellent job of amassing the medical and statistical data, and showing that many of our assumptions about obesity are based on myth rather than fact. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (2)

almost all we need
As a pediatrician involved with the problem of obesity (and finishing my specialization on the issue), I found that this book came as a possible solution to my concerns. It adresses every necessary steps in managing obese patients in a concise form and approaches important questions as body image, traps to avoid, long-term maintenance of weight (the most important point of treatment, emphasized by the authors), etc. All without drugs, which is a differential in this kind of treatment. And thoug the book doesn't mention treatment in pediatric patients, many of their lessons would apply for this age group (or, at least, the adolescents). There's only one weak point: in the beginning of the book, patients are instructed to count calories meticulously (they are even compelled to buy a kitchen scale). Afterwards, they are supposed to "forget the obsession" with the same calories! (almost like teaching a child to ride a bike and then taking it away for her for good). Even so, I think that it's a worthy piece.

A practical book for CBT for obesity problem.
This book is excellent in presenting the CBT program for obesity problem in step-by-step manual style.Such materials are practical and useful for individual or group work. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Parents Guide
This is a great book for parents. Clinicians will also find it useful. It does not lend itself as well as I had hoped to use in a monitored pediatric program. By spanning the entire course of childhood and adolescence, it contains "big picture" which is useful to parents but would need to be supplemented to concentration on problems at any given age.

Good Information
There's a lot of good information here.As a teacher of twenty-five years, and as a parent, I've dealt with more than my share of overweight kids, and read everything that comes along on the subject.And although this book is one of the better ones out there, I've been recommending the CD talk "The Fat Kid's Diet: Stop Childhood Obesity In Your Home," available here at Amazon, to the parents who come to me with their concerns.It's brief, sensible, and right to the point. ... Read more

Product Description
A Complete Guide to Obesity Surgery is a well-organized, comprehensive tool kit addressing the many issues that surround the surgical treatment of obesity. Readers are provided with an unprecedented accurate step-by-step guide to obesity surgery with accompanying professional illustrations and photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Required reading
This was required reading by my surgeon.After reading it, I can understand why.A very well written, thorough analysis of a complex issue.However, an easy read.

Really helpful book
This book was very helpful and was in easy-to-understand text.Sometimes health books can get too technical but this was in every day words.The only problem I had with it was it was published in 2001, so it is a little outdated.

Great Book
This is a great book for information about weight loss surgery. I found it useful and it answers alot of questions you may have. It discusses all of the surgery options that are out there. It is a good source to have in your weight loss surgery library.

Easy Read
this book has all the information that you would need before you consider obesity surgery, instead of looking up all the different things on the web just get this book. Easy to read and very informative.

The best one
I've been doing extensive research on this surgery and have read most of the books out there.This is by far the best one, not only because of the information, but because of the excellent format.It is easy to find exactly what you're looking for.It contains diagrams and charts.It gives the reader a comprehensive look at the process and doubles as a handbook for patients as they have their surgeries and cope with post surgical issues.In other books, the reader has to wade through a lot of narrative or personal experience material; this one gives you the straight stuff.I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

A Very Valuable Book About Obesity and Its Treatment
This book is a necessary resource for anyone who wishes the latest and most reliable information about obesity and weight loss approaches.Both editors are internationally acclaimed researchers and clinicians who combine scientific expertise and clinical experience.They have assembled a stellar cast of contributors who are very prominent and knowledgeable in their particular fields.The scope of coverage is exhaustive; in this one volume the reader can access up-to-date information on all aspects of obesity and its treatment, at levels ranging from the gene to the globe.At the same time the book is anything but exhausting, with skillfully edited chapters that are tight and very readable.

After more than 20 years of clinical work and research in weight loss and obesity, I am increasingly humbled by how much we don't know.I am also increasingly overwhelmed by the explosion of new information.This book is a comprehensive collection of summaries of what we now know in all of the many different fields of research and practice that address weight and weight loss.Anyone with an interest in obesity and weight loss, whether professional, student, or curious and serious layperson, will find this volume to be a real gem.

Patrick M. O'Neil, Ph.D.
Director, Weight Management Center
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Medical University of South Carolina ... Read more

Book Description
A new global epidemic is unfolding.

In only thirty years, rates of obesity around the world have skyrocketed.We read about it in the headlines and witness it in our neighborhoods.Overweight children are numerous and conspicuous.The world—and the U.S. in particular—is in crisis.Most scientists are convinced that this dangerous trend has been propelled by a lethal combination of modern living and human genetic vulnerability.

