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Devrah J. Otten LCSW Awarded National Board Certification

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Devrah J. Otten LCSW

Devrah J. Otten, LCSW CBC

Devrah J. Otten, a licensed medical social worker (LCSW), from Houston, Texas, has been awarded Board Certification by the American Association of Bariatric Counselors (AABC). After completing a specialized training and education program in bariatric science she was recently credentialed as a Board Certified Bariatric Counselor (CBC).

Ms. Otten, currently serves as the primary social worker for the kidney transplant program at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. She is an integral member of the multi-disciplinary transplant team that provides counseling, care and treatment for children and their family’s pre and post kidney transplant.

Devrah completed her professional education at the University of Texas in Austin and now has more than 17 years of clinical, medical social work experience, including geriatrics, orthopedics, oncology and emergency medicine. Her vast clinical experience and recognition of the obesity pandemic and the need for specialized competency in bariatric science inspired her post-graduate training and certification with AABC. Her experience, scholarship and commitment to public health will further the AABC global mission of providing best practices in the care and treatment of obesities for children and adults. Continue reading →

Lamees El-Derbi RD Awarded National Board Certification

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Lamees El-Derbi RD, CBC

Lamees El-Derbi, a Registered Dietitian from Abu-Dhabi, UAE, has been awarded Board Certification by the American Association of Bariatric Counselors (AABC). After completing a specialized training and education program in bariatric science she was recently credentialed as a Board Certified Bariatric Counselor (CBC).

Ms. El-Derbi, RD, currently serves as a Bariatric Dietitian at Imperial College London Diabetic Center in Abu-Dhabi. She is an integral member of the multi-disciplinary bariatric surgery team that provides comprehensive care and treatment for patients, pre and post bariatric surgery.  In addition to her clinical responsibilities she has the honor of being the UAE Representative to International Affiliate of The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (IAAND). In this international capacity, she has an opportunity to share best dietetic practices with a global community.

Ms. El-Derbi, RD, completed her professional nutrition education at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Canada. Her clinical experience and recognition of the obesity pandemic and the need for specialized competency in bariatric science inspired her post-graduate training and certification with AABC. Her experience, scholarship and commitment to public health will further the AABC global mission of providing best practices in the care and treatment of obesities.

BOARD CERTIFICATION AND CREDENTIALING STANDARDS

The American Association of Bariatric Counseling is an official US Federal not-for-profit, professional international fellowship association dedicated to the advancement of bariatric science education and to the enhancement of obesity care and treatment. Founded in 2005, AABC is the world’s largest association exclusively representing professional multi-disciplinary bariatric counselors. Board Certification by AABC affirms that their credentialed fellows are licensed/registered/certified health or education professionals that have completed a specialized academic program in Bariatric Science and must continue their specialized education and training to maintain their Board Certification.

Dr. Stephanie Morgan Frye Awarded National Board Certification

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Dr. Stephanie Morgan Frye

Dr. Stephanie Morgan Frye, CBC

Dr. Stephanie Morgan Frye, a weight management specialist from Thompsons Station, Tennessee, has been awarded National Board Certification by the American Association of Bariatric Counselors (AABC). After completing a specialized training and education program she was recently credentialed as a Board Certified Bariatric Counselor (CBC).  Dr. Frye has also published research related to obesity and pregnancy and is currently conducting bariatric metabolic research.

Her practice, W.A.T.E.R. Bariatric and Weight Loss Research, located in the greater Nashville area, provides weight-loss counseling for adults and children and also offers assessment and counseling for weight-loss surgery patients. She has also published research related to obesity and pregnancy and is conducting bariatric metabolic research. Her specialized practice has state-of-of the-art metabolic testing equipment that can determine an individual’s actual metabolic/caloric needs. Dr. Stephanie said that, “not knowing what an individual’s metabolic rate is…is like driving a car without a steering wheel”.

She earned her B.A. at Tennessee University, her Masters at the University of Phoenix and her Ph.D. from Walden University.

 

BOARD CERTIFICATION AND CREDENTIALING STANDARDS
The American Association of Bariatric Counseling is an official US Federal not-for-profit, professional fellowship association dedicated to the advancement of bariatric science education and to the enhancement of obesity care and treatment. Founded in 2005, AABC is the world’s largest association exclusively representing professional multi-disciplinary bariatric counselors. Board Certification by AABC affirms that their credentialed fellows are licensed/registered/certified health or education professionals that have completed a specialized academic program in Bariatric Science and must continue their specialized education and training to maintain their Board Certification.

