Type 1 and type 2 diabetes are completely different diseases. Type 1 diabetes accounts for around 5-10% of the cases of diabetes. It mostly affects patients at younger age. It is caused by lack of insulin. The beta islet cells of the pancreas are damaged by autoantibodies and thus insulin secretion is affected. Patients are [...]
Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes are mainly a disease of insulin resistance not insulin deficiency. This means that these patients actually have higher level of insulin than the average individual. In this disease, the cells become resistant to the effect of the insulin. One of the basic functions of insulin is to transport glucose into [...]
Being overweight or obese is not about how you look. Being overweight and obese is about much more than vanity. Being overweight and obese is about your mortality. As physicians we often do not convey the incredible medical risks associated with carrying excess weight. The body was not designed to carry excess weight as a [...]
With over 80% of people attempting to lose weight on their own the failure rates could not be any higher for successful weight loss. This is like trying to fix a complex piece of machinery without the owner’s manual. Excess weight is the result of a medical condition whereby the body excessively secretes insulin. Insulin [...]
This article will resonate with patients that have diabetes and have been hospitalized in the past. Ask any of these patients and most will say that their blood sugars ran high or were uncontrolled while they were hospitalized. This occurs frequently and there multiple reasons for this: Acute Illness: most patients that are in the [...]
The biggest myth in weight loss continues to be the concept of calories. Calories are constantly referred to by people when they are trying to explain the approach to weight loss. Calories in versus calories out is the model that has been referenced over and over again. The only problem with this is that it [...]
As physicians, we are surrounded by physicians on a daily basis. Since the founding of The Metabolism Clinic well over 60% of the patients treated at the clinic have been other physicians, nurses, and medical professionals. Their frustrations stem from the two greatest epidemics facing healthcare; obesity and diabetes. Daily encounters in the outpatient and [...]
The modern liposuction has been around since the last 1970s and it has become a common aesthetic procedure performed throughout the world. The surgical procedure is performed by making small incisions in the skin whereby a blunt cannula is inserted through the incisions to aspirate fat from the deep subcutaneous layer. To assist in this [...]
Patients that come to The Metabolism Clinic have often attempted to lose weight countless times before. These attempts include the usual diets, weight loss clinics, and by the time some patients see us they have contemplated gastric bypass procedures. The question is if they have tried countless times in the past; why do they continue [...]
Obesity and diabetes are the greatest healthcare epidemics of our time. The rate of rise in the prevalence of obesity and diabetes has no end in sight. It is well known that the risk of having a heart attack and stroke increases when you are diabetic; but can you have these complications when you are [...]
One day you wake up and realize you’re taking a medication for every medical diagnosis you have; if not more. You feel awful. Every joint and muscle in your body throbs, you cannot focus despite three cups of coffee, and your outlook on the days ahead is depressing. What has happened? What will continue to [...]
There is a paradigm shift occurring within medicine. The focus of treatment is now looking at correcting the cause instead of suppressing the symptoms or chronically managing the disease process. Medicine has always been driven by finding the cure for disease. Unfortunately, physicians have become sidetracked by managing chronic diseases. The problem with managing chronic [...]
Obesity is dangerous metabolic condition. More than 70% of Americans are struggling with their weight. So often we hear that weight loss is about will power and patients report that they do not have it. Patients think that the reason they cannot lose weight is that they do not have enough discipline. They keep trying [...]
Obesity is part of what is called the metabolic syndrome which includes elevated glucose levels, high blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol levels. In almost every obese patient you will find one of these metabolic abnormalities. Is it coincidence that when you are overweight you are also diabetic and experiencing high blood pressure or is there [...]
You may have heard this from people that have tried to lose weight or you may have experienced this. “I lost 40 pounds and then got sick. I felt awful. I had no energy.” Why did that happen and can this be prevented? There are reasons why this occurs. The first reason is that the [...]
Americans spend billions of dollars every year trying to lose weight. Every minute a pharmaceutical company is trying to develop the next weight loss drug. Every day you are exposed to countless advertisements promoting another weight loss product. These companies are in the business of making money and not in the business of making you [...]
