Heres what I learned to help me lose weight and keep it off.
My doctor delivered the bad news at the end of a routine physical several years ago.
My blood pressure and cholesterol levels were dangerously elevated, even with maximum doses of medications.
Photo: Gemma Correll
One of my grandfathers died young from cardiac disease.
At 64, my brother passed away from a massive heart attack.
With more meds out of the question, I only had one option: lose weightat least 40 pounds.
I had gained weight gradually.
Being a bit (eventually quite a bit) overweight didn’t bother me.
The person who looked back at me from the mirror no longer fit the image I had of myself.
My first grandchild had recently arrived, which gave me another truly important reason to want to stick around.
And I’ll admit, there was an element of vanity.
I decided to do something I had avoided for my entire life: I went on a diet.
Down the Diet Rabbit Hole
I knew the odds were stacked against me.
Typically, participants dropped between 5% and 10% of their body weightbut only temporarily.
Within two years, 4 out of 5 participants weighed more than they did initially.
There are many reasons for the dismal success rate.
You go back to your old eating habits and the pounds pile back on.
And it seems like your body does everything it can to make you fail.
My First Attempt
My first attempt was a disaster.
At the time, it was the fad du jour.
It seemed like half the people I knew were on it.
Whole30 is based on tough love taken to an extreme.
Eliminate was the operative principle.
I was more than a quarter of the way toward achieving my goal.
Then I promptly gained it all back.
So I decided to apply my reporter’s skills to my campaign to lose weight.
No more latching on to the latest fad.
My journey became the basis of a book.
This is particularly troubling because niacin levels can affect blood pressure.
Moreover, far from being a no-no, weighing yourself might be helpful for some.
I also learned that “slips” are no reason for self-loathing and most people have them.
Little wonder that Whole30 does not even show up onU.S.
News & World Report’slist of best weight loss diets.
Many of the schemes foisted on our nation by gonzo-diet promoters seem almost humorousif not flat-out recklesstoday.
This prevented “putrid decomposition” in the stomach and rendered feces no more odorous than a hot biscuit.
He carried samples of his own excrement to prove that point.
Socialites held Fletcher luncheons, where they timed their chews with stopwatches.
One U.S. senator suggested that all American schoolchildren be taught Fletcherism.
The Great Masticator had ample off-the-wall competition in the 19th century.
While treating Civil War soldiers on battlefields, J.H.
Salisbury, M.D., claimed to have discovered that ameat-only dietwas the secret to a long, healthy life.
A day’s menu included 3 pounds of rump steak and a pound of codfish.
Vegetables were forbidden since Salisbury believed they caused heart disease, tumors and other “grave disturbances.”
His name survives in the Salisbury steaks made famous in 1950s-era frozen TV dinners.
Meat was off the table.
The first meal of the day had to be all vegetables.
The second all fruit.
The cabbage soup diet became all the rage despite having the unfortunate side effect of explosive flatulence.
Other ploys were downright toxic.
Lucky Strike cigarette marketers encouraged female customers to “reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet.”
My father went on Cameron’s diet.
He did lose some weight, but his first heart attack came a few years later.
It had the added benefit, he claimed, of lowering libido and preventing masturbation.
I became a vegetarian, then a vegan.
But whatever route I took, the results were the same.
I slimmed down only to plump back up.
People lose and regain the same amount of weightand sometimes more regardless of which program they choose.
Oil makes the cuisine filling, and adding plenty of herbs renders it vibrant and exciting.
A sizable percentage of the small city’s residents are Seventh-Day Adventists.
Both enjoy a significantly lower risk of obesity.
And the city is awash in centenarians.
Those who do eat meat, do so rarely.
They don’t snack between meals, drink or smoke and they get regularbut not necessarily strenuousexercise.
Across the Atlantic, however, I encountered a different dietary point of view.
I have always envied the French.
It’s called the “French paradox.”
But when you look athowthey eat, rather thanwhatthey eat, there’s no paradox at all.
The two cultures could hardly be more at odds.
The French tend to put quality over quantity.
They appreciate the ritual of dining with friends and loved ones.
They are mindful of the food they consume and don’t snack or eat on the run.
Jacques Pepin
“I always eat with pleasure and no guilt.”
“I always eat with pleasure and no guilt,” he explained.
Pepin has never dieted in his life.
I never avoid a specific food," he added.
As we sat down and ate together, Pepin had small portions of everything but refrained from seconds.
If he had a piece of Comte cheese, it was a morsel.
You get satisfied," said Pepin.
She thought it was for the entire table of eight."
Delicious food in modest amounts is what Pepin is convinced helps with weight control and overall health.
They are digested so fast that we quickly become hungry again and wind up eating more than we need.
Some believe they hook us in ways similar to addictive drugs.
They also lower metabolism and cause calories to be burned more slowly.
And they impair willpower without us even realizing it.
The secret is that thereisno secret.
Some ate low-fat, some ate low-carb and some ate normally.
Half participated in organized weight-loss programs, half did it on their own.
Some lost dozens of pounds simply by switching from regular beer to light.
I call it the Frank Sinatra Diet: They did it their way.
That made sense to me.
That meant eliminating or drastically reducing the “usual suspects” in my diet.
A lot of my fellow WWers found that pounds started falling off once theycontrolled their sweet tooth.
I have whatever the opposite of a sweet tooth is, so sugar wasn’t my problem.
On the other hand, I had plenty of weaknesses that were keeping me plump.
I love bread, especially the white sourdough variety.
So I virtually eliminated it from my diet.
For similar reasons, pasta became a rare treat, rather than a weeknight standby.
I quit alcohol completely because it was easier for me to abstain than to carefully monitor what I drank.
And the pounds began disappearing painlessly.
Your list of suspects will no doubt differ.
But if you find them and attack them, you, too, could lose weightyour way.
In retrospect, I learned a lot from the diets I unsuccessfully endured.
Thanks to Ornish, I added a few tasty vegetarian recipes to my repertoire.
South Beach taught me that fiberlots of itwas a nearly zero-calorie way to feel full and satisfied.
On that fateful day at the doctor’s that started me on this journey, I weighed 238 pounds.
Now I’m 212.
My blood pressure tumbled from an unhealthy 164 over 86 to an ideal 112 over 62.
My cholesterol levels are now normal.
No one would call me svelte.
That strikes me as being pretty much the opposite of requiring willpower.
