Return to Transcripts main page
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Aruba Investigation; California Earthquakes; Dieting and Nutrition
Aired June 17, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Lou, thanks very much.
Good evening, everyone. Another arrest in Aruba. Tonight, Natalee Holloway's mom speaks out. 360 starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Another arrest in Aruba. Four suspects. What do they know about Natalee Holloway's disappearance? Tonight, we are live from Aruba with reaction from Natalee's mother.
Another earthquake hits California. It's the fourth one in this week. Will there be more?
And our special series, "Choose to Lose." A big fat Greek diet? How one man lost so much weight, his own mother didn't recognize him. Tonight, the doctor who shed hundreds of pounds. Could his diet plan work for you?
Plus, a boarding school for obese children. Tonight, a radical program to help kids overcome their weight issues.
And why can't people stick to their diets? A 360 look at the top five dieting pitfalls. And how you can stay on track. All part of our special series, "Choose to Lose."
Live from the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Good evening, everyone. Anderson is off tonight.
We begin with new developments in the desperate search for Natalee Holloway. The Alabama teenager disappeared on May 30 during a class trip to Aruba. Today, the deejay of a popular party boat was taken into custody, making him the fourth suspect now being held in connection with the case.
In just a moment, we're going to talk live with Natalee's mother. But first, we want to get to CNN's Karl Penhaul in Palm Beach, Aruba now with the very latest. Karl, good evening.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Evening, Heidi.
Prosecutors and police tell us that fourth arrest took place at about 6:30 this morning. A very understated affair, according to the uncle of the suspect. He didn't become aware of that arrest until after he woke up. He says his nephew, Stephen Croes was the man arrested. He's a 26-year-old deejay on the Tattoo Party Boat.
Talking to Stephen Croes's uncle, he says he's a quiet guy. We went down to the pier and talked to Marcus Williams, he's boss of the Tattoo Party Boat. He described Steve Cruz as a model employee, but he also did tell us that Steve Croes is well able to pilot boats and to drive boats. He also said that he believes that Steve Croes knows one of the other three suspects in custody, because they met at one of the Internet cafes.
And as we speak, Heidi, one of those three suspects, Joran Van Der Sloot, is still in court. We're expecting a ruling over the weekend from judges as to whether they will hold the three suspects for a further eight days -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Karl Penhaul live from Aruba tonight. Karl, thanks so much for that.
We can only imagine what Natalee's family is going through at this moment. Despite a massive search operation throughout the island, Aruban authorities have found no sign of the Alabama teenager. So far, no charges have been filed against any of the four men being held in connection with Natalee's disappearance.
Three of the young suspects were with Natalee the night she vanished. And Natalee's family believes they are hiding something.
Beth Holloway Twitty is the mother of Natalee Holloway. She's joining me now from Palm Beach, Aruba. Thanks so much for being with us Ms. Twitty. I can only imagine the pain and difficulty you're having going through all of this.
But we want to ask you first tonight if authorities have told you how this fourth person is connected to the disappearance of your daughter.
BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY, NATALEE HOLLOWAY'S MOTHER: No, they haven't. And you know I thought about it. And of course it's been no secret of my feelings and thoughts on the other individuals that I strongly feel are definitely involved with my daughter's disappearance. But you know, I just do not have any thoughts or feelings about this one. And of course, I was surprised. And I'm anxious to find out further information.
COLLINS: In fact, you have said this is only the beginning of more arrests to come. What do you think it is that leads you to think that way?
TWITTY: Well, I think that, how the story has unfolded only leads us to believe that we're not even at the beginning yet.
COLLINS: I know that you also had a chance to speak with the three suspects -- we just saw a picture of them -- before they were arrested. What was your impression of them? Could you take anything away from what they said to you?
TWITTY: You know, I really didn't speak with all three of the suspects. Only one of the suspects approached the vehicle that I was seated in. And what was given to me from him was a very condescending, arrogant, and very cold and somewhat powerful attitude.
COLLINS: No compassion for you?
TWITTY: Absolutely not. Very limited communicative exchanges, may only have happened for a minute and-a-half,. but That is all that I -- that's all the contact that I had with that suspect, one of the suspects.
COLLINS: It's been almost three weeks now since your daughter, Natalee disappeared. No charges have been filed. And some people believe that the police have made crucial mistakes in their investigation. What's your opinion at this point of how the police have handled the case?
TWITTY: Well, I think I'll just let everyone judge for themselves. And I'd really rather not comment on that right now.
COLLINS: All right. Fair enough. You have repeatedly said, though that you aren't getting the answers. And that the suspects keep lying. Do you think the police are doing enough on their part to put pressure on them to get some of those answers?
TWITTY: I certainly hope so. Because if they are, we will get results, and I will find Natalee.
COLLINS: And as I said earlier, I realize the past few weeks have been terribly agonizing for you. Talk to us a little bit about how you and your family are holding up.
TWITTY: Well, of course, as you all can see, we have the most amazing support from Natalee's community of Mountain Brook, Alabama, from Birmingham, Alabama from -- I've had people from all over the United States send me e-mails, letters, cards. People come up to me here in the lobby of the Holiday Inn Hotel and it's just amazing their support.
And you know, I've always, I just want to let everyone know I have complete trust and faith in God. And I know that is what's getting the entire family through this.
COLLINS: It must be absolutely exhausting, though, at the same time. Can you tell us a little bit about how your day goes? When you get up in the morning, is there a meeting with a group of people? Or do you plan out the day? Or have some sort of logistical operation that you go through?
TWITTY: You know, every day is so different. There's no way I could even describe, because every day, every hour, every afternoon is different and changing.
COLLINS: Tell us, if you would, a little bit about Natalee before we let you go tonight. If you could talk to her, what would you tell her?
TWITTY: We're ready. We were ready. We're here. We are here. We're waiting. We're watching. And we're listening. And we are ready for Natalee. We are ready. We are ready for answers. And we're doing everything that we know to do to get the answers.
COLLINS: Our thoughts and prayers are with you certainly tonight and as you go on through the day.
TWITTY: Thank you so much.
COLLINS: We appreciate your time so very much. Beth Holloway Twitty, Natalee's mother tonight, from Aruba.
Well, it's known as the Golden State, but lately, California has been making news for earthquakes, one after the other in fact. In less than a week, California has been shaken by four earthquakes. The latest coming last night near Eureka. It measured 6.6 on the Richter scale.
One seismologist calls the cluster of quakes unusual, but doesn't mean the big one is eminent. CNN's Peter Viles traveled to the San Andreas Fault to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In places it's beautiful and others it's a scar in the desert: the San Andreas Fault, California's ticking time bomb.
(on camera): So we are now in the fault, right?
DR. SALLY MCGILL, CAL STATE SAN BERNARDINO: Yes. We're walking right along the fault.
VILES (voice-over): Make no mistake, this portion of the fault is overdue for a big one, we're talking a magnitude 7.5 or bigger earthquake.
MCGILL: This is part of the San Andreas Fault on average produces earthquakes every 100 to 150 years. The most recent one was in 1812, here. So we've gone almost 200 years without an earthquake. So we've gone beyond the average interval between earthquakes. So in that sense, yes, we are overdue.
VILES: When the big one comes it won't be like the movies. There won't be any gaping hole.
(on camera): We wouldn't be swallowed up or anything?
MCGILL: Probably not.
VILES (voice-over): But there will be a sudden shift along the fault.
(on camera): So this wall moves that way. MCGILL: Uh-huh.
VILES: And this one goes that way.
MCGILL: That's right.
VILES: Real fast?
MCGILL: In any single point on the fault that slippage would happen in a matter of one or two seconds.
VILES (voice-over): And if it's the big one, the damage will extend up and down the fault and for miles and miles on either side of it. It will be bigger than Loma Prieta in '85, bigger than Northridge in '94, bigger than Kobe in '95. None of those was above 7.0.
ROSS STEIN, USGS GEOPHYSICIST: This earthquake in Southern California we think has about a 35 percent likelihood in the next 30 years. OK? That's a one in three shot.