Children are proving to be the most vulnerable class of victims.

Once dismissed by the medical profession as a purely cosmetic problem, obesity represents an ominous health threat for our children.Obesity is now second only to smoking as a wholly preventable cause of death.Without early intervention, overweight children often become overweight adults—and we know that at any age, obesity can lead to heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and depression, conditions that account for more than 300,000 deaths each year.In fact, today's kids may be the first generation of children to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

Knowledge is power—and it's time to fight back.

About 20% of all children are considered to be overweight—worldwide there are 22 million kids under five years old who are considered to be "fat." Eating too much unhealthy food coupled with getting too little physical activity accounts for a lot of what's making our children heavier.But that's not the whole story.New research is revealing startling evidence that isolates a number of factors that are involved in this dramatic increase in obesity rates.

Science you can trust—advice you can use.

It's time for all parents, teachers, public health officials, physicians, and community leaders to join forces and arm themselves with the best, most up-to-date information available to win the war against childhood obesity.FED UP! is just what the doctor ordered.Based in part on the prestigious Institute of Medicine's ground-breaking report on childhood obesity, this new book from family practice physician and former Washington Post journalist Susan Okie provides in-depth background on the issue.An artful combination of compelling case studies and clearly articulated science powerfully illustrates how serious and widespread the problem is.Only by understanding the factors that contribute to childhood obesity, can we fully appreciate the consequences of this epidemic—and take necessary steps toward positive change.Okie's honest, authoritative, science-based advice constitutes our best weapon in this critical battle for the health and well-being of our children. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Very valid statements
I find that the author made very valid statements on the state of our society regarding obesity. The very wordy book had a tendency to seem redundant and offered "what is" but not necessarily "what should be done." I did enjoy the book, found it very informative, and concur with the contents.

Should be required reading for educators
This is a well-written and thoroughly researched book on the epidemic of childhood obesity. The author spends a lot of time on solutions---incorporating exercise in the schools and at home, changing diets and she also discusses (though in less depth) more radical solutions such as surgery and in-patient treatment.

At the end, I had little hope that anything would change in America. Too many studies show great reluctance on the part of parents and schools to make any real, lasting changes.

Extensive look at childhood obesity.
Dr. Susan Okie has done exhaustive research into one of the most pressing medical issues of today - childhood obesity. The 322 page hardcover book explores the issues surrounding this problem that continues to grow.

Obesity not only effects a child's self-esteem but can lead to medical problems; high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and other conditions.

In her book, Okie examines the causes and cures for obesity. Citing both nature and nurture, Okie gives true life examples of what people are doing to combat the problem. With over 22 million children considered to be "fat" in today's society, Okie looks at ways to lower the obesity rate.

This book is a very valuable read for parents, health workers and others to recognize how rampant the problem is and what to do about it. Written in a friendly yet authoritative format Okie, covers a lot of material.

Parents will find it helpful to learn what others have done to help their overweight child become healthier or to help prevent their child from becoming overweight. Health workers will appreciate the vast research Okie has done.

Okie does skip around a little in the book which does interrupt the flow of the book ie in one paragraph she may jump from one idea to the next, but overall the book flows pretty well. She covers alot of ground!

A very good look at childhood obesity one of our nation's most serious problems! ... Read more

Book Description
Childhood obesity has reached crisis proportions. Over the past two decades, the number of overweight adolescents has tripled. This skyrocketing youth obesity figure is associated with increases in high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes, as well as higher obesity figures in the adult population. With the rate of obesity among children and teens skyrocketing, the health of an entire generation is at risk.

The first step in solving this health crisis is understanding it. In Underage & Overweight: America's Childhood Obesity Crisis—What Every Family Needs to Know, the first shattering look at this looming disaster, childhood obesity expert Frances Berg clearly lays out the causes of the current crisis. Underage & Overweight clearly lays out the causes of childhood obesity, its consequences, and its cures. It examines the issue from all sides—the classroom, the playground, the home entertainment center, the fast food counter, and the family dining table. It gives families, educators, health care workers, and policy makers the information they need to lead America's children to healthier and happier lives.

Underage & Overweight doesn't just explore the problem. It gives realistic guidance for conquering the problem of childhood obesity. Rather than prescribing aerobics and limiting portions, it offers a seven-point plan for raising healthy children that focuses on changing the way families think about food and physical activity. The tips it gives for guiding children to healthier lives are vital reading not only for parents and other caretakers, but also for teachers, school administrators, doctors, nurses, and health care workers—indeed, anyone concerned about our children and their future.

