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CNN Saturday Morning News

Summer Shape-Up: Interview With Jerry Anderson

Aired August 10, 2002 - 08:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Time for the summer shake up -- or shape up, if you will, or shake up. In 10 steps you can lose that beer belly. Yes, it's true.
Fitness expert Jerry Anderson is joining us from our L.A. bureau and he makes this outrageous claim.

Is it true? Ten steps?

JEFFREY ANDERSON, FITNESS EXPERT: Ten steps.

COOPER: Ten steps you can lose a beer belly?

ANDERSON: Oh, most definitely. I've got 10 tips on how to bust that beer belly. These are so simple and easy to do you can do them in the comfort and convenience of your own home.

COOPER: All right, let's start, what's the first one?

ANDERSON: Tip number one is build your muscle. Because you have to realize that through strength training you have to build your muscle. The muscle is the part of the body that burns calories. As you increase your lean muscle mass, it allows you to eat more food and store more carbohydrates and turn your body into a fat burning machine. It's a miraculous process. And most people stray away from strength training and just focus on cardiovascular. But you have to keep your bones and muscles strong through strength training, especially as you get older.

COOPER: Well, how much of reducing a beer belly is about exercise and how much is about eating right?

ANDERSON: It's all a balance, because you have to exercise to keep your bones and muscles strong. Then you have to nourish your body properly without clogging it up with saturated fat. So they both work hand in hand. And you actually cannot use one without the other, because they're a teammate.

COOPER: Do you have any particular eating tips?

ANDERSON: There are some eating tips. I recommend that you eat more fruits and vegetables, at least five pieces of fruit a day, five servings of vegetables a day. And the foods you eat outside of that should have less than 20 percent fat. That means you get 80 percent nutrients to nourish your body. Because surveys show that 97 percent of Americans don't meet their daily nutritional needs and this is extremely important, because most people are overwhelming and under nourished, which is a phenomena.

But we can change that by eating foods that have less than 20 percent fat and learn how to read a food label. It's extremely important.

COOPER: What about sports drinks? Do they work?

ANDERSON: Well, you know, with sports drinks, I'll tell you, your body loses 10 glasses of water a day through normal functions. You should save the sports drinks for elite athletes, because they need them to replenish their energy source while they're exercising and they have additional calories attached to it. We don't really need that because 70 percent of adults in this country are overwhelming or obese. I don't think we need to increase our calorie intake.

I recommend you drinking 10 glasses of water a day to keep your body hydrated properly, very important.

COOPER: You also recommend weighing yourself. Why is that so important?

ANDERSON: It's extremely important because what we have done as a country, we're working on -- we're focusing on our body fat percentage without our weight. But the key is that our weight has got out of control. So what I recommend you do, and when you follow these 10 tips to bust that beer belly, each week you should see yourself losing one pound of fat and in about four weeks you'll have a graph of your weight going down and your V-shaped body coming in.

And plus, if you're gaining weight, you'll have a chance to stop it when you check on your weight each week. You don't want to wait till the last minute and repair the problem.

COOPER: All right, we're showing some of -- a graphic with five of the tips. Plan your workouts, build your muscle, exercise at home, don't use vitamins for energy, exercise at work.

ANDERSON: Right.

COOPER: And now six through 10, don't super size. What's that?

ANDERSON: Don't super size, you know, everybody in this country are super sizing, but we have super sized ourselves into some super health problems. It's really a major problem that for pennies more you can get a higher, more fries. But now we have more weight. It's a major problem and there's so many health problems associated with it.

So don't super size. Get yourself under control and plan your meals every day. Be prepared.

COOPER: All right, the final ones we have, learn to read food labels, avoid fad diets, stay mentally fit and take a photo of yourself. ANDERSON: That's extremely important. Take a photo of yourself. You may not like what you see. But to change the photo you have to change your habits. And always I ask this question, how much will you weigh 10 years from now if you keep on doing what you're doing today? If you're gaining five pounds a year, in 10 years you'll be 50 pounds heavier. If you're losing five percent of your physical strength a year, in 10 years you'll be 50 percent weaker.

And what you have on your hands is a body that's 50 pounds heavier, 50 percent weaker trying to carry you through life. You have too many rocks in your wagon and it won't roll.

COOPER: All right, I know Fredricka has some questions. We're not going to let you go just yet.

ANDERSON: OK.

COOPER: We're going to do a commercial break.

And then coming up next, we'll take your questions at home about busting that beer belly and anything else about staying in shape. You can call us right now, 404-221-1855. That's 404-221-1855. We'll answer them after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Just getting wound up, are you? Part two of our summer shape up series now. We're talking about busting a gut. This guy over here wants to work on his biceps instead.

COOPER: I'll work on anything. I don't have anything so.

WHITFIELD: Oh, OK. Well, he was flexing, that's why.

