By Kathy O'Brien
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 6/19/03)

Americans are concerned about weight, rightly so. People are avoiding eating, limiting fats, exercising excessively, feeling guilty, reading diet books, measuring foods, buying diet foods, counting calories, etc, all in the name of weight loss. Eating low-calorie, low-fat, high-carb foods has been the rage for over 20 years. In that same period, obesity and adult-onset diabetes has increased. Sixty percent of American adults and 26 percent of American children are overweight.

In spite of a valiant effort, we are growing. What are we doing wrong?

The problem starts with a misconception of how thin people should be. Weight alone is not a good measure. Many suggest calculating "Body Mass Index." To calculate this, do the following: (your weight in pounds x 703) divided by your height in inches. If the answer is 25 or more, it is too high.

Another problem is treating food as the enemy. Avoiding food or severely limiting it is the worst thing you can do. When you do not eat enough or refrain from eating altogether, the body thinks there is a famine and acts accordingly. As a result, the body will draw necessary protein from its own tissues, especially muscle. Loss of muscle, which is heavier than fat, can result in quick weight reduction that is ultimately detrimental and self-defeating. Your body metabolism will slow down in order to compensate for the lack of protein and necessary nutrients. When you again begin eating normally or too much, weight can increase quickly since metabolism has slowed down.

After the first week of dieting, weight loss (i.e. loss of fat) should only be about two pounds per week. Any more means loss of muscle mass. The scale is not the proper tool to use when shedding excess fat.

Recently, one woman said, "I weigh the same but my clothes are now too big." That is perfect. She was losing excess fat and gaining muscle mass. The real test was not what the scale registered, but how her clothes fit.

Confusion about which foods cause weight gain is another problem. Excess sugar is stored in the body as fat. When you are trying to lose or maintain your current weight, consuming less sugar should be an essential part of your plan. This is done by avoiding white sugar, white flour and white rice — all of which quickly elevate blood sugar and result in more stored fat. This explains why people eating low fat, high carb diets actually gain weight (as well as crave foods and feel hungry constantly).

Good fats such as butter, olive oil, flax seed oil and cod liver oil actually help weight loss in three ways. They help slow the change of carbohydrates to blood sugar, they help speed metabolism, and they satisfy hunger and reduce cravings.

A good book on weight and other health concerns is The Schwarzbein Principle. Authors Dr. Nancy Schwarzbein and Nancy Deville explain the beneficial effects of avoiding high-sugar foods and using only good fats, such as the ones listed above. Measuring, restricting, starving and feeling confused and guilty can be a thing of the past. Weight loss is a matter of eating the right foods, those that traditional peoples have been eating since the beginning of time.

Over and over, I hear people who have made these changes exclaim, "The food tastes great, I’m eating more, not feeling guilty, have better moods and energy, and I’m losing weight."