This heartfelt call for public awareness, understanding, and action is destined to become a landmark work in our country's war against childhood obesity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

We can help our kids.Jill Fleming, RD of Thin Choices
This book addresses the issue of our overly-busy lives.Our children are as stressed and over-booked as we are.Their eating choices and patterns coupled with their lifestyle choices are the reason for obesity and eating disorders in children.I love that this book teaches us how to normalize eating and activity choices.Our children are not in touch with their internal hunger & satiety signals because of the overly processed foods we are letting them use to fuel their bodies.We parents have become too busy to schedule family dinners and bike rides with our kids.We are tossing food over the back seat to our kids as we are driving them to their next scheduled event.We have become afraid of unsafe communities and therefore are keeping our kids inside more often, where they are sitting in front of screens.The message in this book is that we need to stop placing all of the blame on the school lunches or fast food marketing and take control of the lifestyle choices we are helping our children make.We need to help our kids get back to normalized eating and playing just because it feels good.

Jill Fleming, MS, RD
Professional Speaker & Author of Thin People Don't Clean Their Plates: Simple Lifestyle Choices for Permanent Weight Loss (The Thin People Series)

Observations on self
He learnt from experimenting on his own life that moderation is the key to a balanced diet. No given diet is absolutely harmful but diets with very high carbohydrate and fat content should be restricted to minimum. In the end the total amount of calories taken in should be carefully watched. If a high calorie meal is consumed then one should compensatorily restrict calories at other meals. In the end to protect future generations there needs to be some control both at the consumer level as well as availability.

What Works and What Dosen't

I found 'Underage and Overweight' to be an excellent, relevant resource in the very critical issue of weight and children in our society. Of special note is the 'what works; what doesn't' section. Many of our students are still adolescents and have for most of their lives suffered from weight issues whether they are 'overweight' or not. Their well-meaning parents have often been part of the problem, trying to protect their child from becoming 'overweight,' which is so apparent in the scantily clad tropics of the Hawaiian Islands. Having a resource that gives such a broad overview of the issues is invaluable.
Anne Caprio Shovic, Ph.D., R.D., Associate Professor, Dietetics Program Director, Human Nutrition, University of Hawaii at Manoa
... Read more

Book Description
The Obesity Epidemic adds a much-needed voice of skepticism to the increasingly alarmist debate about weight and health. Gard and Wright show that "obesity" is above all a deeply problematic cultural and political concept, making clear that the social meaning of fat is determined largely by moral and ideological agendas -- agendas that are all the more powerful because they cloak themselves in the mantle of objective science and public health. Indeed, this book demonstrates how and why concepts such as "science" and "health" are themselves far more problematic than those who invoke them like to admit. THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC is a superb contribution to the sociology of knowledge, and an essential text for anyone who wants to understand the current moral panic over fat. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great starting point for researching weight hysteria, little on physiology
The book is a fairly dense read wherein the authors endlessly cite research on weight and activity-levels.I think one of the best points they make is how we really cannot conclude, from the evidence they cite, that our bodies are machines where an alegebra of energy-in/energy-out explains our weight.Indeed, the diversity of individual reactions to exercise and food makes it difficult to say exactly what "program" should be advocated.They also draw interesting parallels between moralizing over weight and simply citing statistics that support this value judgment that fat is bad. However, it is true that one wishes for more explanation of how we understand, if not yet fully, human physiology, digestion, etc. which would, to laypeople like myself, seem critical to understanding how weight and health are interlinked.

Healthy skepticism perhaps overdone
The whole effort to counter the hysteria over overweight makes a certain sense. The revealing of how problematic categories for defining 'overweight' are is also important.
I am not sure however that their discounting ofscientific approaches to weight- loss is correct.
Nor am I sure that their placing a great part of the burden on socio-economic factors is the correct direction for the society to take. And this when there is obviously a real difference between the thinner, wealthier population and the heavier, poorer population.
But is there any doubt whatsoever tht being overweight is a major factor in the epidemic of Type 2 Diabetes which the world, and not only the Western world is experiencing.
Is there too any doubt that being significantly overweight is a major risk factor in heart disease and stroke?
Is there any question that arthritic and joint illnesses are aggravated by overweight?
It is one thing to point to the hysteria and exaggerations, and another to go all the way to the other side and poo- poo the public health danger, and individual danger of being overweight.