Well, you know, men and women are learning a lot about how to get rid of their beer bellies or tightening up, because we've got a guest on the other side of this, Jerry Anderson.

ANDERSON: That's right. And we're taking questions or comments via e-mail or at 404-221-1855.

WHITFIELD: All right, fitness expert Jerry Anderson back with us now from Los Angeles.

Hi there, Jerry.

ANDERSON: Great. I'm doing fantastic.

WHITFIELD: OK. As we're waiting to field some of these questions of our e-mails, etc., you know, I'm wondering, are you also telling us, you know, with your 10 tips that you showed us a little bit earlier, are you also saying that even if we did 50 to 100 sit-ups on a day to day basis, if we're not cutting back on fat, then we're not likely to see any results? I'm looking for some Janet Jackson abs to take place here. But I want to eat everything I want, but just in moderation. I always thought I could live by that.

ANDERSON: But you can't eat all the cakes and pies and still trim down your thighs. That's not going to happen.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that's a dangerous rhyme.

ANDERSON: But here's, the thing is you have to have a balanced program. There's four things you must do to stay fit and healthy for a lifetime -- strength training to keep your bones and muscles strong, aerobic exercise to keep your heart and lungs in shape and reduce unwanted body fat and low fat nutrition. The foods you eat should have less than 20 percent fat. That means you get 80 percent nutrients to keep your body nourished properly and if you reduce the amount of fat in your diet, you can eat twice the amount of food.

And there's one key that's really important is mental fitness. The mind, like the body, needs daily exercise to be fit and healthy for a lifetime, because that's what dictates our actions, our thoughts.

COOPER: Jerry, we got a call from New York, Steve in New York, who's on the line.

Steve, your question?

STEVE: Hi.

ANDERSON: Hi, Steve.

STEVE: How you doing? I'm an entertainer and, you know, I also have a regular job. I'm under a lot of pressure. And every time I get screamed and yelled at, I always have a tendency to go crazy and eat (UNINTELLIGIBLE) or cake. And just, I'm young, I live in New York in the fast lane. So instead of going to sleep, I get this like craving and I go nuts, right before work.

COOPER: And your question is?

ANDERSON: Right. Steve, it sounds like your stress level is a little high. If you start exercising, you will reduce your stress level at the same time and change your thought process dealing with your situation at the same time. But get yourself a pair of hand weights before you go to work and just go through my full body workout. You can follow my 12 minute workout. It builds muscle and burns fat in the comfort and convenience of your own home. You can pick it up after the show and you will be able to do it in only nine minutes and reduce your stress, increase your lean muscle mass and turn your body into a fat burning machine.

COOPER: Jerry, I'm impressed that you even understood what Steve was asking you, because frankly I didn't understand a word of that.

WHITFIELD: The advancing of cell phones.

COOPER: Your powers of cognition are very impre -- yes. It was a cell phone problem. Do we have some e-mails?

WHITFIELD: Yes, we do. OK, our first e-mail comes from E.L. of Nashville, Tennessee. He says or asks, "Is it OK to use supplements such as protein shakes to build muscle and do they really work?"

ANDERSON: Right. Well, the best source of, you know, food is to get it the natural way, eat low fat meats, lean meats. But kind of stay away from the proteins. And if you're going to take any supplements, always consult your physician before taking any supplements because if you're already on some form of medication, it could create a negative reaction. So you should try to eat the natural way. That's the best way to go, because you really have to balance your program and take control.

COOPER: Jerry, we're also getting an e-mail from Lynne, who writes in, "Jerry, what's the true story on creatine for those of us who want to bust that belly?"

ANDERSON: Yes, a lot of people are taking creatine to increase their lean muscle mass. But what it does is increase cellular water in the muscle. It makes you feel like you're gaining more muscle but the bottom line is you have to be accountable and take responsibility of the results.

There's no secret pill to get you there. You have to do the work -- strength training, aerobic exercise, low fat nutrition, mental fitness. And you have to watch these products because what they do is they make a lot of false claims. They're not true. And the only way to protect yourself is to eat the healthy way. That's the best way to go.

WHITFIELD: Wow, no pain, no gain.

ANDERSON: Pain is the first sign of injury.

WHITFIELD: Oh, whoops. OK. Well, I was talking to...

COOPER: What are you saying there?

WHITFIELD: I was talking about saying no to sweets. That's painful.

COOPER: Oh, OK. All right, that's painful. All right.

Jerry Anderson...

WHITFIELD: That's what I'm talking about here.

COOPER: Jerry, thanks very much for joining us this morning.

WHITFIELD: Thanks, Jerry.

ANDERSON: My pleasure. All right.

COOPER: That does it for this week's edition of CNN's summer shape up. Remember to tune in every Saturday from now until Labor Day weekend for tips on how to slim down and shape up.

Next week, we'll focus on staying healthy during pregnancy. And if you miss anything on shape up, be sure to log onto our Web site at cnn./health.

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