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For more information, please contact Carrie Moraites, Fellows Coordinator:

Email: carrie.moraites@aabc-certification.org
Website: www.aabc-certification.org 
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/aabcorg/

 

Emotional Eating Syndrome

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WHEN LIFE IS BITTER WE SEEK SWEET

Most of us have had painful, emotional experiences and have used a bag of chips, a pint of Ben & Jerry’s or a sleeve of Oreos to feed a feeling.  When life is bitter we seek sweet…Why?

The “feel good” neurotransmitter serotonin serves as a mood enhancer by regulating stressful emotions and reducing depressions. To make serotonin the brain uses the protein tryptophan. But here is the twist… it is carbohydrate rich foods that enable tryptophan to easily enter the brain and be made into serotonin.  So carbohydrates are natures Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil … And indeed make us feel better.

emotional eating

EMOTIONAL EATING SYNDOME

Emotional eating can become dysfunctional when individuals have chronic stressors and use food to self-medicate and cope. Many individuals burdened with weight problems and restrictive diet histories will seek “forbidden” comfort foods as a temporary escape from painful emotions.  After the immediate relief from eating wears off, the emotions that they were trying to escape from return, plus they now feel guilty about their eating. This then triggers the need for more comfort food and thus the development of  the emotional eating syndrome.

ADDICTIVE POTENTIAL

Carbohydrates also can improve mood and relieve stress by stimulating dopamine release, another brain “feel good” neurotransmitter. Since dopamine is involved in brain pathways related to addictive drugs, some hypothesize that comfort foods may have addictive potential that can further fuel the emotional eating syndrome.

BARIATRIC COUNSELING SOLUTIONS

From cradle to casket we typically celebrate and mourn with food. Prudent bariatric counseling is to communicate that emotional eating is a perfectly normal, science based, human coping behavior that can become dysfunctional when combined with guilt and shame. The chronic stress of living with the stigma of obesity and societal “forbidden food” rules can exacerbate guilt/shame emotional eating.

Asking patients to recognize the stressors (events or people) that trigger negative emotions and developing alternative coping skills is part of the solution. Asking patients to abstain from carbohydrates may actually “feed the problem.”

How Carbohydrates Affect the Brain

To get your professionals certified as bariatric specialists click:

Mindful Eating Satiety Index

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Mindful Eating Satiety Index

Best Practices in Bariatric Counseling

Mindful Eating: The Satiety Index

Mindful eating is the buzz in the weight-loss community.  It is spirited in the mindfulness and meditation of Zen and other forms of Buddhism. Mindful eating is defined as a very a conscious  manner of eating with focus on all the gustatory savory sensations of food, the motives for eating as well as how you feel after eating.

  • It offers freedom from the food police and the diet/calorie and forbidden food mentality
  • It asks only that you respect and listen to the intuitive voice of your body
  • Honor the wisdom of that voice and it will set you free from Detecto and deliver your body to its natural shape and size.

Anecdote:

While discussing the merits of mindful eating during group counseling, a bariatric counselor frequently used the phrase “listen to your body.” A patient quipped “Me and my body haven’t talked in years.”

This anecdote led to the development of the AABC Mindful Eating Satiety Index, a fast, easy and personal way to learn to listen to your body and quantify your hunger and satiety.    Try it with your population.

VIEW MINDFUL EATING SATIETY INDEX VIDEO

Download pdf to make copies of The Satiety Index for your population.

 Mindful-Eating PDF Link

Mindful Eating Works Best When It Doesn’t Work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96JSHieiicQ&t=137s

American Association of Bariatric Counseling
www.aabc-certification.org

BARIATRIC SCIENCE- A SCIENCE WHO’S TIME HAS COME

 

Researchers Discover Thin Gene Hormone

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Asprosin hormone: Extreme Thinness Hormone May Prevent Obesity and Diabetes

Asprosin hormone the Thin Gene

The gut and brain have a multitude of very powerful chemical messengers that regulates eating behavior and weight.

In recent years bariatric scientists have been able to finally identify some of the messengers that can start and stop a meal. Being able mediate these messengers may offer the “the silver bullet” cure for diabesity treatment.

Current science thinking is that these gut brain cross-talking chemical messengers may be very different between the thin and thick. Continue reading →