VILES: There's also a chance the big one won't be along the San Andreas fault. There's another fault under downtown L.A. Will we see the big one coming? No one knows. Sometimes there are foreshocks, but there are no geological clues offered here.
MCGILL: Yesterday's earthquake in Yucaipa was very close to the San Andreas Fault, could potentially be a foreshock, might not be a fore -- most likely it's not a foreshock, but there is a small chance that it will be.
VILES: A small chance the big one is coming soon, but sooner or later, it is coming.
(on camera): And how long has the fault been here?
MCGILL: Oh, probably about four or five million years.
VILES (voice-over): Peter Viles for CNN, along the San Andreas Fault.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: 360 next now, weight loss inspirations. Meet a man who lost more than half his body weight -- so much his mother didn't even recognize him.
Plus, how far would you go to lose weight? How surgery made some surprising changes in one woman's life.
And it's no ordinary school. We'll take you to a place that teaches kids how to get in shape. All part of our special series, "Choose to Lose."
But first, your picks, the most popular stories on cnn.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We hear about it and we see it every day. America has a weight problem. Some people struggle all their lives with those extra pounds, and never really shed them. Others have better luck. Tonight, we bring you a series of inspiring stories we call "Choose to Lose," about losing weight and keeping it off.
In our first report, CNN's Gary Tuchman introduces us to a man who lost more than most of us weigh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the Nick Yphantides who loved baseball and food, but not necessarily in that order.
DR. NICK YPHANTIDES: It's a bagel.
TUCHMAN: He called himself a big fat Greek. Dr. Nick, family practitioner, who knew he should be an example to his patients, wasn't even sure how much he weighed, because the scale didn't go high enough. But after stepping on two scales, he found out he weighed nearly a quarter ton.
N. YPHANTIDES: When I realized I weighed 467, you could have just told me my mother died. I was bawling. I was just so humiliated.
TUCHMAN: He also became motivated. This is Dr. Nick today, 6- foot-2, around 200 pounds. A bout with testicular cancer convinced him his life had to change.
N. YPHANTIDES: And it hit my like a ton of bricks how ridiculous it was having dodged the cancer bullet, and on the other side of life I was literally killing myself. I am convinced now that I was committing a slow form of suicide by eating myself to death.
TUCHMAN: So Dr. Nick planned a very ambitious diet. On the night before it was to begin, though, one last monster dinner. A double portion of porterhouse steak, several appetizers, cheesecake and a banana cream pie.
N. YPHANTIDES: We went to the Ruth's Chris Steak House here in San Diego, and I let it all hang out. Thirty-five years of bad habits culminated in one evening of food decadence. The next day, I went on the liquid fast that would last for eight months.
TUCHMAN: Under medical supervision, he only drank protein shakes, exercised regularly, and went off in this RV on what he called a radical sabbatical, a journey to each of the 30 Major League Baseball stadiums, including the home of his beloved San Diego Padres.
(on camera): Do you think you could have lost all this weight without the distraction of something like baseball?
N. YPHANTIDES: I'm not sure I could have. TUCHMAN (voice-over): He went to 110 games. At Chicago's Wrigley Field, he successfully performed CPR on a fan having a heart attack.
N. YPHANTIDES: When I got back to my seat, in true baseball hospitality fashion, people are like, whoa, how did you do that? Well, I'm a doctor. Whoa, can I buy you a beer? And I'm like, well, I don't drink. Can I buy you a hot dog? I don't eat.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Dr. Nick spent five months going to all the Major League Baseball cities. Despite the temptations of kielbasa, hot dogs and pizza, not to mention peanuts and Cracker Jacks, he lost 188 pounds.
(voice-over): He hadn't seen his mother for months. Home video caught her reaction when he returned to his home in Escondido.
BERNICE YPHANTIDES, DR. NICK'S MOTHER: He had lost so much weight and also got a haircut and just looked so different. I was just shocked at the door.
TUCHMAN (on camera): He was your own flesh and blood and you didn't even recognize him?
B. YPHANTIDES: No. It was a miraculous, joyful moment.
TUCHMAN: Nick lost an additional 82 pounds for a total of 270. His first solid food was eaten with flair on Thanksgiving, and also captured on home video.
In the three years since his diet, Dr. Nick fell in love and got married. Debbie Yphantides gave birth to their daughter Nicky in April.
Dr. Nick wrote a book, appropriately named "My Big Fat Greek Diet," in which he tells his story and gives his medical viewpoint about how others can lose weight and keep it off.
He writes that a liquid diet is certainly not for everybody. It should only be done under a doctor's care. He preaches about working out, something he tries to do seven days a week at his home YMCA.
The Greek food is still plentiful at family gatherings in Escondido. But Nick says the vivid memories of his past give him plenty of incentive to eat in moderation.
N. YPHANTIDES: These clothes used to be tight on me.
TUCHMAN (on camera): And what are the size of these?
N. YPHANTIDES: This is a size 60 pant, five feet around.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): And baseball remains an important diversion. Cheering on the Padres with his wife and daughter serves as a reminder of what his life was once like and how fortunate he is now.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Escondido, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: You'd never know it was the same guy.
We're going to have more inspiring diet stories coming up in just a minute, but first, we want to get to Erica Hill from HEADLINE NEWS. She's joining us now with the latest at 20 past the hour. Hi, Erica.
ERICA HILL, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Hey, Heidi. Nice to see you.
COLLINS: You, too.
HILL: We start off today with a new video said to be from al Qaeda's number-two man. The Arabic language network aired parts of the video earlier. In it, the man said to be Ayman al-Zawahiri denounces the U.S. proposal for reform in the Middle East, saying jihad is the only way. Al Jazeera says on other parts of the tape, al-Zawahiri criticizes the governments of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
In Iraq, more deadly explosions. A car bombing today outside a mosque in Baghdad killed an Iraqi civilian and wounded eight others. Meantime, the military says two Marines died in combat yesterday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Ramadi.
Tallahassee, Florida now, a new investigation into Terri Schiavo's death. Governor Jeb Bush has asked a prosecutor to investigate Schiavo's collapse 15 years ago. That collapse left her in a coma until her death in March. Bush cited an alleged gap between the time her husband, Michael, found her, and when he called 911.
Bush says the probe request is not meant to suggest any wrongdoing.
In New York City, for the second time in just a week, a helicopter crashes into the East River. It went down just a few hours ago. A fire department spokesman tells CNN eight people were on board. They were all rescued.
On Tuesday, a sight-seeing helicopter also crashed into the river. All seven on board that copter survived.
Scary stuff, Heidi. That's the latest from Headlines. Back over to you.
COLLINS: Yeah. I walked by a monitor in the studio here, and thought it was the same crash they were rerunning for some reason.
HILL: I did, too.
COLLINS: But it wasn't. Thankfully everybody is all right, though.
Erica, thanks so much. We'll see you again in about 30 minutes. Next on 360, our "Choose to Lose" special conditions. Many people have tried a number of diet programs and they just didn't work. We'll show you the five most common mistakes to look out for.
Also tonight, a boot camp for overweight teens. It's not only weight reduction, but also weight education.
And a little later, when everything else fails, many risk their lives going under the knife to lose weight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We are back with another remarkable weight loss story, part of our "Choose to Lose" series. Last year, more than 140,000 Americans went under the knife to lose weight. It's dangerous surgery that can sometimes be deadly. But some people feel they have no other choice.
As CNN's Adoara Udoji reports, one woman who lost weight that way ended up with some surprising changes in her life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four years ago, Lisa Sohr had little to celebrate at this birthday party.
LISA SOHR, LAPAROSCOPIC GASTRIC BAND PATIENT: (INAUDIBLE).
UDOJI: She weighed 236 pounds and could barely walk without a cane.
L. SOHR: I was 33 years old, or I had just turned 33 years old. And I couldn't move. I was crawling up the stairs.
UDOJI: Even more incredible because she was once a New York City cop, an athletic woman who loved action. Ironically, she put on weight because of her job.
