Fall 2004 Edition          

Common Sense   By Linda Rosen, Certified Medical Exercise Specialist    This past June I received an email from Dr. Abby Aronowitz, a clinical psychologist, who was writing to congratulate me on my article Atkins in Fair Lawn.  Dr. Aronowitz told me she enjoyed reading about Fair Lawn, the town she knew from her childhood, and was thrilled to find my article which focused on low carb diets, the need to eat from all the food groups, all nutrients, and the theory of calories in and calories out for weight loss.  The doctor sent me her book, "Your Final Diet", published in 2004 because she said we were of "like mind". (See book on Amazon).  As Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said about the book, "This is fabulous". I agree. I got right into it and enjoyed every moment reading it. There were times I laughed out loud and times I shook my head saying "yes", "absolutely", "oh, I didn't know that", or "I agree".  Because I enjoyed the book so much and found it to be very beneficial for everyone, whether you are fighting to lose weight or maintain, I suggested it to my Aquacise class. This class has just completed its nineteenth summer in Radburn and still has several of the women who were in the very first class with me. These women do not necessarily have weight problems, but everyone wants to look and feel their best.  Many read the book and agreed with me that it was fantastic. As Rose H. said, "I believe that this book, which talks about attitude, is valuable for a lot of people out there." Dr. Aronowitz is not giving the reader a diet to follow, she's offering suggestions for healthier eating habits with the theory of counting calories and satisfying yourself rather than denying yourself. She humorously talks about accepting your size and building your self esteem. She gives scientific evidence on the benefits of natural foods, why to avoid artificial sweeteners and prepackaged nonfat foods, reasons to avoid high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors and preservatives, and why we should eat dark chocolate. I found it so enjoyable when she wrote that if you want to have a waffle with ice cream for breakfast, go ahead and eat it. Just count the calories and add it into your total count for the day. And make sure you savor each bite! Terry O. told me that she had dinner at Davia's on Fair Lawn Avenue the night after she finished the book. She ate a huge meal with dessert and enjoyed every bite without any guilt feelings since she took Dr. Aronowitz's advice. The next day she came to class to exercise and she ate lightly to compensate for the large caloric intake of the previous night's dinner, and even ate lightly the next day, too. Terry is going to buy a calorie book as Dr. Aronowitz suggests. And now she "loves her tummy". As the doctor writes, "...you're not allowed to hate yourself for anything you wouldn't hate a friend for. You're not allowed to treat yourself differently from the way you'd treat another with the same problem." Betsy E. liked that suggestion and said that it helped her view of herself. I asked the women if after reading the book, had they changed their way of eating? Terri O. answered that "it makes me more aware of what I'm putting in my body now. I can't deny myself. I want my chocolate so like she said, I'll have a small piece and savor it."  Gina G. laughed, commenting that she enjoyed the part where Dr. Aronowitz tells the reader to leave something on your plate. As the doctor says, it shows that you have control, you do not have to finish everything even though your mother told you there were children starving in China. The doctor suggests donating to a charity for the starving children and leaving a little on your plate! You will realize that you are in control of your food. Gina also says that "she gave me permission to like myself". And that she will count calories for the whole week, as suggested in the book, so that it's "ok that I ate a lot at the engagement party on Sunday".  Louise H. found the book to be mostly common sense but liked that it "builds your self esteem and you shouldn't worry so much about the belly". From reading the scientific evidence that Dr. Aronowitz gives Louise will go back to using butter instead of margarine, but she will still have one Diet Coke a day, "all in moderation!" Rose H. also appreciated the specific scientific evidence that Dr. Aronowitz gives in her book. Rose told me that she knew a lot about nutrition and fitness but the information on sugar "blew my mind". She had read in the past that "with saccharine, your body will still crave sweets but it wasn't explained so I wasn't convinced. Dr. Aronowitz explained why and now I know this is for sure, no more doubt." Lillian K., another Aquacise participant for many years, is in a year long study on macrobiotic diets from a New York hospital.  