weight loss

Is Obesity a Disability?

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Ruling Could Spur Hiring Bias Against Obese Workers | workforce.com

If obesity is included under the ADA, it would likely be narrowly defined to exclude a condition that is the result of a person’s lifestyle.

While there have been few cases like the one in Indiana, the growth of obesity in the workplace may lead to more workers’ compensation or discrimination cases.

If the courts recognize obesity as a disability, millions of obese Americans could potentially claim discrimination. About two-thirds of Americans are overweight, and 27 percent—about 72 million—are obese, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A doctor concluded that Childers’ back recovery was “doomed to failure” unless he lost weight. After physical therapy worsened Childers’ back pain, his doctor recommended back surgery.

The company argued that Childers’ weight constituted a pre-existing condition for which it was not responsible.

Citing a precedent in a case involving a longtime smoker, the court ruled differently. It said the employee’s pre-existing obesity, combined with his back injury and subsequent weight gain, formed a new work-related “single injury” the employer was responsible for treating.

Lap Band? Think Again

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Safety and effectiveness of bariatric surgery: Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is superior to gastric banding in the management of morbidly obese patients

In summary, there is rapidly mounting and convincing evidence that laparoscopic gastric banding is suboptimal in the management of morbid obesity. Although short-term complications are low and hospital length of stay is short, the long-term problems including band removals are high and failure to lose weight after laparoscopic gastric banding is prevalent.

Economic Burden of Diabetes Worsening

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

My oldest son is pre-Med.  I keep gently reminding him endocrinology is an exciting field.

Costs, Complexity of Treating Diabetes Increasing Steadily, Says Study — AAFP News Now — American Academy of Family Physicians

A recent study from the CDC and NIH shows that nearly 13 percent of adults in the United States have diabetes, but 40 percent of those individuals haven’t been diagnosed yet.

Read a Book a Week – On the Shelf

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

I’ve just finished reading the best book on the prevention and management of Type 2 diabetes. The recommendations in Beating Diabetes are based on evidence from a randomized controlled clinical study called the Diabetes Prevention Program.. This book needs to be in your underwriting library and would make an excellent text for training purposes. But for those of you who may not have the time to find and read the entire book, I’ll summarize the key points:

  • Eat less
  • Move more

The book focuses on weight loss strategies and lifestyle modification. Get it, read it, live it.

I Lost 200 Pounds…You Can Too

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

I’ve added a new links category on Obesity. Recently I joined the National Weight Loss Registry and became participant L8784. It took some time to fill out the questionnaires but since it was for a good cause, I answered each and every question. The only thing I didn’t do was the narrative. I was given the option to write about my weight loss experience. So after much thought and digging deep I wrote the following which debuts here first.

How To Lose 200 Pounds in Two Easy Steps

  1. Eat less.
  2. Move more.

Hopefully the accumulated data from people who have lost significant amounts of weight will lead to insights about losing weight and keeping it off. Over 65% of the US population age 20 and higher are overweight or obese.

And we wonder why 8% of the population has diabetes…