A growing number of obese teens are undergoing an extreme operation to manage their ballooning waistlines.

Bariatric surgery, which involves altering a patients stomach size or their small intestine, is on the rise among adolescents, doctors say.

And thanks to a new study proclaiming the operations safe for children as young as 10 years old, the weight loss surgeries will soon become the go-to for a generation in crisis, says Dr. Ragui Sadek, director of Bariatric Surgery at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ.

Youth obesity is resulting in hypertension and diabetes in kids ages 12, 13 and 14, Sadek says. We have never seen this before as physicians, which raises the concern that theres a serious problem.

To Sadek, bariatric surgery is misunderstood by many, and he challenges the notion that its an extreme measure. [Its] an approved, scientifically researched answer for some patients, he says.

Still, there are plenty of risks associated with the major operation, from temporary excessive bleeding to longer term issues including bowel obstruction and hernias, according to the Mayo Clinic.

And young people who underwent the surgery tell The Post its not just an easy way out of obesity.

Jewel Francis-Aburime was 17 when she went under the knife, getting a sleeve gastrectomy that helped her drop 40 pounds. But thats when the real work began.

People think you dont have to bother with diet and exercise, she tells The Post. [But] I was dieting and exercising like everyone else [after surgery].

The 6-foot-tall 20-year-old from Bowie, Maryland, says now, I genuinely can still eat the same amount of food, I just need to eat in smaller portions.

Michaela Suffy, 24, says she yo-yo dieted for years losing some weight then quickly gaining it back before she got a sleeve gastrectomy at age 19. She went from 260 pounds before surgery down to her current weight of 150.

It is a lifestyle change, she tells The Post. You have to maintain it forever. The weight can creep back.

Thats an issue an increasingly younger population may be grappling with.

The American Academy of Pediatrics analyzed 3,705 bariatric surgery patients aged 10 to 19, finding that just 1 percent had a re-operation and only 3.5 percent had to be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of operation. And, for the month following surgery, no deaths occurred, according to the findings presented this week at the AAP 2019 National Conference & Exhibition.

Before being approved or recommended for bariatric surgery by your insurance company, there are usually several benchmarks to meet: The patient must have a body mass index of 40 to 50; an X-ray to determine bone maturity; and ongoing trips to the nutritionist.

Theyre also required to have an extensive psychological evaluation. But some patients say theres no preparing for some of the emotional hurdles.

The hardest thing for me mentally was just recognizing my new self, says Suffy, who says shed look in the mirror and think, Who is this?

Francis-Aburime echoed this feeling. In spite of her success, she says one really big struggle post-op is the potential for excess skin. Especially in the age of Instagram, she says, she laments that people dont talk more openly about this issue to prepare them for the possibility and how to deal with it.

Your standard of what you want for yourself will keep raising, she says. But when youre at 400 pounds you think, I dont care if I have loose skin, its still going to be better than now.

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Kids and teens turning to bariatric surgery to fight obesity - New York Post

Weight loss is a tricky task. You have to make smart food choices if you want to shed unwanted fat from your body quickly. Weight loss diet should be full of fiber, protein, minerals, and micronutrients. But there is one thing people are always advised to cut back, especially later in the evening and that is carbohydrates. Carbs intake has gained a bad reputation as it is believed that eating carbs can make you gain weight. But is it really true? Let's find out. The common misconception When we say carbs, the first thing that comes to everybody's mind is bread, pasta, and chapati. But carbs do not consist of only these three food items. Some amount of carbs are even present in fruits, vegetables, and nuts. So, not all types of carbs are unhealthy and lead to weight gain.

In general, there are two types of carbs- Bad carbs/refined carbs or good carbs. Bad carbs contain some amount of sugar, which quickly spike your blood sugar level and can ruin your weight loss effort. But complex carbs are good when you are trying to shed kilos as they keep you fuller for a longer period of time and you eat less unhealthy food items.

Link:
Is it really important to avoid carbs intake at night to lose weight? - Times of India

Mindful eating is a powerful technique that helps prevent binge eating and can bolster performance at work.

October30, 20196 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

When you are hovered over your computer, do you think about what youre eating or do you just shove it in your mouth? Likely the latter. And how long does it take you to eat a meal at work? Probably less than 20 minutes. And do you stop eating when you feel satisfied or do you finish everything on the plate, in the tupperware or whatever was wrapped up to go in paper for you? Not surprisingly, you probably finish it off, mindlessly unaware of portion size, so you can get to that call, meeting, errand or just keep up with the increasingly fast pace that we are working at.