L. SOHR: I had a tussle with a burglar who kind of went through me like I wasn't there at 130 pounds. I got teased mercilessly for it.
UDOJI: She bulked up from 130 to 150 pounds. Then, she got hit by a car on the job and suffered other injuries. They led to at least half a dozen surgeries and painful recuperations. She was forced to retire from the job she loved. The pounds kept piling up.
L. SOHR: I didn't actually go out into public. I was very content to stay in the shelter of the house and be a hermit.
UDOJI: Then came arthritis in both knees, a painful herniated disc in her back. She tried every diet, every workout regime. Nothing worked. Focusing on her father, who she followed into the NYPD and who died morbidly obese at just 51, she found the strength to make changes.
L. SOHR: I knew exactly where my life was going and I knew if I didn't do something drastic, I was going to die.
UDOJI: That radical something was laparoscopic gastric band surgery. Doctors inserted a band around her stomach, creating a small pouch, limiting how much food she could eat, a less invasive surgery than gastric bypass, where doctors remove part of a patient's stomach.
She suffered no side effects. The weight melted off dramatically -- within six months, 50 pounds lost. In a year, 100 pounds. She went from a size 24 to a size zero.
L. SOHR: I was so excited.
UDOJI: But her surgeon, Dr. Nick Gabriel, thought 106 pounds was too thin, so Lisa gained a few pounds back, moving to a size four. He says she was a model patient.
DR. NICK GABRIEL, ST. VINCENT'S HOSPITAL: When I first met Lisa about two-and-a-half years ago, you know, she challenged me. And I was just going with the statistics, telling her, you know, it's very difficult to lose 100 percent. And she told me well, I'm going to lose it all.
UDOJI: He also says often people think their lives will be perfect after they lose the weight, automatic happiness. They don't realize, he says, there's always a risk with surgery, and even when successful, the changes are life altering.
L. SOHR: Hey, what's up?
GABRIEL: There is always new issues to deal with at every level, you know -- people that you live with, people that you work with, your spouses or significant others, your children, even. All these things are going to be affected somehow, some way.
UDOJI: It changed Lisa's life in good ways and bad. Her social life blossomed. She started playing darts again, made new friends. But her marriage crumbled. Her ex, she said, wasn't used to her being out and about.
L. SOHR: We had already had a lot of problems, a lack of communication. And it just kind of took a bad situation and made it worse.
UDOJI: But she also found new pleasures in every day life, like vacations. During a trip to Florida, she met a new man, Bari, when buying her first bikini.
BARI SOHR, LISA'S HUSBAND: She had the beautiful eyes. So for me, her eyes is just doing it for me.
UDOJI: They married this year.
B. SOHR: When you commit to something, you're going to go all the way. There is no mountains. If there is a mountain, she's going to go directly to the mountain and she's going to break the mountain and she's going to go after that. This is Lisa. That's why I love her so much.
L. SOHR: He's my total cheering squad. He puts me in the right state of mind all the time.
UDOJI: Still, she doesn't want anyone to think it's been easy. She has to stay disciplined every day.
L. SOHR: I don't have a lot of cooking in here.
UDOJI: And she still has hard days.
L. SOHR: You still think you look fat. I don't think you ever get rid of that. I don't think you ever separate from the old you. There's always some point where you're going to feel...
UDOJI (on camera): Even now...
L. SOHR: Even now...
UDOJI: ... you look in the mirror and you say?
L. SOHR: Even now I look in the mirror and I can say I still feel fat sometimes.
UDOJI (voice-over): She warns others considering the procedure, stomach surgery is not a magic bullet. They need determination, patience and good support.
L. SOHR: It's very important that you look at food in a different way. It's not necessarily your best friend anymore.
UDOJI: The payoffs have changed her life. Today, going to restaurants...
L. SOHR: Take a bite.
UDOJI: ... heading to the mall, stores like The Next Boutique.
L. SOHR: When I first lost weight, I came here and the girls were really nice to me.
UDOJI: Lisa Sohr worked hard to make herself happy. Today, she dreams about the future, even starting a family, a dream too risky, perhaps impossible, before she confronted an illness millions of Americans battle every day.
Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: A boarding school for obese children. Tonight, a radical program to help kids overcome their weight issues.
And why can't people stick to their diets? A 360 look at the top five dieting pitfalls and how you can stay on track, all part of our special series, "Choose to Lose." 360 continues.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: One of the greatest health threats facing American teenagers is obesity. According to Centers for Disease Control, the number of overweight young people has tripled over the past 25 years. The problem is a very real one, but what should be done about it? CNN's Gary Tuchman looks at one radical solution as our series, "Choose to Lose," continues.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): When getting to this isolated location in California's San Joaquin Valley, it's easy to lose your way. But once there, the time has come to find your way.
(on camera): How much did you weigh when you came?
JARED FITZPATRICK, ACADEMY OF THE SIERRAS STUDENT: Two hundred and twenty.
MAL MAHEDY, ACADEMY OF THE SIERRAS STUDENT: I weighed 322 pounds.
TERRY HENRY, ACADEMY OF THE SIERRAS STUDENT: I weighed 591 pounds at my peak.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): These are teenagers who in a sense have become weight loss pioneers in a brand new program.
RYAN CRAIG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ACADEMY OF THE SIERRAS: Academy of the Sierras is the first year-round treatment program for obese and overweight adolescents, and we do it in a boarding school environment.
TUCHMAN: Jared Fitzpatrick (ph) is 13, from Illinois. He is the boy who used to weigh 220.
(on camera): How much do you weigh right now?
FITZPATRICK: One hundred and thirty-eight.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Mal Mahedy is 17 from Florida. She's the one who weighed 322. She's lost 130 pounds, coming here after a debilitating sophomore year of high school.
MAHEDY: It was the most traumatic experience I have ever had. I -- it got to the point where I was being made fun of every day, and I just eventually quit school, and I had to be privately tutored.
TUCHMAN: And 16-year-old Terry Henry from New Hampshire is the teen who weighed 591. His life has been very difficult. But he's now lost 254 pounds.
(on camera): How were you able to even know how much you weighed? The scales don't go that high?
HENRY: I got on a cattle scale.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): They do their reading, writing and arithmetic here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you're like giving us the wrong answer.
TUCHMAN: But the reason their families are paying a steep $5,500 a month is because nothing else has worked in their efforts to lose weight.
(on camera): In a typical day, when you weighed 591 pounds, how much food did you eat?
HENRY: About 60,000 calories a day.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): About 2,000 calories a day is what the students here average, while eating three meals and two snacks. They're allowed no more than 12 daily fat grams.
They keep journals of what they eat and how they feel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm still hungry, and it's after dinner. I wanted some more soft serve.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cooking something does require coming up with a plan for it.
TUCHMAN: They learn how to prepare healthy foods with other kids who understand what they're going through.
(on camera): Did you know about nutritious foods before you took this class?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not really. Like, I knew how to make macaroni and cheese.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): They're required to exercise every day. All students wear pedometers. Five miles of walking, 10,000 steps are required.
(on camera): Do you carry a pedometer with you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: And how many steps have you taken today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Five thousand ninety.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Privileges are taken away from anyone who ignores exercise and other requirements.
Fourteen-year-old Shari Lininger is challenging me to a one-on- one.
(on camera): Nice shot. You are the winner.
(voice-over): And challenging herself to lose more than the 82 pounds she has already shed, so she can pursue a singing career.
SHARI LININGER, ACADEMY OF THE SIERRAS STUDENT: I have a passion for that, and I knew that my weight would potentially keep me from doing that and keep me from being successful in that area of my life.
TUCHMAN (on camera): This class of 36 has lost a combined total of more than 2,400 pounds. Almost all of the kids say they have zooming confidence levels.
But what happens when they get back in the real world where there are lots of fast food restaurants and menacing high school classmates?
(voice-over): Those types of questions are addressed in behavioral classes here, which may be the most important lessons of all.