Questionable Logic
"The Obesity Epidemic, Science, Morality and Ideology"is not light reading. The authors, university physical educators in Australia, have packed an enormous amount of research and thought into this volume. Their premises are:
1. The obesity epidemic has been hyped and blown out of proportion,
2. Scientific uncertainties have been papered over with unsupported assumptions.
3. The rush to `fix' the epidemic is likely to lead to policies which are unwise, unnecessary, wasteful and possibly counter-productive.

The authors state, "In short, the first danger that this book addresses is that talk of an `obesity epidemic' has the potential to do more harm than good." The second danger they address is that the public, journalists, scientists and other authors offer misguided explanations for the obesity epidemic. Their final and key point is that,"a scientific approach to the human body has not led, and is unlikely to lead, to more satisfactory ways of thinking about overweight and obesity." They give three reasons for this conclusion. First, "the science of overweight, obesity, health and the mediating role of exercise and diet are severely mired in controversy and contradiction...Second, it seems optimistic to suggest that the populace is on the verge of dispensing with their superstitions, fears and prejudices about body weight in favor of a more `mechanistic' or `scientific' way of thinking...Third, it is not at all clear how a more `mechanistic' or `scientific' view of weight and obesity would be a good thing."The following, dense nearly two hundred pages are written in support of their theses.

It isn't hard to find researchers who offer global prescriptions to control body weight; it isn't hard to find press accounts which hype this or that discovery or new information and it isn't hard to find dubious or misguided policy prescriptions. But the authors' real target is science itself. They feel that overweight and obesity just can't be viewed as a science at all and that biology, physics, have not been helpful and will not be helpful in the future. A big part of their gripe is the energy in/energy out formula just doesn't seem to work consistently in obesity studies.

In fact, a number of the authors' insights and observations should cause some serious thinking. But it is curious to note that, although the authors are university professors and although they must cite close to a thousand studies, there is not, as I can read it, one reference to the discovery of leptin, much less the influences of the host of neuropeptides, hormones and other neuroendocrine effects of adipose tissue. One must ask, "In all this research, did they never come across the information about grehlin, PYY 3-36, and other such influencers? If they did come across them, why not reference all that is going on? Where is any analysis, or even mention, of the effects of bariatric surgery on the understanding of the disease process we call obesity?

The authors argue that because science has not solved the complexities of body weight regulation today it never will. And furthermore, that even if it could, people's thinking about body weight would never change. Surely, this is too rigid thinking. It is like saying that because physics has not come up with a grand unifying theory today, all physics research is useless and it won't make any progress in the future. Or that because we can't cure Parksinson's disease now, we never will. This is unacceptable on its face. Also untrue is that people's perceptions and actions do not change. In the days before Prozac, depression was poorly understood and treated; after Prozac the public, health care professionals and others came to see that at least some depression was a neurochemical imbalance. The sudden swings in the public's eating habits, such as the low-carb phenomenon, is further testament to the power of the public to seek outand employ hopeful approaches to weight control.

If science cannot get us where we want to go, what can we do? The authors have two, very brief suggestions. First, we could just `get over' it (their words). Simply accept overweight and obesity and move on to something else. Second, and more interesting is their suggestion that what is needed is a "thorough engagement with issues such as economic disadvantage, the workings of capitalism, increasingly deregulated labour markets and the imperative for companies, particularly, but not only, those that sell food to be profitable." As they so well acknowledge, "This would mean that the fields of science, medicine and health developing and articulating positions that are overtly moral and ideological, a project which would mean changing the very nature of science itself."

These conclusions comprise the last paragraph of the book. It might have behooved the authors to spend a little more time discussing how capitalism causes obesity or the effects of labor market regulation but it seems like these were mere afterthoughts. Having led the reader to conclude that science is a dead end, the authors have no where to go. Other of us might be much more sanguine about the prospects that the science of obesity is developing at a rapid pace and if there is a lot of `noise' in the system because of different studies and interpretations, this is a good thing. A robust scientific enterprise is the only alternative which can give the public and policy makers accurate information to address the significant challenge which is obesity. Morgan Downey, Executive Director, American Obesity Association

The politics of fat

A sceptical look, by two Australians, at what we know and
(more especially) at what we don't know, about obesity.The authors believe "It ain't what folks don't know is the problem so much as what they think they know that ain't so." The central message could be phrased as that fatness doesn't matter as much as they try to make you think, but that would be oversimplifying it. There's nothing simple about this book.I started it thinking I knew a lot more about obesity than when I finished it.
The authors write elegantly with sharp wit, but even so it is rather heavy going because of the density of information and closely reasoned argument.Although it is an important book it it difficult to know who to recommend it too, maybe anybody in the health or education field who enjoys good writing and doesn't mind having their assumptions shaken..It's not a self-help book for dieters.
The Australian perspective is interesting. Americans are still reeling from finding they are the world's fattest men (apart from some Pacific islanders) and the British are upset from finding that they are the least athletic white nation, with curling as their only Olympic gold. The skinny athletic Australians have managed to convince themselves that they are slothful overeaters
... Read more