Personally, multi-tasking and slowing down is a work in progress for me, and I suffer from digestion issues if I eat too quickly or on-the-go.I have a European heritage, and I think about how Europeans tend tonoteat and drink on-the-go or at their desks like Americans do. Rather, they sit down to enjoy their coffee or meals, so much that the only reason they have to-go cups at European cafes seems to be for the American tourists.

Enter mindful eating,a practice that can transform our health dramatically. Mindful eating is simply making yourself aware of what you are eating and how much you are eating.When we eat mindfully, we focus on things such as the color of our food, the portion size, the way it is plated, where the food came from, how wefeel when we're eating it and how the food is going to nourish our bodies.

Related: 5 Eating Habits That Rewire Your Brain for Success

Sara Vance, CN, author ofThe Perfect Metabolism Planand nutritionist for the reputed Golden Door Spa, explains that, When a client tells me they get indigestion after lunch, before I ask them what they are eating, I askhowthey are eating their lunch.More often than not, they are eating in front of their computer doing work. I always say, stress and digestion dont mix.

Vance uses the analogy of distracted driving to explain what she refers to as distracted eating. She explains, When we eat in front of the computer, televisionor while driving, we arent focused on our food. Mindful eating is the practice of eating without distractions. When we eat mindfully, not only do we digest our food better, but we enjoy it more too.

A recent study showed thatmindfulness-- and not certain foods --iswhat leads to weight loss and better health. Thestudy concludedthat, Increased mindful eating has been shown to help participants gain awareness of their bodies, be more in tune to hunger and satiety, recognize external cues to eat, gain self-compassion, decrease food cravings, decrease problematic eatingand decrease reward-driven eating.

While it may be unrealistic to count your bites or examine the color and texture of the tomatoes in your meal, you can at the very least slow down the pace at which you chew. And before you chew, ask yourself:Am I listening to my body cues?Am I eating because the clock says noon or because I really am hungry? Otherwise, a lot of our foodconsumption, in particular while working, tends to come in the form of addictive eating, stress eating oreating out of boredom; essentially,the opposite of mindful eating.

So how can you try mindful eating out for yourself?Try the exercise below,butpick a time when youre not scrolling through your phone and/or typing away in front of your computer. Set aside time to simply eat, not multi-task. Here's how.

Finally, take a little break once you feel satisfied.Vance also comments that it takes your brain and body about 20 minutes to register feelings of fullness. The likely results will include consuimingfewer calories and eating less without feeling deprived;improved digestion; a better understanding ofhunger cues; and an improvedability tostop eating when you feel satisfied, so that you are not eating to discomfort. Overall, you will change your relationship with food, focus less on reward-driven eating and reduce your frequency of problematic eating.

Related: Quick Healthy Eating Tips for Busy Entrepreneurs

So, take the 30 minutes away from your work and desk if you are able to. Not only will this break result inmore efficient performance, but you will alsocome back to your desk feeling more focused and recharged. While its unrealistic to do this every day, at least try to slow down the pace at which you eat. Youwill feel the results with your first meal, and set yourself in the right direction of creatinga simple, healthy habitthat can quickly improve your health and digestion, help you feel better and make you more productive at home and at the office.

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How Eating Slow Can Transform Your Health and Make You More Productive - Entrepreneur

WHEN Laura Farmer-Maia's daughter suddenly became clingy and unhappy, she initially brushed it off as nothing but "a phase".

And given little Beatriz was just three-years-old, the last thing to cross her mind was cancer.

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Yet, months after doctors repeatedly dismissed the symptoms as clinginess, the diagnosis was confirmed - Beatriz had an aggressive childhood cancer known as a neuroblastoma.

The horrifying news came after Beatriz's father Tiago Maia refused to leave the hospital after discovering the potential diagnosis himself on Google.

Shocked, Laura, 39, and Tiago, 40, are now urging all parents to be vigilant and check their kids for signs of the disease.

The mum, who works in advertising, first suspected something was wrong last July, when Beatriz's behaviour dramatically changed.

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She said: "Before she was diagnosed, Beatriz was quite naughty but when she reached two, she suddenly became clingy and picky with her food, and had a fever all the time.

"We took her to the GP who believed it was a virus and after recurrent visits they gave her some antibiotics to cover for a potential bacterial cause, which didnt have any effect.

"Beatriz started to complain that her legs hurt so we took her to A&E, where they did some more tests and still said it might be a virus.

