Look, there’s chef Emeril Lagasse on cable television’s Food Network, heaping mounds of butter into the saute pan, melting globs of it in the double boiler, slapping squares of it into the mixing bowl. When he isn’t shouting “Bam!” as he spatters food with seasonings, he’s declaring, “Pork fat rules!”
And the “Emeril Live” audience is licking its chops.
Whoa! Have we been transported back to 1948? No, this is 1998. It should be the Year of Olive and Canola, not Butter and Lard.
Lagasse may be the essence of entertainment, but people with weight problems-and more Americans squeeze into that category every year-need hope, not lard. Encouragement, not pork fat.
Enter Anne Fletcher, author and registered dietitian, whose work offers a huge dollop of hope.
Fletcher, a former executive director of the Tufts University Diet and Nutrition Letter, looked at the survival strategies of 208 people who kept off 20 or more pounds for more than 10 years. Their average loss was 64 pounds.
Now, that’s hopeful. She wrote about these winners in “Eating Thin for Life” (Chapters, $25). This follows her 1994 book that talked to 160 people who kept off at least 20 pounds for three years.
Fletcher, a work-at-home mother of three who now lives in Minnesota, says that the message that jumped out from talking to these people is, `I had to find out what was right for me.’ “
Her subjects all developed their own methods of weight loss and maintenance, dozens of which are described in her books, but Fletcher says their successful campaigns generally began when they realized they wanted to be thin more than they wanted that double-fudge brownie.
“You need to get to the point where it’s worth it to you to do the things you do because of what you get in return,” Fletcher says.
And they got rid of their “poor me mentality,” she says. “Nine out of 10 don’t feel like they’re dieting. The majority enjoy food. They eat low-fat foods, fruits and veggies, and exercise regularly. It’s not a hardship.”
And to keep going, she says, they never forget the pain of the past. “They congratulate themselves every day for their success.”
Not that any of it was easy. Most had to pick themselves up and start over, again and again. It came down to mind over matter, Fletcher says: “If you change your mind-set, the palate will follow.”
There is some evidence that Fletcher’s findings about long-term weight loss are more than anecdotal. An analysis published in August 1997 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at an ongoing study of weight loss called the National Weight Control Registry.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver describe the experience of 629 women and 155 men who lost an average of 66 pounds and kept off an average of 30 pounds for five years or more.
Slightly more than half used a formal program or professional assistance, such as Weight Watchers, Overeaters Anonymous or sessions with dietitians.
Almost 90 percent said their best weight-loss strategy was to restrict what they ate and to step up their physical activity. Most limited the kinds and quantities of food they ate, particularly fats, and counted calories. Nearly 80 percent said their successful weight loss was triggered by an event or incident that got their attention-a medical problem or an emotional one.
The researchers conclude that the successful losers “made substantial changes in their eating and exercise behaviors.”
In other words, it wasn’t easy.
Just ask Nelda Mercer, an author and registered dietitian who is the director of community nutrition for the University of Michigan Health System. Unlike Fletcher, she isn’t so convinced that more people are successfully keeping off the pounds than is generally believed.
More Americans are overweight today than ever, Mercer says: one-third of those over age 18, according to government reports.
“The biggest problem is that people are looking for the easy way to quick weight loss, the magic bullet,” she says. “They set unrealistic expectations.
“They may have short-term success, but they haven’t learned anything. It involves lifestyle changes, not just reducing your calories. It involves healthy eating and exercise to achieve balance, not just restricting yourself. Healthy, moderate eating and daily exercise.”
We’re eating more of our meals in restaurants or carrying prepared food home from restaurants and supermarkets. A whole industry has grown up around these “home meal replacements.”
“Activity is down. We’re busier and busier, eating more convenience foods, eating out more often,” Mercer says.
And we’re snapping up diet books like Oreos. Consumer Reports asked a panel of experts to evaluate eight top-selling weight-loss books and concluded in its January issue: “Virtually all diets devised over the last few decades are low enough in calories to help people lose weight, and the diet plans our panel rated are no exception. But no diet book is likely to spur the radical lifestyle shifts necessary for permanent weight loss.”
“It’s all a matter of balance,” Mercer says. “You balance a high-calorie day with a lower-calorie day or more exercise. Variety and moderation are the other two things. Eat a variety of foods; don’t restrict yourself. Be moderate with higher-calorie foods.”
Mercer, an “almost 50” marathon runner, admits that she also has a weakness for Texas-style barbecued ribs. Once a year, on her birthday, she chows down at a favorite restaurant.
Listening to Fletcher and Mercer leads to the realization that each of us holds the key to his or her own weight control. We have the ability to learn about healthful foods, to fill our shopping carts with them, to prepare them properly and-the clincher-to put them in our mouths. But will we do it?
One thing is sure: No one will do it for us. “Everyone eats differently,” Mercer says. “You have to individualize.”
She and Fletcher suggest that if you aren’t a self starter and don’t want to try a commercial program, make an appointment with a registered dietitian through a hospital or clinic. Dietitians can help you devise a plan of attack.
Citing the weight of medical opinion, Mercer notes that even a 10-pound weight loss is highly beneficial to health. It can lower blood pressure, cholesterol and even the risk of cancer.
“You make a huge impact on your well-being just by losing weight,” Mercer says. “You add a little exercise to that, and you’re in good shape. It’s not an all-or-nothing proposition. You don’t have to be perfect.”
Here’s a formula that dietitian Nelda Mercer offers for losing weight. She says it should be referred to regularly and updated throughout the year:
1. Choose a long-term goal.
2. List ways to prepare for your goal (short-term goals).
3. List anything that might get in your way.
4. List the benefits of reaching your goal.
5. Keep track of how you are doing.
6. Reward yourself for progress, but not with food. “Go to a play; treat yourself to a vacation,” Mercer says.