Book Description
Body Image, Eating Disorders, and Obesity in Youth: Assessment,Prevention, and Treatment examines the relationship between body imagedisturbances and eating disorders in our most vulnerable population:children and adolescents. Volume editors J. Kevin Thompson and LindaSmolak present a dynamic approach that combines current research,assessment techniques, and suggestions for treatment and prevention.Contributing authors offer techniques for treating obesity and eatingdisorders in children, point to possible sources of these disorders, mapout the subtleties of working with youth of diverse ethnicities, andelucidate the connections between sexual abuse and body image. This volume delivers valuable direction for researchers in the field as well as solidguidance for practitioners and clinicians working with young clientssuffering from these disorders and should be considered requisite reading. ... Read more

Amazon.com
5-HTP is a naturally derived amino acid that has been shown in comprehensive studies to be safer than prescription drugs for the treatment of insomnia and depression, and can also be used for treating obesity, migraine headaches, fibromyalgia, and premenstrual syndrome. It may prove to be more popular than St. John's wort for the treatment of depression and other serotonin-related conditions, as it's been shown to produce results in as little as two weeks, while the herb may take a month or longer.

Author Michael Murray, N.D., a leading naturopath and coauthor of The Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, delves very deeply to explain the hows and whys of depression at the neurotransmitter level, and the illustrations of presynaptic membranes may be a bit much for the lay reader. There are also several sections with intimidating titles along the lines of "Enhancing 5-HTP with Catecholamine Precursors." But the book's comprehensiveness makes up for its occasional denseness. Murray includes enlightening sections on nutrition for peak serotonin synthesis, other complementary herbal supplements, and many online and physical sources for obtaining 5-HTP. --Erica JorgensenBook Description
The most authoritative and comprehensive guide to realizing the amazing health benefits of 5-HTP

Written by one of America's leading naturopathic doctors, 5-HTP explains how this natural amino acid can safely and effectively regulate low serotonin levels, which have been linked to depression, obesity, insomnia, migraines, and anxiety.

5-HTP is also a powerful antioxidant that can protect the body from free-radical damage, reducing the risk of serious illnesses such as cancer. 5-HTP has already helped thousands, and Dr. Murray, citing extensive scientific studies and case histories, shows how this groundbreaking supplement can help you. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

Interesting
I read this book after taking 5-HTP supplements for mood and seeing dramatic changes for the better in both my mood and eating habits.

This is a great book for really understanding how 5-HTP works and how to use it most effectively.

Also recommended: "The Mood Cure" by Julia Ross
The Mood Cure: The 4-Step Program to Rebalance Your Emotional Chemistry and Rediscover Your Natural Sense of Well-Being

Not all together accurate
I think this book offers some good information and food for thought.I do think it should be read in combination with other books on the same subject and EVERYONE should speak with their doctors before trying 5-HTP.Some of the information was inaccurate. For example, the vesicles are located in the presynaptic nerve (axon) terminal NOT the dendrites.If his basic physiology lesson is incorrect you should hesitate to believe everything else as gospel.Worth the read though.

AMAZING BOOK
This book is so informative. Many people are on prozac and could do this without all the side effects. It truly works!! It is a secret because it is inexpensive and not able to be patented.

MEDECINE IS FINALLY GETTING INTELLIGENT
A truly enlightening approach to human well being based on considering the true complexity of the human organism, explaining scientific issues to the level of the non specialist. THe intelligent way to deal with health problems, not just take the newest pill the Chemical companies just launched!An absolute must!

A must read
This is a very thorough and informative book on 5HTP.There's alot of info I wasn't aware of and because of it, I've begun to lose weight by following the advice in it.I'm surprised it is not touted as THE way to lose weight to give the bogus weight loss "systems" a run for their money.I like the fact that it lists studies, statistics, it's multiple usesand how it works.I didn't know it double dutied as a safe sleeping aid, for example and now use it as well for that purpose.It's too bad it gets swept under the rug for those that want to use a supplement as safe as 5HTP. ... Read more

Book Description

"Makes a distinct contribution to the field with the timeliness of the subject matter, the severity and demands of the issue addressed, and the need for more resources addressing this subject."
Stephanie Slowik, School Counselor, West Lake Elementary School, Apex, NC

"Demonstrates the challenges that principals face today."
James Gostomski, Physical Education Teacher, Verde Elementary School, Boca Raton, FL

Create and implement school policies that support wellness and fitness for our childrens health and success!