She offered to read the book to see if she could glean any information from it to add to what she's already learned about healthier eating. She found that Dr. Aronowitz reiterated the benefits she had learned about eating whole grains, nuts, seeds, fish, fruits, more vegetables, poultry and animal fats and less white flour and white rice. Lillian agrees with Dr. Aronowitz that we "need to adapt a relatively natural lifestyle in a relatively unnatural world." And that we have to realize that thin is not normal, that "normal" is normal. The average woman is not size 5 or 7, but 14. All of the women that read "Your Final Diet", including myself, agree with Dr. Aronowitz that our common goal should be "normal eating, moderate exercise and appropriate coping." That "food never made anyone fat…it's the abuse of food that's dangerous." Exercise is a major component in weight loss as well as maintaining an appropriate weight. My article "Atkins in Fair Lawn" speaks about the theory "calories in, calories out". It takes 3500 calories to make a pound. That means that if you were to lower your calories by 3500 calories per week from eating less and exercising more, you would lose one pound a week.   Dr. Aronowitz suggests buying a calorie book to get to know the amount of calories you are eating and know where to cut back. She warns that 1200 calories is considered starvation and recommends that healthy women should eat between 1600-1800 calories per day on average, figuring on a weekly amount of 11,200 -12,600 calories. (That is multiplying the daily amounts by 7). She does give higher and lower recommendations if you feel you need to have fewer calories, or more. Unfortunately she does not give a suggested amount for men.  In addition, read the calorie count on the package when given, but be sure to read the portion size. In doing research on calories I came across a website that listed the amount of calories burned during exercise, www.annecollins.com. The following are some of the types of exercises listed. Type of Exercise  Calories burned per hour Sleeping 55 Standing 100 Moderate Housework 160+ Golf (without cart)  240 Tennis 350 Walking 280 Jogging  500 Active Swimming  500+ Bicycling moderate 450+ Water Aerobics (Aquacise)  400 Hiking 500 As you can see, you can lose weight by increasing exercise. The website did not have resistance training in their list of exercises. Resistance training, whether using weights, machines, bands, or your own body, will convert fatty muscle tissue to lean muscle tissue. In addition to having a leaner, more toned body, you will increase your metabolism. Lean muscle burns more calories at rest than fatty muscle. So, in addition to whatever exercise you choose to do, include resistance training. Last year, I gave suggestions for walks in town (See Get Out and Walk).  If you walk 3 miles per hour, that is a 20 minute mile, you will burn off 280 calories. If you do that five times a week you will have used up 1400 calories. Add a game of tennis at 350 calories, or more for an energetic singles match, and you have 1750 calories burned. Now you have to lessen your weekly caloric intake by 250 calories a day and you will have lost one pound. You can do that by cutting back on your portions. As an example, one ounce of peanuts is 165 calories. Peanuts are a healthy snack, but add up the calories! Who eats only one ounce? And an extra large egg is 86 calories while an extra large egg white is only 16. Have two egg whites instead of the whole egg and drop 140 calories. You are on your way to healthy weight loss. Readers should consult an appropriate health care professional for weight loss before using or relying on any of the comments in this article. This article is not intended to take the place of advice and care from a medical professional or any other health care professional. This article and the book, Your Final Diet, are suggestions, as Dr. Aronowitz writes, on "how to manage the foods we crave instead of overindulging or depriving ourselves".   See Linda Rosen's Previous Columns Questions and Answers on Fitness  (Summer 2004) Atkins in Fair Lawn  (Spring 2004) Walkability and Obesity (Winter 2004) Get Out and Walk  (Fall 2003) Get In The Water  (Summer 2003) Yard Work Can Really Hurt Your Back (April 2003) Exercise Equipment  (February 2003) Great Places To Walk  (December 2002) On The Tennis Court - Part 2 (October 2002) On The Tennis Court - Part 1 (August 2002) Core Exercises (June 2002) Keep Your Belly In  (April 2002) Improving Your Posture  (February 2002)