MOLLY CARMEL, DEP. CLINICAL DIRECTOR, ACADEMY OF THE SIERRAS: It would be nearly impossible for them to do anything if they didn't change the behaviors that they came in with.
TUCHMAN: Terry says he has become disciplined and motivated.
HENRY: If it definitely wasn't for this place, I would probably be dead right now. Seriously. I mean, I was one of the biggest human beings in the world. I'd like to get my weight around 200 pounds.
TUCHMAN (on camera): So that means you still have about another 137 to go, right?
HENRY: Yep.
TUCHMAN: You think you'll make it?
HENRY: I know I'll make it.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Experts not affiliated with the school say the families are a key to these teenagers succeeding.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Things have to change at home. So while the child's away, the family really needs to implement some major changes as well.
TUCHMAN: The school says it is training the parents, as its first group of eight students goes home for good this week. And while we are there, a goodbye ceremony for those leaving.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love you, and everybody, I love you all. And I'll miss you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm ready to use the skills which I have been taught for the past nine months. I'm ready to start my life again and to succeed this time.
TUCHMAN: Terry is not leaving yet. He has more weight to lose, but he received an award for being so inspirational.
As for Shari, who is going home, her voice elegantly conveys her feelings about her classmates.
LININGER (singing): And I will remember you. Will you remember me? Don't let your life pass you by, weep not for the memory.
TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Reedley, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: 360 next, losing the pounds and keeping them off. As our "Choose to Lose" special continues, we'll tell you the top five dieting mistakes to avoid.
Also tonight, a brand new baby in time for Father's Day. But what's in store for 360 MD Sanjay Gupta? I could tell him. He gets some advice tonight.
Plus, toga parties with Jimmy Buffett on the stage? All at shareholders' expense. The jury today delivered the verdict to Dennis Kozlowski in the Tyco trial.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Erica Hill from HEADLINE NEWS joins us once again with the latest at about quarter till the hour. Hi again, Erica.
HILL: Hi again, Heidi.
In Iran it appears there's no outright winner tonight in the presidential elections. Aides to moderate cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and reformist candidate Mustafa Moin, are claiming runoff spots. Official results are expected on Saturday. One of the issues facing the new president is global suspicion, of course, that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.
An important recall notice tonight for 50,000 heart patients with implanted cardiac defibrillators. Guidant Corporation says the difibrillators could have flaws. It says it will replace more than half of them. At least two patients with the device died. The company recommends patients who recently received a defibrillator shock should consult a physician.
We hate to tell you, but another credit card security breach tonight, Mastercard now telling its member banks a hacker may have gained access to more than 40 million credit cards of all brands. The company is in the process of telling banks which specific card accounts are compromised.
A big victory in New York today for prosecutors pursuing the recent wave of corporate scandals. A jury found former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski and his finance chief guilty of stealing more than $150 million. Both men could be sentenced to 25 years in prison on the most serious charge of grand larceny. The Tyco trial revealed Kozlowski's alleged heavy spending of company money, including the infamous $6,000 shower curtain and a $15,000 umbrella stand, nice birthday party for his wife, the list goes on and on.
COLLINS: The party was something else, too.
HILL: Yes. An interesting party indeed.
COLLINS: And I've always wondered, did we ever determine exactly what fabric that shower curtain was? Here's the party now, too.
HILL: I don't know that we have, but I hope it was a really nice fabric for six grand.
COLLINS: Gold and myrrh maybe.
HILL: Yeah, I think that's exactly what it was.
Well, have a great weekend. Hope you get to go to a party like that.
COLLINS: Yeah. I'm planning on it, actually. Erica Hill, thanks so much. See you again, in about 30 minutes.
Let's find out what's coming up at the top of the hour with Paula Zahn. Hi to you, Paula
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Heidi. Thanks so much.
We're going to start off our broadcast tonight talking about a very deadly problem, in fact, one of the deadliest health problems in the country right now, in a place you'd least suspect.
Believe it or not, one study estimates that mistakes at hospitals kill more than 100,000 people every year. That's more than AIDS, breast cancer, even car accidents. We're going to hear one family's frightening story at the top of the hour. And we'll have some advice on how to defend yourself or protect yourself against potential hospital horrors.
When you hear the story tonight of what this family went through, it will break your heart.
COLLINS: Yeah. Unbelievable. All right, Paula, we'll be looking forward to that. Thanks so much.
360 next, CNN's newest father, Dr. Sanjay Gupta gets some fatherly advice from his colleagues. He looks like he's doing just fine, though.
Also tonight, diet no-nos, the five most common blunders we make trying to lose weight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: If you're one of the millions of Americans trying to lose weight, going on a diet isn't exactly the problem. The challenge is staying on it. But How do you know what works and what doesn't? We at 360 want to help by showing you the five most common diet mistakes to look out for. To get the tips, Anderson spoke with Bonnie , a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about diet blunder number one, carb deprivation. At the height of the low-carb craze, the Atkins craze, the South Beach diet, I read that 27 million Americans were on some kind of low-carb diet. About half of those have dropped off. That's incredible.
BONNIE TAUB-DIX, REGISTERED DIETITIAN: That's wonderful. I'm really happy about that, because the whole low-carb craze was really pretty ridiculous. Any diet that says no something, you know is already bad news. So the key is really adding carbohydrates to your diet. It's not only important for energy, but carbs actually are the brain's feel-good chemical. Makes you feel good.
COOPER: Serotonin.
TAUB-DIX: Yes, because it raises serotonin levels. So when you add carbohydrates to your diet, you get that "ahh" factor where you feel like you've actually had something that you enjoy.
COOPER: But so you say any diet that says -- that eliminates an entire food group is not going to work?
TAUB-DIX: Right, you know that's bad news, because that has nothing to do with real life. After being on a high-fat, high-protein diet for a while, even a dry cracker looks good. So the important thing is to have balance in your diet. Every nutrient is important. No food should be left out. But you have to watch your portion sizes and balance foods throughout the (INAUDIBLE)...
COOPER: And that's really what it's about, portion size?
TAUB-DIX: Yeah, always. Always comes down to that.
COOPER: Let's talk diet blunder number two. You say pigging out on so-called diet foods, or light foods.
TAUB-DIX: Yes.
COOPER: Why is that a problem?
TAUB-DIX: I'll give you an example. Light olive oil, for example, means lighter color, lighter flavor, same calories as the regular oil.
COOPER: Oh, is that true?
TAUB-DIX: Absolutely.
COOPER: I didn't know that.
TAUB-DIX: So the thickest, richest olive oil you can find, the better off you are, because you can actually taste it.
COOPER: And olive oil has a lot of calories, which I mean, most people think, oh, it's a diet thing, but it's got healthy fats, right?
TAUB-DIX: Right, healthy fats, but that doesn't mean that fat is healthy if you're very overweight. So you have to be careful about the amount of fat you eat as well as the kind of fat you eat.
COOPER: Diet blunder number three, getting on the scale every day. Why is that a problem?
TAUB-DIX: Bad news. Because the scale doesn't only weigh fat, which most people think; it also measures the fluid in your body. So if you eat dinner out, and half of our food dollars goes to restaurants, is salt acts like a magnet to water. So salt increases the fluid in your body, so you can weigh yourself after having two pickles which are only 10 calories each, and be two pounds up.
COOPER: You say you should weigh yourself, what, twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays?
TAUB-DIX: Yes, Fridays and Mondays. Friday because that's before the weekend. If you weigh a little more than you thought, then you may cut back a little over the weekend. And Mondays, because if you lost weight on Friday, you won't fool around too much on the weekend because you know Monday you have to weigh yourself.
COOPER: Diet blunder number four, thinking liquids don't count. Frozen margueritas got, what, 650 calories? A bottle of vitamin water has like 128 or so?
TAUB-DIX: It could. It could. You just have to check the labels. Some of these vitamin waters actually have no calories, but many do. And a lot of people think that because you don't chew that it doesn't have any calories, and that's just not true. We have a huge problem with obesity with kids nowadays, and kids drink a lot of fruit juices. So again, just because something is healthy doesn't mean that it's low in calories.
