Howard's Way's viable alternative to bariatric surgery

ST ALBANS, ENGLAND, September 08, 2010

In recent weeks, a report looking into the future of healthcare in Britain has suggested levying penalties on overweight people who refuse to change their behaviour and drop to a healthy weight. Now national newspapers and the BBC have revealed the scope of Britain's obesity - and bariatric surgery - epidemic.

In the light of these stories, the obesity specialist and the founder of the Howard's Way very low calorie diet (VLCD), Penelope Howard, has said: "Today, the NHS struggles to deal with its workload and, with an increasingly aging population and the rate of obesity slowly climbing every year, it may need to take drastic measures.

"However, we at Howard's Way agree with The Department of Health's view, which has said that drugs and surgery should always be a last resort.

"Over the last 13 years or so, in which Howard's Way has helped more than 2,000 people to lose more then three stones in weight each, we've come across people whose lives have been ruined by bariatric surgery and who have had to spend the rest of their lives eating pureed foodstuffs," Penelope revealed.

"By contrast, Howard's Way patients receive all their nutrients in the Howard's Way food replacement formula throughout their weight loss period and then re-enter the real world and live on 'regular' food the rest of their life! We have actually had patients who, having had obesity surgery, ask if they can come on our diet," she said.

"Howard's Way is more than the 'total food replacement' (TFR) treatment of the Howard's Way VLCD programme," Penelope continued.

"We aim to teach our patients about nutritional values of food; how to see past misleading advertising on food; how their bodies use different foods, and which foods - such as white sugar - are likely to have an addictive quality about them. Secondly, we want to keep them nutritionally supported and healthy while they shed their excess weight at the rate of 14 to 21 pounds every four weeks while they are on the programme."

The 'Visions of Britain 2020' report suggests that legislation similar to that relating to the smoking ban be introduced and advises that people who refuse to change their ways should be made to pay for their care. Moreover, experts told the researchers they expect treatments, such as IVF, dental treatment, obesity surgery and drugs, dementia treatment and complementary therapies will not be free in 2020.

Now comes figures - reported by The Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Daily Express and the BBC - that reveal that demand for weight-loss surgery on the NHS shot up tenfold in just seven years.

According to The Daily Mail, publicity surrounding celebrities such as Fern Britton, who shed more than five stones after having a gastric band fitted, is fuelling the ongoing trend.

Research by a team at Imperial College London - and published online by the British Medical Journal - found rates of surgery soared from 238 procedures a year in 2000 to 2,543 in 2007, and that 6,953 bariatric procedures were carried out between 2000 and 2007. Previously-published information reveals the figure almost doubled in the next two years with 4,619 operations in England in the 12 months to June 2009.

According to David Batty, writing in The Guardian, the NHS carried out over 4,000 weight-loss operations, including stomach stapling and fitting gastric bands, in 2008/09 - revealing a nine-fold rise in five years in the number of surgical procedures performed on obese patients to try to reduce their weight.

Of the operations performed in 2008/09, 42 involved full or partial removal of the stomach; 1,378 involved fitting a gastric band to make the stomach smaller; 504 involved stomach stapling; 2,210 involved a gastric bypass; and 124 inserting a 'bubble' in the stomach to fill it up. Patients may have undergone more than one procedure in the same operation.

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics the proportion of the adult population in England classed as obese rose from 15.7% in 1994 to 24.5% in 2008. In Scotland, the figure was 26.8% and in Wales it was 21%.

The Daily Express' health editor, Victoria Fletcher, has revealed that 'quick-fix' obesity surgery is costing the NHS some GBP29m a year; while the BBC has stated that the number of people in England undergoing surgery on the NHS to help them lose weight has increased tenfold in less than a decade.

For those who want to lose significant amounts of weight in a less drastic way, there is always Howard's Way. For further details, visit http://www.howardsway.co.uk

End

For further details of the articles in national newspapers and on the BBC, visit:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1306569/Fern-Britton-effect-fuels-weight-loss-surgery-rise.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0xnb4SY46

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1306569/Fern-Britton-effect-fuels-weight-loss-surgery-rise.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0xnbECX7j

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1306569/Fern-Britton-effect-fuels-weight-loss-surgery-rise.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0xnbItscp

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/aug/27/nhs-obesity-operation-ninefold-increase?

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/195768/NHS-squanders-millions-on-fat-surgery?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11097566?

Dieters' stories

A number of Howard's Way patients are happy to testify publicly to being healthier, happier and fitter since embarking on the Howard's Way diet. These include:
• Shelley Williams, who lost nine and a half stones in weight in 29 weeks and is now back running, swimming - and climbing Ben Nevis this month to raise money for charity.

• Alan Dean, who, so far, has lost 28 kilos in 11 weeks but gained over GBP2,000 in savings in food bills.

• Kelly Whistance, who lost 53 pounds in weight, ten centimetres from her chest measurement, 18 centimetres from her waist, 14 centimeters from her hips and went down four dress sizes.

• Kim Day, who lost over 56 pounds some ten years ago and, subsequently, has successfully kept the weight off.

• Melanie Boucher, who lost weight with the Howard's Way diet, received a proposal of marriage and 'tied the knot' on 1st May 2010.

For pictures of the Howard's Way dieters mentioned in this story - and/or to interview these people - please contact Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR (tel 01727 860405; email bob.little@boblittlepr.com)

About Howard's Way VLCD

Penelope Howard had been researching into very low calorie diets (VLCDs) and weight loss since 1992 and worked with obese patients and a VLCD for some five years before she founded Howard's Way in 1998.

Those enrolling on the Howard's Way VLCD initially agree to an 18 week programme involving regular meetings twice weekly for the first four weeks, then once a week from there on. For the 'Distance Dieter' these meetings are replaced with one-to-one 'support calls' every week. In addition, Howard's Way staff try to speak to those beginning the diet for at least five minutes a day to provide vital 'moral' support.

Howard's Way recognises that the hardest struggle is maintaining lost weight. So, while dieting, all patients are talked through weekly handouts to gain knowledge and understanding on the workings of their body and the effects of eating certain foodstuffs. Additionally, Howard's Way Maintenance support is 'free of charge for life' for all our dieters.

Typically, most patients lose at least three stones (20 kilos) in weight, men often much more, in the first 12 weeks of the diet. Those who choose to carry on with the diet continue to lose about a stone (6.5 kilos) every four weeks.

The Howard's Way VLCD comprises specially formulated foods, in the form of: milk shakes; soups; and fruit bars; containing the full complement of vitamins, minerals, protein and essential fatty acids that an adult requires but restricting the calorific intake, to induce a state of 'mild dietary ketosis' after day three of the diet.

Further information from:
Penelope Howard: + 44 (0)1923 773851 / penny@croxley.demon.co.uk
Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR: +44 (0)1727 860405 / bob.little@boblittlepr.com

Bob Little Press & PR specialises in providing business-to-business public relations (PR) services. We are committed to:
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