31 East Darrah Lane
Lawrence Township, NJ 08648

Integrative Weight Loss

What are the health complications of obesity?

Those who are overweight or obese weigh more than what is considered average for their height and body type.

Body fat is measured using body mass index or BMI. A BMI of 25.0 to 29.9 is considered overweight. A BMI of 30.0 and above is considered obese.

Overweight and obese men, women, and children are at higher risk of more than 50 physical and emotional problems including:

  • Anxiety
  • Arthritis
  • Certain cancers
  • Depression
  • Diabetes
  • Heart disease
  • High blood pressure
  • High cholesterol
  • Sleep apnea
  • Stroke

As your BMI increases, your chance of developing severe health problems does too. The good news is you can reduce your risk with a safe and balanced medical weight loss program.

What is medical weight loss?

Medical weight loss is a comprehensive plan designed by a specialist that helps you to lose excess pounds, increase your level of activity, and improves your overall health. Your personal medical weight loss plan may include:

  • Fitness planning: An exercise regimen designed for your ability, interests, and schedule.
  • Lifestyle counseling: Stress-management techniques help you understand and conquer the emotional factors contributing to weight gain.
  • Meal planning: Education and support to help you make healthy food choices based on your dietary needs.
  • Prescriptions: Safe, effective medical appetite suppressants and other prescriptions help to support the diet and exercise components.

Why should I choose medical weight loss?

The media bombards Americans with ads that promote products and systems promising effortless weight loss. Most of these aren’t effective — or even safe. Medical weight loss is unlike any other diet plan out there because it’s:

  • Customized: A unique plan medical weight loss plan to meet your individual needs and goals.
  • Integrative: Treatments address the environmental, emotional, and lifestyle factors that affect weight loss.
  • Safe: A doctor’s supervision ensures your safety.
  • Science-based: Proven methods backed by peer-reviewed research.

Stop battling those unwanted pounds. Schedule a consultation with a medical weight loss specialist online or by telephone today to take the first step to brand new you.

*Individual Results May Vary

Integrative Weight Loss

Losing weight is no easy feat, and that’s exactly why it requires a lot of effort from oneself, the patient. In this page, we’re going to tell you what we recommend to do for the ideal weight loss/management journey.

Weight Management Should Be Multidisciplinary

What this means is that for optimal weight management, you will need the assistance of multiple professionals which usually include: your physician, a nutritional counselor, a fitness trainer, and a behavioral therapist.

You may ask: Why do I need so many people to help me manage my weight?

Well, these professionals are essential in your journey.

  • Your physician will do a comprehensive assessment and will manage medications.
  • A nutritional counselor will create a structured nutritional plan and will coach you along the way.
  • A fitness trainer will make a personalized exercise plan for you and will coach you along the way.
  • A behavioral therapist will offer cognitive behavioral therapy and will support you along your journey.

Diet

Diet is one of the most important factors in managing your weight. It is absolutely essential that you maintain a healthy and well-balanced diet. However, you don’t have to sacrifice tasty meals for a healthy diet. A Mediterranean diet will allow you to eat healthy AND delicious food at the same time.

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What does a Mediterranean diet consist of?

  • A Mediterranean diet can be roughly summed up in a neat food pyramid like the one below

To add on, you should follow a general rule of thumb when deciding what to put on your plate for every meal. Half of your plate should consist of vegetables & fruits, while a quarter should be dedicated to food rich in protein, and the last quarter should include complex carbs.

Here are some other foods you may have heard about:

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Complex Carbohydrates

  • Includes: Butternut squash, Acorn squash, Spaghetti squash, Sweet Potato.
  • Includes legumes such as: garbanzo beans, mung beans, lentils, kidney beans, black beans.
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Whole Grains

  • More common whole grains include: Wild rice, Brown rice, Whole Wheat, Oatmeal, Whole Oats, Barley, Whole rye, Bulgar, Popcorn.
  • Less common whole grains include: Amaranth, Millet, Quinoa, Sorghum, Triticale.

In addition to the Mediterranean Diet, there are some superfoods we recommend eating on a daily basis. Those foods include avocados, nuts, and seeds. We recommend eating a quarter cup or one handful of nuts and seeds per day. We also recommend eating avocados due to their wonderful health benefits.