COOPER: All right, what about like things like jamba juice or smoothies? I mean, I have one every day for lunch. Is that a good diet choice?
TAUB-DIX: Well, we'll talk after about your smoothie...
COOPER: Oh, really?
TAUB-DIX: But they could be loaded with calories. So it really depends on what's in it.
COOPER: Diet blunder number five, you say failure to reward yourself. Why is it important to reward yourself?
TAUB-DIX: Well, you know, losing weight is a very dynamic process. You know, when your clothing's getting bigger and people are complimenting you, you actually feel the motivation to keep on, but once you're at the wait that you want to be or you're not losing that much weight anymore, sometimes the motivation falls off. So you have to remember that you need to reward yourself for all that you've done, because studies show now that even just losing 5 to 10 percent of your body weight, which could only be 10 to 15 pounds, could dramatically improve blood sugar, blood pressure, high cholesterol levels. So what a lot of people do is they make the mistake by rewarding themselves when they lose weight with food that's high in calories. That usually turns into a punishment, not a reward.
COOPER: Bonnie, thanks very much. Good advice.
TAUB-DIX: You're so welcome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Up next on 360, just in time for Father's Day, a new dad. 360 MD Sanjay Gupta looks for advice on how to be the best parent.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: In tonight's "Current," Father's Day is this Sunday, just around the corner. We have a new father in our 360 family. Dr. Sanjay Gupta's daughter was born just two days ago, and like many new dads, Sanjay needed some advice on parenting. He didn't have to go very far to get it, though.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I wanted to get the best advice that I could so I could be the best parent possible. So I went to the source. CNN, certainly. There are a lot of fathers here, I've found out. Here's some of the advice that I got.
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There aren't very many tricks to being a good parent. Make sure they know you love them. Remember that caring and kindness and things like that are taught by example.
GUPTA: I was warned that it wouldn't be easy.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The first two weeks are the hardest. And then the next two weeks, they're hard, too. And then the next two weeks, they're kind of hard. And then after that, like the whole next month, that's a little hard. And then like even for the next couple of months after that, it's getting a little better, but it's still not that good.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: You know, when you think, just when you think brain surgery is hard, try fatherhood on for size. Now, that is a job.
GUPTA: The joys of fatherhood were always mentioned.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's worth it in the long run. It's worth it every day, because this is the best, best experience, the most productive, the most wonderful experience that you're about to have in your life.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is going to completely, completely change your life. Only you have no idea what that really means until after the wonderful event. But I can tell you this, it is the best thing that will ever happen to you.
GUPTA: Most people told me to simply forget about sleep.
O'BRIEN: The first thing I would say to a normal dad was, I'd say "forget about sleep for a little while," but you know, Sanjay Gupta, my gosh, this guy, he can't sleep, right? He probably hasn't slept in 23 years.
GUPTA: Lou Dobbs, not surprisingly, had some wise words for me.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: In terms of advice I can give you as a father of four, two boys and two girls, give them roots, give them wings, cross your fingers.
GUPTA: Some do's.
MYERS: The first smile is pretty special, man. You need to be there for that.
GUPTA: Some don't's.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Never forget Mother's Day.
GUPTA: I love this advice from Aaron.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Take a picture every Sunday for 52 weeks for the first year of your child's life. You will look back on those pictures and be amazed at what has happened in a year.
Five minutes before you go to bed every night, go sit in your baby's room for as long as she'll let you, and just sit there for five minutes, and listen to her sleep, and think about her life and your life. It's magic.
GUPTA: Perhaps the wisest piece of advice I got was this.
SUBHASH GUPTA, SANJAY'S DAD: Childhood is a very -- it's not a -- it's a limited time. So you are going to enjoy every moment of their different phases of childhood, don't put it off, think that I can do later. This, once it passes, it doesn't come back.
GUPTA: After all this sage advice, I somehow feel better about being a father, especially on this Father's Day.
SUBHASH GUPTA: Congratulations. I love you both. Spend as much time as possible. However, don't spoil them, because that's really the grandparents' job. So don't do my job now!
GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COLLINS: Happy Father's Day, Sanjay. And to my husband and father, too.
Thanks for watching, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. CNN's prime- time coverage continues now with Paula Zahn. Hi, Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Heidi. Thanks for the reminder, for all those children out there who think, oh my goodness, I better start working on the cards now. Have a good weekend, Heidi.
END
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 17, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Lou, thanks very much.
Good evening, everyone. Another arrest in Aruba. Tonight, Natalee Holloway's mom speaks out. 360 starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Another arrest in Aruba. Four suspects. What do they know about Natalee Holloway's disappearance? Tonight, we are live from Aruba with reaction from Natalee's mother.
Another earthquake hits California. It's the fourth one in this week. Will there be more?
And our special series, "Choose to Lose." A big fat Greek diet? How one man lost so much weight, his own mother didn't recognize him. Tonight, the doctor who shed hundreds of pounds. Could his diet plan work for you?
Plus, a boarding school for obese children. Tonight, a radical program to help kids overcome their weight issues.
And why can't people stick to their diets? A 360 look at the top five dieting pitfalls. And how you can stay on track. All part of our special series, "Choose to Lose."
Live from the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Good evening, everyone. Anderson is off tonight.
We begin with new developments in the desperate search for Natalee Holloway. The Alabama teenager disappeared on May 30 during a class trip to Aruba. Today, the deejay of a popular party boat was taken into custody, making him the fourth suspect now being held in connection with the case.
In just a moment, we're going to talk live with Natalee's mother. But first, we want to get to CNN's Karl Penhaul in Palm Beach, Aruba now with the very latest. Karl, good evening.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Evening, Heidi.
Prosecutors and police tell us that fourth arrest took place at about 6:30 this morning. A very understated affair, according to the uncle of the suspect. He didn't become aware of that arrest until after he woke up. He says his nephew, Stephen Croes was the man arrested. He's a 26-year-old deejay on the Tattoo Party Boat.
Talking to Stephen Croes's uncle, he says he's a quiet guy. We went down to the pier and talked to Marcus Williams, he's boss of the Tattoo Party Boat. He described Steve Cruz as a model employee, but he also did tell us that Steve Croes is well able to pilot boats and to drive boats. He also said that he believes that Steve Croes knows one of the other three suspects in custody, because they met at one of the Internet cafes.
And as we speak, Heidi, one of those three suspects, Joran Van Der Sloot, is still in court. We're expecting a ruling over the weekend from judges as to whether they will hold the three suspects for a further eight days -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Karl Penhaul live from Aruba tonight. Karl, thanks so much for that.
We can only imagine what Natalee's family is going through at this moment. Despite a massive search operation throughout the island, Aruban authorities have found no sign of the Alabama teenager. So far, no charges have been filed against any of the four men being held in connection with Natalee's disappearance.
Three of the young suspects were with Natalee the night she vanished. And Natalee's family believes they are hiding something.
Beth Holloway Twitty is the mother of Natalee Holloway. She's joining me now from Palm Beach, Aruba. Thanks so much for being with us Ms. Twitty. I can only imagine the pain and difficulty you're having going through all of this.
But we want to ask you first tonight if authorities have told you how this fourth person is connected to the disappearance of your daughter.
BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY, NATALEE HOLLOWAY'S MOTHER: No, they haven't. And you know I thought about it. And of course it's been no secret of my feelings and thoughts on the other individuals that I strongly feel are definitely involved with my daughter's disappearance. But you know, I just do not have any thoughts or feelings about this one. And of course, I was surprised. And I'm anxious to find out further information.
COLLINS: In fact, you have said this is only the beginning of more arrests to come. What do you think it is that leads you to think that way?
TWITTY: Well, I think that, how the story has unfolded only leads us to believe that we're not even at the beginning yet.