"Its hard to get a diagnosis right when a child is too young to explain how theyre feeling, but in the back of our minds we knew it was something bad.

"We want to spread awareness of the difficulty of diagnosing cancer in young children - if your child doesnt seem right, you should push for further tests."

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Tiago pushed the GP for more tests, and blood tests showed something was wrong, so Beatriz was sent urgently to hospital.

It was there medics finally discovered a lump above her kidney and diagnosed her with neuroblastoma in September last year.

The cancer is aggressive and has a 40 per cent chance of long-term survival.

Everything moved so quickly and we all felt frightened as they carried out the tests

Tiago, originally from Portugal, added: "At the hospital, they twice said it was likely to be a virus and I refused to leave until I saw a specialist.

"I waited for three hours until a more senior doctor was free, and then Beatriz was examined by different specialists who admitted her to do all kinds of tests and observations including X-rays and ultrasounds - it was the last one that confirmed there was a lump.

"When my fears from Google turned out to be true, it was very strange because even though my life had just flipped upside down, I was almost relieved to be right - it was weird and confusing."

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Beatriz was referred straight to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where they carried out further tests including scans, blood tests and biopsies.

She began chemotherapy just a week after being diagnosed and underwent eight gruelling rounds of chemo over the next 18 months.

Doctors then carried out a stem cell transplant to regenerate bone marrow destroyed by high dose chemo, which meant Beatriz couldnt leave the hospital for eight weeks.

Tiago, a design director, said: "I was quite scared when Beatriz was diagnosed because my mum and dad had only recently died from cancer I thought of the worst.

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"Everything moved so quickly and we all felt frightened as they carried out the tests.

"Doctors found that the cancer had spread across her body, so she began chemotherapy just weeks after being diagnosed.

"We were told the treatment would last 18 months which was a massive shock to us.

"A week after Beatriz started chemotherapy she massively improved, but it was tricky being in hospital at first.

"Now, she still has periods of discomfort but sometimes shes happy to be in hospital because she has toys and people to come and play with her."

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Laura added: "The stem cell transplant was a hard time for us all because we had to spend a lot of time apart from our other daughter, Clara, six.

"Beatriz was diagnosed in Claras first week of school and it was difficult because that was supposed to be an exciting time for her."

After more scans and hopes of an all-clear, doctors found more metastatic growths still remaining in Beatrizs head, which meant that the cancer hadnt fully cleared up and she had relapsed.

The brave youngster is now undergoing immunotherapy and is due to start a six month medical trial on the NHS at Great Ormond Street Hospital, called the Beacon Trial.

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What is neuroblastoma?

Neuroblastoma is a type of cancer that most commonly afflicts babies and young children.

The disease develops from special nerve cells, known as neuroblasts, which get left behind from the child's development in the womb.

It mostly begins in the sufferer's adrenal glands located above the kidneys but can occur in the nerve tissue that runs along the spinal cord in the neck, chest, abdomen or pelvis.

The vicious illness can then spread to other organs like the bone, bone marrow, lymph nodes and skin.

Neuroblastoma afflicts around 100 children a year in the UK but the cause of the disease is still not known.

Its symptoms can include:

It is uncertain whether the trial will work and, even if Beatriz goes into remission, relapse rates are high but her parents are determined to do everything they can to stop the cancer from returning.

Laura and Tiago are now trying to raise 200,000 to help get their daughter into remission or to keep the cancer away if her treatment goes well.

The money is hoped to go towards further treatment, or if Beatriz gets the all-clear, a special vaccine in New York which helps keep the disease away.

Laura said: "After the stem cell transplant, the end was almost in sight but then she relapsed.

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"Were afraid that the cancer will get worse and worse and want to raise money to help get her into remission the ideal outcome is that the trial works and clears the disease.

"Luckily, compared to other two-year-olds, Beatriz has suffered less side effects with treatment and despite losing her curly hair shes powering through."

You can donate on Beatriz's JustGiving page here.

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Original post:
Docs said our toddler was just clingy but we learned the truth on Google it was cancer - The Sun

When Jevon Carter was dealt to the Phoenix Suns on July 7th, 2019, he was nothing more than an afterthought to what Suns fans considered the Josh Jackson trade. On that day, Suns fans were primarily preoccupied with either celebrating the end of the Jackson era in Phoenix, or with bemoaning the loss of promising rookie DeAnthony Melton. But there was little to no discussion on the incoming point guard Carter, whose rookie campaign was far from impressive given its stat line of 4.4 points and 1.8 assists per game on just 30 percent shooting.