“There are eight preliminary clinical studies showing that  avocado consumption helps support cardiovascular health.”

Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 53:738–750 (2013)

Treatments/Therapy

Due to health conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes, usually diet alone isn’t enough, and that is exactly why at Sleep and Wellness Medical Associates we offer innovative treatments such as Mounjaro (for Type 2 Diabetes & Obesity), HIFEM abdominal contouring and HCG weight loss.

Mounjaro and how it works

Mounjaro is the brand name for Tizepatide, which is the latest diabetes medication to have received FDA approval. Mounjaro (tirzepatide) is a once-weekly injectable medication and as of 2023, it is the first and only dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist.

Medications called GLP-1 receptor agonists (like Tirzepatide) are a good option for treating type 2 diabetes because they help control blood sugar levels and promote weight loss. These drugs work by boosting insulin (which lowers blood sugar), reducing a hormone called glucagon (which raises blood sugar), slowing down digestion, curbing appetite, and helping people lose weight. There’s another hormone called glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) that also plays a role in blood sugar regulation. Unlike GLP-1, GIP can increase insulin when blood sugar is high but can also raise glucagon when blood sugar is normal or low. GIP has receptors in fat tissue that can help prevent the storage of fat in the wrong places. 

Tirzepatide combines the effects of both GLP-1 and GIP and has shown promising results in reducing blood sugar and weight in people with diabetes. Another medication, semaglutide (Ozempic), only targets the GLP-1 pathway but has also been effective in lowering blood sugar and promoting weight loss.

Why is Mounjaro important?

More and more people around the world are getting diabetes, and the numbers are expected to go from 463 million to 700 million between 2019 and 2045. This is a big problem, especially in poorer countries. Since most of these cases are type 2 diabetes, we’re also expecting more complications like heart and kidney issues. So, it’s really crucial to find better treatments that not only control blood sugar but also reduce the risk of serious problems.

A good idea is to combine two kinds of hormones that help regulate blood sugar – one is called GLP-1, and the other is known as glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP). When you eat, both of these hormones tell your body to release insulin, which helps lower blood sugar. But, GIP also has a unique trick – it can stop the release of another hormone called glucagon when blood sugar is high, and it increases glucagon when it’s too low. Combining these hormones in a treatment could potentially be a game-changer for people with type 2 diabetes, giving them better control over their blood sugar without the risk of low blood sugar. This approach seems promising and could be a step forward in finding more effective and safer treatments for diabetes.

Key benefits:

  • Decreases appetite.
  • Increases satiety.
  • Protects heart.
  • Decreases glucose output.
  • Increases glucose uptake.
  • Increase insulin.
  • Decrease glucagon.
  • Decreases gastric emptying time.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could combine those hormones in order to lose weight and treat diabetes? Thankfully, Mounjaro does all of that.

In case you aren’t convinced that Mounjaro works, here are some key benefits of Mounjaro, and a chart that proves how effective it truly is.

All of these benefits result in weight loss, while treating Type 2 Diabetes.

Ozempic

Ozempic is the brand name for semaglutide, which is an FDA-approved treatment for Type 2 Diabetes. Like Mounjaro, Ozempic is a once-weekly injection and is a selective GLP-1 receptor agonist. However, Ozempic does not target GIP (glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide).

Ozempic boosts insulin (a hormone that lowers blood sugar) when it’s too high, cuts down on another hormone called glucagon (which raises blood sugar) in various situations, and slows down how quickly the stomach empties. Due to the effects of semaglutide, Ozempic can also make you feel less hungry and help you lose some weight.

Semaglutide, specifically, is taken as a once-a-week shot just under the skin. In studies with people who have type 2 diabetes, it has shown to lower the average blood sugar levels and help shed some weight. This suggests that Ozempic could be a helpful tool for those managing diabetes by making it easier to control blood sugar and promoting weight loss.

Semaglutide and its association with weight loss in overweight or obese patients has been proven in multiple studies.

HCG Weight Loss

For more information on HCG Weight Loss, check out our page dedicated to it by clicking on the following link: https://sleep-wellness.org/hcg-diet/