COLLINS: I know that you also had a chance to speak with the three suspects -- we just saw a picture of them -- before they were arrested. What was your impression of them? Could you take anything away from what they said to you?
TWITTY: You know, I really didn't speak with all three of the suspects. Only one of the suspects approached the vehicle that I was seated in. And what was given to me from him was a very condescending, arrogant, and very cold and somewhat powerful attitude.
COLLINS: No compassion for you?
TWITTY: Absolutely not. Very limited communicative exchanges, may only have happened for a minute and-a-half,. but That is all that I -- that's all the contact that I had with that suspect, one of the suspects.
COLLINS: It's been almost three weeks now since your daughter, Natalee disappeared. No charges have been filed. And some people believe that the police have made crucial mistakes in their investigation. What's your opinion at this point of how the police have handled the case?
TWITTY: Well, I think I'll just let everyone judge for themselves. And I'd really rather not comment on that right now.
COLLINS: All right. Fair enough. You have repeatedly said, though that you aren't getting the answers. And that the suspects keep lying. Do you think the police are doing enough on their part to put pressure on them to get some of those answers?
TWITTY: I certainly hope so. Because if they are, we will get results, and I will find Natalee.
COLLINS: And as I said earlier, I realize the past few weeks have been terribly agonizing for you. Talk to us a little bit about how you and your family are holding up.
TWITTY: Well, of course, as you all can see, we have the most amazing support from Natalee's community of Mountain Brook, Alabama, from Birmingham, Alabama from -- I've had people from all over the United States send me e-mails, letters, cards. People come up to me here in the lobby of the Holiday Inn Hotel and it's just amazing their support.
And you know, I've always, I just want to let everyone know I have complete trust and faith in God. And I know that is what's getting the entire family through this.
COLLINS: It must be absolutely exhausting, though, at the same time. Can you tell us a little bit about how your day goes? When you get up in the morning, is there a meeting with a group of people? Or do you plan out the day? Or have some sort of logistical operation that you go through?
TWITTY: You know, every day is so different. There's no way I could even describe, because every day, every hour, every afternoon is different and changing.
COLLINS: Tell us, if you would, a little bit about Natalee before we let you go tonight. If you could talk to her, what would you tell her?
TWITTY: We're ready. We were ready. We're here. We are here. We're waiting. We're watching. And we're listening. And we are ready for Natalee. We are ready. We are ready for answers. And we're doing everything that we know to do to get the answers.
COLLINS: Our thoughts and prayers are with you certainly tonight and as you go on through the day.
TWITTY: Thank you so much.
COLLINS: We appreciate your time so very much. Beth Holloway Twitty, Natalee's mother tonight, from Aruba.
Well, it's known as the Golden State, but lately, California has been making news for earthquakes, one after the other in fact. In less than a week, California has been shaken by four earthquakes. The latest coming last night near Eureka. It measured 6.6 on the Richter scale.
One seismologist calls the cluster of quakes unusual, but doesn't mean the big one is eminent. CNN's Peter Viles traveled to the San Andreas Fault to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In places it's beautiful and others it's a scar in the desert: the San Andreas Fault, California's ticking time bomb.
(on camera): So we are now in the fault, right?
DR. SALLY MCGILL, CAL STATE SAN BERNARDINO: Yes. We're walking right along the fault.
VILES (voice-over): Make no mistake, this portion of the fault is overdue for a big one, we're talking a magnitude 7.5 or bigger earthquake.
MCGILL: This is part of the San Andreas Fault on average produces earthquakes every 100 to 150 years. The most recent one was in 1812, here. So we've gone almost 200 years without an earthquake. So we've gone beyond the average interval between earthquakes. So in that sense, yes, we are overdue.
VILES: When the big one comes it won't be like the movies. There won't be any gaping hole.
(on camera): We wouldn't be swallowed up or anything?
MCGILL: Probably not.
VILES (voice-over): But there will be a sudden shift along the fault.
(on camera): So this wall moves that way. MCGILL: Uh-huh.
VILES: And this one goes that way.
MCGILL: That's right.
VILES: Real fast?
MCGILL: In any single point on the fault that slippage would happen in a matter of one or two seconds.
VILES (voice-over): And if it's the big one, the damage will extend up and down the fault and for miles and miles on either side of it. It will be bigger than Loma Prieta in '85, bigger than Northridge in '94, bigger than Kobe in '95. None of those was above 7.0.
ROSS STEIN, USGS GEOPHYSICIST: This earthquake in Southern California we think has about a 35 percent likelihood in the next 30 years. OK? That's a one in three shot.
VILES: There's also a chance the big one won't be along the San Andreas fault. There's another fault under downtown L.A. Will we see the big one coming? No one knows. Sometimes there are foreshocks, but there are no geological clues offered here.
MCGILL: Yesterday's earthquake in Yucaipa was very close to the San Andreas Fault, could potentially be a foreshock, might not be a fore -- most likely it's not a foreshock, but there is a small chance that it will be.
VILES: A small chance the big one is coming soon, but sooner or later, it is coming.
(on camera): And how long has the fault been here?
MCGILL: Oh, probably about four or five million years.
VILES (voice-over): Peter Viles for CNN, along the San Andreas Fault.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: 360 next now, weight loss inspirations. Meet a man who lost more than half his body weight -- so much his mother didn't even recognize him.
Plus, how far would you go to lose weight? How surgery made some surprising changes in one woman's life.
And it's no ordinary school. We'll take you to a place that teaches kids how to get in shape. All part of our special series, "Choose to Lose."
But first, your picks, the most popular stories on cnn.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We hear about it and we see it every day. America has a weight problem. Some people struggle all their lives with those extra pounds, and never really shed them. Others have better luck. Tonight, we bring you a series of inspiring stories we call "Choose to Lose," about losing weight and keeping it off.
In our first report, CNN's Gary Tuchman introduces us to a man who lost more than most of us weigh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the Nick Yphantides who loved baseball and food, but not necessarily in that order.
DR. NICK YPHANTIDES: It's a bagel.
TUCHMAN: He called himself a big fat Greek. Dr. Nick, family practitioner, who knew he should be an example to his patients, wasn't even sure how much he weighed, because the scale didn't go high enough. But after stepping on two scales, he found out he weighed nearly a quarter ton.
N. YPHANTIDES: When I realized I weighed 467, you could have just told me my mother died. I was bawling. I was just so humiliated.
TUCHMAN: He also became motivated. This is Dr. Nick today, 6- foot-2, around 200 pounds. A bout with testicular cancer convinced him his life had to change.
N. YPHANTIDES: And it hit my like a ton of bricks how ridiculous it was having dodged the cancer bullet, and on the other side of life I was literally killing myself. I am convinced now that I was committing a slow form of suicide by eating myself to death.
TUCHMAN: So Dr. Nick planned a very ambitious diet. On the night before it was to begin, though, one last monster dinner. A double portion of porterhouse steak, several appetizers, cheesecake and a banana cream pie.
N. YPHANTIDES: We went to the Ruth's Chris Steak House here in San Diego, and I let it all hang out. Thirty-five years of bad habits culminated in one evening of food decadence. The next day, I went on the liquid fast that would last for eight months.
TUCHMAN: Under medical supervision, he only drank protein shakes, exercised regularly, and went off in this RV on what he called a radical sabbatical, a journey to each of the 30 Major League Baseball stadiums, including the home of his beloved San Diego Padres.
(on camera): Do you think you could have lost all this weight without the distraction of something like baseball?
N. YPHANTIDES: I'm not sure I could have. TUCHMAN (voice-over): He went to 110 games. At Chicago's Wrigley Field, he successfully performed CPR on a fan having a heart attack.
N. YPHANTIDES: When I got back to my seat, in true baseball hospitality fashion, people are like, whoa, how did you do that? Well, I'm a doctor. Whoa, can I buy you a beer? And I'm like, well, I don't drink. Can I buy you a hot dog? I don't eat.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Dr. Nick spent five months going to all the Major League Baseball cities. Despite the temptations of kielbasa, hot dogs and pizza, not to mention peanuts and Cracker Jacks, he lost 188 pounds.