Now, fast forward to Monday.

In just a matter of four short games, Carters relentless energy has infected Suns fans. He is quickly becoming a fan favorite, a byproduct of not only hustle but also tangible results.

I got to give a lot of credit to Coach, he told reporters after the loss to the Jazz. He lets me go out there and be confident and play through my mistakes so that I dont have to think a lot. I shoot the ball when Im open.

And most importantly, those open shots are falling. Through four games Carter is averaging 10 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists on an absurd 65% true shooting percentage. Hes also 10-for-20 on three-point attempts. While that level of shooting efficiency is unsustainable, it seems that Carters hard work over the summer to become a capable floor spacer has paid off. He estimates that he got up anywhere between 500 to 1500 shots per day over the summer, depending on whether it was a low volume or high volume workout.

Thats given him the skill set to go out and impress Monty Williams to the point where hes quickly seizing minutes from other Suns rotation pieces. Going into the season I expected the veteran Tyler Johnson to make for a fine 6th man, but on Monday it was Carter who received 26 minutes to Johnsons 20. Carter has always been known as a ball hawk, but its his improved offense that will keep him on the floor for longer.

Feel free to re-live this clutch moment, where Carter proves hes more than just a catch-and-shoot player. With time winding down on the shot clock he pump fakes Bogdanovic out of his shoes, side steps and nails the game-tying triple. The entire sequence shows the poise of a player several years his elder.

Furthermore, its not just the long distance shooting that seems to be on an upward trajectory. Carter shot just 8-for-28 in his rookie year on shots within 5 feet of the rim, which is simply unacceptable production if you want to stay on the court at the NBA level. Thats far worse finishing than even a player like Tyler Ulis.

While a four-game sample size is small, weve already seen flashes of better finishing from Carter this year (who has, admittedly, only attempted 4 shots within 5 feet thus far).

Understanding that were working with such a small sample size, you still love to see a play like this from Carter. Coming off a screen set by Kaminsky, he fakes a drive left to get the separation from Donovan Mitchell. He then gets a clean drive down the lane past Ed Davis, a far less intimidating rim protector than Rudy Gobert.

He also had a terrific play in transition the other night against the Clippers, spinning and finishing over two defenders.

Of course, being a point guard also involves quite a bit of facilitating and thats been the main knock on Carter so far. And its true, the Suns have a far more difficult time making similar offensive reads when downgrading from Rubio to Carter.

But thats not to say that Carter has been a bad playmaker. While he might have to worry about Ty Jerome waiting in the wings to fill that void, his assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.7 is at least decent and hes shown off some nice reads over the past couple games.

This play in particular displays Carters vision nicely. Its not fancy, but first Carter spins off the Kaminsky screen to get Mitchell on his hip. He then has the good sense to hard dribble towards Davis, forcing a hedge and creating the spacing necessary to open up Kaminsky for three. Its basic stuff like this that goes a long way in the Suns new-look offense that is so heavily predicated on threes from big men like Saric, Kaminsky, and Baynes.

Finally, back to the stuff that makes Suns fans love Carter so much in the first place. The recognition on this play to see the roll from Gobert and sacrifice his body for the charge is downright phenomenal. Dont forget, Gobert has a 50-pound weight advantage.

You can also point to this bizarre fact that Carter has allowed opponents to shoot a combined 0-16 from deep thus far.

With just a 64 wingspan, Carter is not a physical freak built in the same mold as a Mikal Bridges or DeAnthony Melton. But he remains at least solid, if not definitively above-average on defense, by applying intense ball pressure throughout the game and never letting up. His lack of length prevents him from being much of a switchable defender, but he can hold his own against fellow point guards for sure.

To start to wrap things up here, lets get to the million-dollar question. How much of this is sustainable?

Well, Im pretty confident in two things:

So lets just say that some regression to the mean should be expected. In addition to those reasonable assumptions, lets not forget that Ty Jerome will be a crafty playmaker hungry for minutes within just a few weeks, and that Tyler Johnson remains a capable option to play spot PG minutes. And oh yeah, that Devin Booker guy can play that position too.

Still, there remains a legitimate value in being able to pump up teammates and fans like Jevon Carter has done throughout the first week of the season. He doesnt have to be an elite shooter or finisher, but if he can at least prove that those areas of his game have sincerely improved since his rookie year, hell be a hard guy to kick out of the rotation.

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In a season of pleasant surprises, Jevon Carter stands out from the rest - Bright Side of the Sun