Dr. Dan Albright, an orthopedic surgeon in Raleigh, North Carolina discusses losing weight before surgery. Why you should lose weight and a method for losing that weight. He discusses exercise, diet and nutrition to help with losing weight. For more information watch this video.
Summary of video:
How can I lose weight before orthopedic surgery? That’s a common question and a common desire before having surgery is to trim down a little bit. Losing weight before surgery can really help the results of that surgery.
The first way is to swim. An Indoor pool is preferable because weather is never a problem. Swimming is good for patients who have trouble walking. Patients with arthritis, crippling pain in the hip, knee, or back can swim. The takes the weight off your joints and you can move. You can get a good muscle workout in a pool and you will sleep better, think better, and feel better. You’ll trim down and your muscle tone will get better.
Next best is a stationary bike, but not everybody can do a stationary bike that is why swimming is better.
Part two is what you put in your mouth. That’s a big part of nutrition and health. We were raised throughout our whole lives as children to eat healthy whole grains. The government and everyone was saying that. Well, grains are not healthy. And there’s a lot of science coming out in the last several years saying that grains are not healthy. So losing weight, I invite you to please go one month gluten-free.
You’ve heard of gluten. Gluten is a reactive protein in wheat and bread and pasta. Go gluten-free for one month and you’ll be amazed. One, you feel better, you’ll think better, you’ll lose 20 pounds without even trying and you’ll be safer for surgery. So that means no bread, no pasta, no wheat. Read the label if it’s processed food almost always it has wheat in it. You’ve got to eat whole food. You have to eat good food, good calories, healthy calories. That’s the main thing is gluten-free.
Gluten goes to your brain. It occupies the morphine receptors in your brain and then you’re addicted to bread and pizza. At least I was when I was doing it. It gives you a sugar rush and it’s inflammatory. Gluten actually inflames tissues, it makes you swollen, puffy and bloated in at least one out of three Americans. So there’s several reasons to stop gluten.
The other part is just sugar and carbohydrates. Pure sugar is not good. It shoots up your insulin. Insulin is called the fat hormone. So if you want to get fat, get the fat hormone going. Which is a lot of insulin. The only way to get your insulin down is to eat less sugar, less carbohydrates. Again a lot of science exists for this and a lot of good books on this topic.
I have an interest in doing safe surgery and I want my patients to trim down some. So losing weight before surgery is good. This is how: get in the pool, tone up, go gluten-free for a month and think about less sugar. And that will do it. I’ve got many patients who’ve done it and they’ve been very thankful for that.
For more information, contact Dr. Dan Albright at 919-863-6808.