(voice-over): He hadn't seen his mother for months. Home video caught her reaction when he returned to his home in Escondido.
BERNICE YPHANTIDES, DR. NICK'S MOTHER: He had lost so much weight and also got a haircut and just looked so different. I was just shocked at the door.
TUCHMAN (on camera): He was your own flesh and blood and you didn't even recognize him?
B. YPHANTIDES: No. It was a miraculous, joyful moment.
TUCHMAN: Nick lost an additional 82 pounds for a total of 270. His first solid food was eaten with flair on Thanksgiving, and also captured on home video.
In the three years since his diet, Dr. Nick fell in love and got married. Debbie Yphantides gave birth to their daughter Nicky in April.
Dr. Nick wrote a book, appropriately named "My Big Fat Greek Diet," in which he tells his story and gives his medical viewpoint about how others can lose weight and keep it off.
He writes that a liquid diet is certainly not for everybody. It should only be done under a doctor's care. He preaches about working out, something he tries to do seven days a week at his home YMCA.
The Greek food is still plentiful at family gatherings in Escondido. But Nick says the vivid memories of his past give him plenty of incentive to eat in moderation.
N. YPHANTIDES: These clothes used to be tight on me.
TUCHMAN (on camera): And what are the size of these?
N. YPHANTIDES: This is a size 60 pant, five feet around.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): And baseball remains an important diversion. Cheering on the Padres with his wife and daughter serves as a reminder of what his life was once like and how fortunate he is now.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Escondido, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: You'd never know it was the same guy.
We're going to have more inspiring diet stories coming up in just a minute, but first, we want to get to Erica Hill from HEADLINE NEWS. She's joining us now with the latest at 20 past the hour. Hi, Erica.
ERICA HILL, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Hey, Heidi. Nice to see you.
COLLINS: You, too.
HILL: We start off today with a new video said to be from al Qaeda's number-two man. The Arabic language network aired parts of the video earlier. In it, the man said to be Ayman al-Zawahiri denounces the U.S. proposal for reform in the Middle East, saying jihad is the only way. Al Jazeera says on other parts of the tape, al-Zawahiri criticizes the governments of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
In Iraq, more deadly explosions. A car bombing today outside a mosque in Baghdad killed an Iraqi civilian and wounded eight others. Meantime, the military says two Marines died in combat yesterday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Ramadi.
Tallahassee, Florida now, a new investigation into Terri Schiavo's death. Governor Jeb Bush has asked a prosecutor to investigate Schiavo's collapse 15 years ago. That collapse left her in a coma until her death in March. Bush cited an alleged gap between the time her husband, Michael, found her, and when he called 911.
Bush says the probe request is not meant to suggest any wrongdoing.
In New York City, for the second time in just a week, a helicopter crashes into the East River. It went down just a few hours ago. A fire department spokesman tells CNN eight people were on board. They were all rescued.
On Tuesday, a sight-seeing helicopter also crashed into the river. All seven on board that copter survived.
Scary stuff, Heidi. That's the latest from Headlines. Back over to you.
COLLINS: Yeah. I walked by a monitor in the studio here, and thought it was the same crash they were rerunning for some reason.
HILL: I did, too.
COLLINS: But it wasn't. Thankfully everybody is all right, though.
Erica, thanks so much. We'll see you again in about 30 minutes. Next on 360, our "Choose to Lose" special conditions. Many people have tried a number of diet programs and they just didn't work. We'll show you the five most common mistakes to look out for.
Also tonight, a boot camp for overweight teens. It's not only weight reduction, but also weight education.
And a little later, when everything else fails, many risk their lives going under the knife to lose weight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We are back with another remarkable weight loss story, part of our "Choose to Lose" series. Last year, more than 140,000 Americans went under the knife to lose weight. It's dangerous surgery that can sometimes be deadly. But some people feel they have no other choice.
As CNN's Adoara Udoji reports, one woman who lost weight that way ended up with some surprising changes in her life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four years ago, Lisa Sohr had little to celebrate at this birthday party.
LISA SOHR, LAPAROSCOPIC GASTRIC BAND PATIENT: (INAUDIBLE).
UDOJI: She weighed 236 pounds and could barely walk without a cane.
L. SOHR: I was 33 years old, or I had just turned 33 years old. And I couldn't move. I was crawling up the stairs.
UDOJI: Even more incredible because she was once a New York City cop, an athletic woman who loved action. Ironically, she put on weight because of her job.
L. SOHR: I had a tussle with a burglar who kind of went through me like I wasn't there at 130 pounds. I got teased mercilessly for it.
UDOJI: She bulked up from 130 to 150 pounds. Then, she got hit by a car on the job and suffered other injuries. They led to at least half a dozen surgeries and painful recuperations. She was forced to retire from the job she loved. The pounds kept piling up.
L. SOHR: I didn't actually go out into public. I was very content to stay in the shelter of the house and be a hermit.
UDOJI: Then came arthritis in both knees, a painful herniated disc in her back. She tried every diet, every workout regime. Nothing worked. Focusing on her father, who she followed into the NYPD and who died morbidly obese at just 51, she found the strength to make changes.
L. SOHR: I knew exactly where my life was going and I knew if I didn't do something drastic, I was going to die.
UDOJI: That radical something was laparoscopic gastric band surgery. Doctors inserted a band around her stomach, creating a small pouch, limiting how much food she could eat, a less invasive surgery than gastric bypass, where doctors remove part of a patient's stomach.
She suffered no side effects. The weight melted off dramatically -- within six months, 50 pounds lost. In a year, 100 pounds. She went from a size 24 to a size zero.
L. SOHR: I was so excited.
UDOJI: But her surgeon, Dr. Nick Gabriel, thought 106 pounds was too thin, so Lisa gained a few pounds back, moving to a size four. He says she was a model patient.
DR. NICK GABRIEL, ST. VINCENT'S HOSPITAL: When I first met Lisa about two-and-a-half years ago, you know, she challenged me. And I was just going with the statistics, telling her, you know, it's very difficult to lose 100 percent. And she told me well, I'm going to lose it all.
UDOJI: He also says often people think their lives will be perfect after they lose the weight, automatic happiness. They don't realize, he says, there's always a risk with surgery, and even when successful, the changes are life altering.
L. SOHR: Hey, what's up?
GABRIEL: There is always new issues to deal with at every level, you know -- people that you live with, people that you work with, your spouses or significant others, your children, even. All these things are going to be affected somehow, some way.
UDOJI: It changed Lisa's life in good ways and bad. Her social life blossomed. She started playing darts again, made new friends. But her marriage crumbled. Her ex, she said, wasn't used to her being out and about.
L. SOHR: We had already had a lot of problems, a lack of communication. And it just kind of took a bad situation and made it worse.
UDOJI: But she also found new pleasures in every day life, like vacations. During a trip to Florida, she met a new man, Bari, when buying her first bikini.
BARI SOHR, LISA'S HUSBAND: She had the beautiful eyes. So for me, her eyes is just doing it for me.
UDOJI: They married this year.
B. SOHR: When you commit to something, you're going to go all the way. There is no mountains. If there is a mountain, she's going to go directly to the mountain and she's going to break the mountain and she's going to go after that. This is Lisa. That's why I love her so much.
L. SOHR: He's my total cheering squad. He puts me in the right state of mind all the time.
UDOJI: Still, she doesn't want anyone to think it's been easy. She has to stay disciplined every day.
L. SOHR: I don't have a lot of cooking in here.
UDOJI: And she still has hard days.
L. SOHR: You still think you look fat. I don't think you ever get rid of that. I don't think you ever separate from the old you. There's always some point where you're going to feel...
UDOJI (on camera): Even now...
L. SOHR: Even now...
UDOJI: ... you look in the mirror and you say?
L. SOHR: Even now I look in the mirror and I can say I still feel fat sometimes.
UDOJI (voice-over): She warns others considering the procedure, stomach surgery is not a magic bullet. They need determination, patience and good support.