This clear, authoritative overview by an educator and a physician helps principals navigate their way through the many contradictory recommendations confronting them. The authors provide a targeted discussion of the "do's," "don'ts," and "can'ts" that school leaders need to know when creating and implementing new school policies for wellness, nutrition, fitness, and health. Student surveys and annotated guides to the best research accompany core chapters on:

• Dealing with childhood obesity in schools and society
• Facilitating the principal's role as an agent of change
• Understanding the barriers that interfere with change
• Developing school action plans for wellness, fitness, and stress reduction

Principals will find Overcoming Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence a timely resource for understanding and evaluating the challenges inherent in dealing with this growing health issue in schools and society.

Customer Reviews (2)

Written by a Committee
This is the report of a government appointed committee. The honest truth is that there's no way to prevent childhood obesity and it's none of the government's business anyway, but that's not what government committees are paid to say.
It is fairly obvious that they were further restricted because there some other things they were not supposed to say.One obvious factor is the change in the ethnic makeup of the United States. The magnitude of this factor can be assessed from the tables and graphs. They point out that childhood obesity is largely associated these days in the United States with poverty. They then provide a table showing that over 35 billion dollars a year are spent by the Federal Government giving food to the poor.
There are some suggestions they were not allowed to make, such as the use of medications, although enormous numbers of kids are on Ritalin type drugs, which keep them short and skinny as well as better behaved.
The question of height is shortchanged. Changes in stature of the average American over years are simply not mentioned.For many years Americans grew taller and taller and no action was called for to thwart the tallness epidemic. We do not know why the same food intake and energy output that makes one child grow vertically makes another grow horizontally.
The decline in smoking over the years is not considered as a causative factor. Birth weight issues are barely mentioned.(They were not supposed to recommend people smoking or having low birth weight babies).
They pay lip-service to evidence-based medicine (a fashionable mantra) but evidence based medicine demands that we consider the adverse effects of any measure.Exercise is regarded as an unalloyed benefit, with no mention that any child may find it uncomfortable, anxiety-producing or embarrassing. They recommend weighing children in school. The experimental studies they mention all show that school physical educations has no effect on childhood obesity but they support increasing it.
Perhaps it is fortunate that the weight-reducing measures proposed are likely to be ineffective. If they really worked they would, presumably, be equally applied to all children and would make some of the thinner ones undesirably thin.
Some of the sentences convey useful information such as "Everyone needs to eat food and consume beverages for daily sustenance." (bet you didn't know that until they told you). There's a very helpful glossary containing definitions of such esoteric words as "disease" "health" "risk" and"prevention"that you might not know the meaning of. The authors themselves are unfamiliar with the word "we."They refer to themselves throughout in the third person as "the committee."
Even with the aid of the glossary it's sometimes difficult to make any sense of sentences written in dense Washingtonian such as "The tension between stigmatization and normalization can be addressed, as it has been for other public health concerns, by focusing on the behaviors that can be changed to promote health rather than on the individual and his or her appearance."I look forward to the English translation.

Examines the modern crisis in children's health issues: childhood obesity
Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health In The Balance examines the modern crisis in children's health issues: childhood obesity. Not only are the environmental, social, medical and historic factors influencing children's weight considered over the long term, but a prevention program identifies the best of short- and long-term interventions and how adults can guide kids away from common pitfalls. Recommendations range from mobilizing parents to making national health a priority overall.
... Read more

Product Description
In this groundbreaking book by Dr. Alexander Schauss, you will come to undrstnd why that potbelly is so dangerous and what you can do to overcome it. You will discover which diseases are related to the potbelly and which dietary supplements can help you get over it. You'll also learn about various drug and surgical interventions, appetite control, how stress reduction can help, and more. Mostly, you'll learn how to get out of the tangled metabolic web you've woven and achieve long-lasting health and wellness. "Obesity: why Are Men Getting Pregnant?" is written by a man, for men. But women will find it interesting, too--both for the men who matter to them and for themselves. After all, men aren't the only ones who sometimes look pregnant when they're not. Rembember, it's not just about how much you eat; the mechanism behind obesity are far more intriguing than that. ... Read more