The Health Blog

Are you overweight? Have you tried to lose weight with diet and exercise, but failed? Are you concerned about your health? If so, you are definitely not alone. Worldwide, more and more people are struggling with obesity and it’s health consequences. As people search for help with weight loss, many are considering weight loss surgery. One of the most promising
surgical options is laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, also known as
lap band surgery.

Lap band surgery is a weight loss procedure that helps a person lose weight by limiting the amount of food that can be eaten at any one time and increasing the feeling of fullness after eating only a small amount of food. Lap band patients will not only eat less but will also learn new eating habits as they adopt a lap-band diet.

During surgery, small slits are cut into the body and the surgeon places a silicone ring, known as a lap band or gastric band, around the stomach opening. The band creates a new small stomach pouch and reduces the size of the opening to the main stomach area, slowing the digestion process. It is considered a safer and less drastic alternative to gastric bypass surgery
because it does not involve cutting the stomach and intestines or rerouting the digestive tract.

Lap band surgery, or any type of weight loss surgery, is not taking the easy path to weight loss, as some people may suggest. Weight loss surgery is only a tool to help an obese person lose weight when other options have failed. Weight loss still depends on eating a healthy diet and getting plenty of exercise.

Obesity is approaching epidemic levels, and studies have shown that traditional methods of diet and exercise do not always work. While proper nutrition and adequate physical activity is important to a person’s overall health, many doctors, insurance companies, and health agencies are now recognizing lap band surgery as an important treatment method for obesity.