Author: Katie Pisa

(CNN) — While some women are doing everything they can to get rid of extra weight, a larger behind is so desirable in some countries that it’s fueling a whole industry of creams, surgery and padding.

2015 was called “the year of the rear” by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

“In some social circles it’s like, ‘You haven’t had your butt done? What’s wrong with you?'”, explained Dr. Stanley Okoro, a plastic surgeon who works in Atlanta, Georgia, and Lagos, Nigeria.

When he’s in Nigeria every two months, Okoro said he’s able to do four to six butt lifts in a week. Each one usually takes six to eight hours, and Okoro is often booked up until late. “Sometimes I’m in surgery until 1am. It’s exhausting,” he said.

Why the rear has grown

Dr. Okoro says the biggest contributor to the rise in buttock surgery is without a doubt social media.

“It is a combination of increased popularity of Kim Kardashian, known for her ample backside, as well as increased popularity of social media,” said Dr. Matthew Schulman, a plastic surgeon in New York City.

“The pressure to look good is what’s driving people,” said Okoro. He said in Nigeria, the massive film industry, commonly referred to as Nollywood, has driven the demand for the perfect butt.

A growing middle class has significantly contributed to the growth of cosmetic plastic surgery — once a forbidden industry — in Nigeria and Ghana, added Okoro.

The availability of smartphones in Africa and access to social media has also fuelled the rise in cosmetic surgery, Okoro said.

Over the past three to five years increased economic power and awareness of cosmetic surgery has fueled the popularity of such procedures, said Dr. Ojochide Ebune, a Nigerian surgeon and assistant secretary general of Nigerian Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons.

The number of trained and certified plastic surgeons in Nigeria has grown in the last five years, says Ebune, from 70 plastic surgeons five years ago to around 100 now.

“The prosperity of patients is starting to increase. In a few years, it [cosmetic surgery] will be a mainstay in Nigeria and parts of Africa,” said Ebune, adding that the demand mostly comes from more cosmopolitan cities such as Lagos and Abuja.

In South Africa, in a suburb in Johannesburg, “Surgeon and Safari” helps clients facilitate their cosmetic procedures, and perhaps go on safari too.

Many clients come from abroad, said owner Lorraine Melvill, who started back in 2000 and told CNN there is an emergence of local Africans that chose to come to South Africa for elective surgery.

“There is quite a big market coming out of Angola, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana. Their economies are growing and therefore their middle classes are growing and… the need increases,” she said.

Less invasive options

For those who can’t afford surgery, there are cheaper alternatives in the form of pills and creams.

Dr. Okoro advises caution, though, as their contents can be unclear and their effectiveness unproven.

The trend in Africa is definitely on the rise, he said. “The same trend in Nigeria [for butt lifts], we are seeing in other West African countries.”

ASPS’s report in February showed that 15.9 million surgical and less-invasive cosmetic procedures were performed in the U.S. in 2015, a two percent increase from 2014. Dr. Schulman says he saw the demand for butt lifts start five years ago, and he has patients from all over the world. “I think this trend is here to stay, at least for the near future.”

Schulman does warn about choosing an experienced and board certified plastic surgeon, however, as many of his clients come to him for corrective surgeries after bad results from other doctors.

His advice: only select a surgeon who does six to eight of these procedures per week, and can show over 100 of their own before and after photos.

(CNN) — You don’t need another degree to boost your brainpower at work. According to one author and neurologist, if you want to work smarter, you have to eat smarter.

“The answer to a sharp brain is in the gut,” says Dr. David Perlmutter, whose latest book, “Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes To Heal and Protect Your Brain — For Life,” tackles how a change of diet can seemingly alter brain chemistry.

“Food really affects the function of the brain,” he notes.

“Brain Maker” says our digestive system is the key to making our brain work better and making us healthier. Perlmutter surmises that our brains are dependent on the health of the bacteria in our intestine. It’s not necessarily a new theory. Greek physician and father of modern medicine Hippocrates famously said, “All disease begins in the gut.”

A nation of sick

Perlmutter says he wrote this book to shake people into action.

“I want people to be daunted,” he says, noting that in the United States, two-thirds of the population is overweight. He also associates the rise in autism and depression with America’s poor diet. He notes that when we eat processed, sugary and fatty food, our guts become dysfunctional and damaged, allowing bad bacteria to multiply.

The gut, he says, is a “second brain,” and when it’s healthy, he adds, the person is happier.

“When the gut is healthy, you create more serotonin. Approximately 80-90 percent of our serotonin comes from the gut,” he notes.

Perlmutter’s previous book “Grain Brain” looked at how carbohydrates and gluten are damaging our brains, leading to headaches, depression, dementia, ADHD and intestinal disorders.

The crux of Perlmutter’s latest book says we have two nervous systems — the central nervous system is made up of the brain and the spinal cord, and the enteric nervous system is linked to our gastrointestinal tract. Both systems are linked through the vagus nerve, which runs from the brain-stem to the abdomen.

Perlmutter explores the connection between intestinal microbes and the brain. He looks at how the microbiome (which outnumber our body cells 10 to 1) develops from birth and evolves based on lifestyle choices, and how it can become “sick”.

Go Mediterranean

“The importance of the gut-brain axis is continuing to evolve and is an exciting new area of research,” admitted Dr. Melina Jampolis, a physician focusing on nutrition and fitness. “I think in general we are beginning to understand that the health of the gut and the bacteria that colonize the gut (the microbiome) is critical to many aspects of good health, including brain health,” she said.

Jampolis recommends an anti-inflammatory, Mediterranean-type diet, which she says addresses both gut health and brain health. The Mediterranean diet, long-heralded for its benefits for the heart, is high in whole grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables, legumes, fish and red wine.

Her healthy brain diet also includes consuming a variety of plant-based polyphenols found in berries, tea and spices like curcumin. In addition, reducing sugar and refined carbohydrates and limiting fried food and processed red meat also plays an important role in both brain and gut health, she added.

Six steps to improve gut ecology

The good news? Perlmutter states that it doesn’t take too long to wipe out damaging gut bacteria, adding it can take as little as two weeks to make a change. Below is a step-by-step guide of what to eat to make sure your brain is in tip-top shape:

Choose foods rich in probiotics, including live-cultured yogurt, kefir, kombucha, tempeh, kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles and pickled fruits and vegetables.

Go low-carb and embrace high-quality fat. Brain Maker foods include:

Leafy greens, spinach, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, garlic, jimica and ginger

Low-sugar fruits — avocado, bell peppers, tomato, squash, zucchini, lemons and limes

Healthy fat — extra-virgin olive oil, coconut oil, organic butter, almond milk, olives, nuts, nut butters

Protein — whole eggs, wild fish, shellfish, grass-fed meat, fowl, poultry

Herbs, seasoning and condiments — mustard, horseradish, tapenade , salsa (if they are gluten and wheat free and free of soy or sugars)

Drink red wine, tea, coffee and chocolate

Choose foods rich in prebiotics: acacia gum, raw Chicory root, raw Jerusalem Artichoke, raw dandelion green, raw garlic, raw leek, raw onion and raw asparagus.

Drink filtered water: Tap water often has high levels of chlorine, which can kill off the good bacteria in your gut. Switch to filtered water to protect the good guys.

Get fasting: Perlmutter says the occasional 24-hour fast (all liquid, no food, no caffeine, plenty of water) can help clear out the toxins that may have built up in your system from years of poor diet choices.

‘Thinking Business’ focuses on the psychology of getting ahead in the workplace by exploring techniques to boost employee performance, increase creativity and productivity.

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