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By Dr. Michael Bilof Unless you live under a large rock or never go on social media, you have no doubt heard about ‘miracle’ weight loss drugs. They are indeed quite effective. The two drugs getting most of the attention are semaglutide (Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro). I will not get into the technical weeds of how they work, other than to say that they both appear to have a rather pronounced effect on appetite. That is, they decrease the patient’s appetite—eat less, lose weight! What You Need To Know About Weight Loss Drugs If you’re reading this you probably don’t

At Garden State Bariatrics, we are dedicated to empowering people to live healthier lives—which is why we are excited to share news that will allow us to help even more people find weight loss success in New Jersey. Many health insurance plans offer some coverage for weight loss surgery, but each insurance plan has their own guidelines. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of New Jersey, which covers approximately 2.7 million people, has updated and expanded their bariatric coverage. New BCBS Guidelines for Bariatric Surgery in New Jersey Horizon BCBS of NJ recently announced that bariatric coverage will be available

By Dr. Michael Bilof If exercise were an actual ‘medicine’ it would probably be the best medicine for longevity that we have. First off, let’s start with the simple premise that the human body was designed for motion—NOT to sit in a chair staring at a screen all day. Given that modern life has so little physical activity baked into it, we have to generate that motion and activity… that’s ‘exercise’. Walking is a basic (and very effective!) form of exercise. Thirty to 60 minutes of walking several times/week, preferably outside, is wonderful for physical and mental health. Whether you

By Dr. Michael Bilof If you’re a regular reader (I hope there are a few of you out there!), then you know that in December I introduced the concept of the pillars of good health and last month I did a little deeper dive on sleep, which I think is probably the most important, truth be told. But, another truth be told, as a bariatric surgeon the pillar of good health that I spend most of my days talking about with patients is nutrition… the four letter version of which is ‘diet’. Let’s start with the Standard American Diet (SAD)...

By Dr. Michael Bilof Last month I talked about the “pillars” of good health. If we think of good health as a chair that has several legs, what are they? Last month I suggested there were 4 legs to this chair 1) Sleep 2) Exercise 3) Nutrition 4) Stress Tolerance. This month lets do a deeper dive into the one that I feel is the most important—Sleep! If you read this newsletter regularly you are, no doubt, familiar with my little quip that “8 hours of sleep is a superpower” and although I say that half-jokingly, it is something I

By Dr. Michael Bilof It’s the end of the year which seems to lend itself to reflection. As a bariatric surgeon, I spend most of my time discussing nutrition and weight loss. However, as I’ve been in practice for over 20 years now and (ahem) reached a certain age I notice myself focusing more on the broader subject of longevity and ‘healthspan’. If you are a regular reader you may have noticed this….LOL. What Is Healthspan? Healthspan is defined as the part of your life where you enjoy good health. If you live long enough, you will inevitably experience a

By Dr. Michael Bilof “I want to weight train Doc, I’m just afraid of getting too muscular”. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this in my career (mostly from female patients but occasionally men). Well, this month I have some good news! If you are a regular reader of my column you know that for many months I've been talking about things you want to avoid or should NOT do—not this month! This month we are talking about things you are free to do and do more of! Earlier this year we talked about the importance of

By Dr. Michael Bilof In case you missed it, October 6th was “National PA Day”! If you are not in the medical field you might reasonably ask… What is a PA? (Hint: It’s not a State) Well, if you are a patient of Garden State Bariatrics you already know one PA and perhaps two. First off, “PA” means Physician’s Assistant, and we have (in my humble opinion 😊) two of the best on our team — Bella Baum (mostly in our Millburn office) and Michael Caromano (mostly in Toms River and Deborah). What Does a PA do? If you have

Let’s Talk About (NOT) Drinking Calories! Perhaps you’ve seen the ad below in your travels around the internet. It’s the fall after all and one must have the proper beverage at all times! Hate to be the guy who rains on the parade, but you definitely want to avoid all these types of beverages. If you want to see what you will be subjecting your body to if you drink one of these follow this link: https://www.starbucks.ie/nutrition and then click on the “Download Beverage Nutritional PDF” and then go to page 7 of that PDF: the “Autumn 22 Promo Beverages”.

Do you, or someone you know, have a Lap Band? If so, there are a few things to know about on-going management needs for Lap Bands. I personally stopped doing Lap Bands 8-10 years ago but there are quite a few folks who had them back in the day. If you did have a Lap Band you are probably in one of two categories: either you did well with the band, lost a fair amount of weight and have kept it off. If that is you, Congratulations! Not many patients were successful with the band but if you were there