Many of us know that obesity can lead to having type 2 diabetes and it is not coincidence that most patients suffering from type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese. Have you ever thought about how obesity causes diabetes? First, it is important to know that in type 2 diabetes mellitus the cause of the [...]
One of the most common questions the patients ask their primary care physician when they are first diagnosed with high blood pressure is: “what caused the high blood pressure and do I have to be on the blood pressure treatment for the rest of my life/”. The classic answer is: “we do not really know [...]
Most people continue to think that obesity is due to an energy imbalance. Even the majority of physicians still believe in the outdated concept of “calorie in – calorie out”. This model simply implies: When we eat food, the body start to “burn” the food to generate energy which is measured by the counting calories. [...]
Obesity has reached epidemic levels within society. It has devastating health and economical effects and despite billions of dollars spent on addressing it, the typical weight loss strategies continue to fail. In any major American city, you will find a list of weight loss clinics offering their services but if the worsening of the obesity [...]
Surgeons have inserted themselves into the paradigm of obesity treatment by offering procedures that promote severe malabsorption and physical limitations when it comes to oral intake. A review of 12 different studies was written to address two surgical techniques used in an attempt to address obesity. These were selected because Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is the [...]
The use of Liraglutide for the use of the treatment of obesity was first approved in December of 2014. It is administered as a subcutaneous injection just below the surface of the skin. The treatment dose of obesity is significantly higher than the dose used for the management of diabetes. When dosing this drug, it [...]
Body mass index (BMI) provides physicians with a quick, rough assessment of adiposity or the amount of fat present on a patient. It is how the world calculates who is normal weight, who is overweight, and the severity of the obesity. Once obesity exceeds 40 kg/m2 current medical guidelines and recommendations give up on obese patients and jump to [...]
There are classes of prescription drugs recognized as consistently causing weight gain as a main side effect of the medication use. We refer to these drugs as “obesogenic”; because they promote weight gain and obesity. The question here is do you know what these drugs are and we’re you ever told that these drugs could [...]
The first pharmaceutical therapy approved by the FDA for the reduction of submental fat is ATX-101 also known as deoxycholic acid; better known as Kybella. It is being used for submental fat otherwise known as the double chin. So what is it and where did it come from? Deoxycholic acid is a bile acid that [...]
By 2030 it is estimated that almost half of Americans will be obese if the current rates are not reversed or altered. This information is based off an analytic projection model published in The Lancet. The analysis projected that there would be 65 million more obese adults in the US by 2030. The report also [...]
Attention needs to be directed at the often-hidden disclaimer that comes with the use of any weight loss drug. Disclaimer: along with diet, exercise, and behavior modification; drug therapy may be a helpful component of treatment for patients that are overweight or obese. As you can see there are a lot of stipulations that occur [...]
Liraglutide falls into the category of antidiabetic agent and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist. The brand names of the this drug are known as Saxenda and Victoza. As a general rule we know that prescription drugs come with a list of side effects and adverse effects with it being common for a prescription medication to have [...]
Patients who lose weight following a diet or using weight loss medications face the same problem and ask themselves the same question. Why does the weight keep coming back? The body has a unique ability to maintain physiological balance. It balances out the amount of heat we generate versus the amount lost. It maintains a [...]
You may have struggled with your weight for a couple of years or for most of your life. Despite your best efforts the amount of extra weight continues to worsen and you have tried everything with no success. You think that these extra pounds have been with you for a long time and by the [...]
The use of modern weight loss drugs for the treatment of obesity began in 1933 with the use of 2,4-dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP); 5 years later it was banned by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 1 2 What has happened since that time? How far have we come? How many weight loss drugs are available now and [...]
The use of weight loss drugs in general is the wrong approach to take when seeking weight loss. Weight loss drugs have not been embraced by most physicians as sales figures from the latest released weight loss drugs reveal. Weight loss drugs do not correct the medical condition of obesity. At best a 5-10% weight [...]