L. SOHR: It's very important that you look at food in a different way. It's not necessarily your best friend anymore.
UDOJI: The payoffs have changed her life. Today, going to restaurants...
L. SOHR: Take a bite.
UDOJI: ... heading to the mall, stores like The Next Boutique.
L. SOHR: When I first lost weight, I came here and the girls were really nice to me.
UDOJI: Lisa Sohr worked hard to make herself happy. Today, she dreams about the future, even starting a family, a dream too risky, perhaps impossible, before she confronted an illness millions of Americans battle every day.
Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: A boarding school for obese children. Tonight, a radical program to help kids overcome their weight issues.
And why can't people stick to their diets? A 360 look at the top five dieting pitfalls and how you can stay on track, all part of our special series, "Choose to Lose." 360 continues.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: One of the greatest health threats facing American teenagers is obesity. According to Centers for Disease Control, the number of overweight young people has tripled over the past 25 years. The problem is a very real one, but what should be done about it? CNN's Gary Tuchman looks at one radical solution as our series, "Choose to Lose," continues.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): When getting to this isolated location in California's San Joaquin Valley, it's easy to lose your way. But once there, the time has come to find your way.
(on camera): How much did you weigh when you came?
JARED FITZPATRICK, ACADEMY OF THE SIERRAS STUDENT: Two hundred and twenty.
MAL MAHEDY, ACADEMY OF THE SIERRAS STUDENT: I weighed 322 pounds.
TERRY HENRY, ACADEMY OF THE SIERRAS STUDENT: I weighed 591 pounds at my peak.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): These are teenagers who in a sense have become weight loss pioneers in a brand new program.
RYAN CRAIG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ACADEMY OF THE SIERRAS: Academy of the Sierras is the first year-round treatment program for obese and overweight adolescents, and we do it in a boarding school environment.
TUCHMAN: Jared Fitzpatrick (ph) is 13, from Illinois. He is the boy who used to weigh 220.
(on camera): How much do you weigh right now?
FITZPATRICK: One hundred and thirty-eight.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Mal Mahedy is 17 from Florida. She's the one who weighed 322. She's lost 130 pounds, coming here after a debilitating sophomore year of high school.
MAHEDY: It was the most traumatic experience I have ever had. I -- it got to the point where I was being made fun of every day, and I just eventually quit school, and I had to be privately tutored.
TUCHMAN: And 16-year-old Terry Henry from New Hampshire is the teen who weighed 591. His life has been very difficult. But he's now lost 254 pounds.
(on camera): How were you able to even know how much you weighed? The scales don't go that high?
HENRY: I got on a cattle scale.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): They do their reading, writing and arithmetic here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you're like giving us the wrong answer.
TUCHMAN: But the reason their families are paying a steep $5,500 a month is because nothing else has worked in their efforts to lose weight.
(on camera): In a typical day, when you weighed 591 pounds, how much food did you eat?
HENRY: About 60,000 calories a day.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): About 2,000 calories a day is what the students here average, while eating three meals and two snacks. They're allowed no more than 12 daily fat grams.
They keep journals of what they eat and how they feel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm still hungry, and it's after dinner. I wanted some more soft serve.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cooking something does require coming up with a plan for it.
TUCHMAN: They learn how to prepare healthy foods with other kids who understand what they're going through.
(on camera): Did you know about nutritious foods before you took this class?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not really. Like, I knew how to make macaroni and cheese.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): They're required to exercise every day. All students wear pedometers. Five miles of walking, 10,000 steps are required.
(on camera): Do you carry a pedometer with you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: And how many steps have you taken today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Five thousand ninety.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Privileges are taken away from anyone who ignores exercise and other requirements.
Fourteen-year-old Shari Lininger is challenging me to a one-on- one.
(on camera): Nice shot. You are the winner.
(voice-over): And challenging herself to lose more than the 82 pounds she has already shed, so she can pursue a singing career.
SHARI LININGER, ACADEMY OF THE SIERRAS STUDENT: I have a passion for that, and I knew that my weight would potentially keep me from doing that and keep me from being successful in that area of my life.
TUCHMAN (on camera): This class of 36 has lost a combined total of more than 2,400 pounds. Almost all of the kids say they have zooming confidence levels.
But what happens when they get back in the real world where there are lots of fast food restaurants and menacing high school classmates?
(voice-over): Those types of questions are addressed in behavioral classes here, which may be the most important lessons of all.
MOLLY CARMEL, DEP. CLINICAL DIRECTOR, ACADEMY OF THE SIERRAS: It would be nearly impossible for them to do anything if they didn't change the behaviors that they came in with.
TUCHMAN: Terry says he has become disciplined and motivated.
HENRY: If it definitely wasn't for this place, I would probably be dead right now. Seriously. I mean, I was one of the biggest human beings in the world. I'd like to get my weight around 200 pounds.
TUCHMAN (on camera): So that means you still have about another 137 to go, right?
HENRY: Yep.
TUCHMAN: You think you'll make it?
HENRY: I know I'll make it.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Experts not affiliated with the school say the families are a key to these teenagers succeeding.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Things have to change at home. So while the child's away, the family really needs to implement some major changes as well.
TUCHMAN: The school says it is training the parents, as its first group of eight students goes home for good this week. And while we are there, a goodbye ceremony for those leaving.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love you, and everybody, I love you all. And I'll miss you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm ready to use the skills which I have been taught for the past nine months. I'm ready to start my life again and to succeed this time.
TUCHMAN: Terry is not leaving yet. He has more weight to lose, but he received an award for being so inspirational.
As for Shari, who is going home, her voice elegantly conveys her feelings about her classmates.
LININGER (singing): And I will remember you. Will you remember me? Don't let your life pass you by, weep not for the memory.
TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Reedley, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: 360 next, losing the pounds and keeping them off. As our "Choose to Lose" special continues, we'll tell you the top five dieting mistakes to avoid.
Also tonight, a brand new baby in time for Father's Day. But what's in store for 360 MD Sanjay Gupta? I could tell him. He gets some advice tonight.
Plus, toga parties with Jimmy Buffett on the stage? All at shareholders' expense. The jury today delivered the verdict to Dennis Kozlowski in the Tyco trial.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Erica Hill from HEADLINE NEWS joins us once again with the latest at about quarter till the hour. Hi again, Erica.
HILL: Hi again, Heidi.
In Iran it appears there's no outright winner tonight in the presidential elections. Aides to moderate cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and reformist candidate Mustafa Moin, are claiming runoff spots. Official results are expected on Saturday. One of the issues facing the new president is global suspicion, of course, that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.
An important recall notice tonight for 50,000 heart patients with implanted cardiac defibrillators. Guidant Corporation says the difibrillators could have flaws. It says it will replace more than half of them. At least two patients with the device died. The company recommends patients who recently received a defibrillator shock should consult a physician.
We hate to tell you, but another credit card security breach tonight, Mastercard now telling its member banks a hacker may have gained access to more than 40 million credit cards of all brands. The company is in the process of telling banks which specific card accounts are compromised.
A big victory in New York today for prosecutors pursuing the recent wave of corporate scandals. A jury found former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski and his finance chief guilty of stealing more than $150 million. Both men could be sentenced to 25 years in prison on the most serious charge of grand larceny. The Tyco trial revealed Kozlowski's alleged heavy spending of company money, including the infamous $6,000 shower curtain and a $15,000 umbrella stand, nice birthday party for his wife, the list goes on and on.
COLLINS: The party was something else, too.
HILL: Yes. An interesting party indeed.
COLLINS: And I've always wondered, did we ever determine exactly what fabric that shower curtain was? Here's the party now, too.
HILL: I don't know that we have, but I hope it was a really nice fabric for six grand.
COLLINS: Gold and myrrh maybe.
HILL: Yeah, I think that's exactly what it was.
Well, have a great weekend. Hope you get to go to a party like that.
COLLINS: Yeah. I'm planning on it, actually. Erica Hill, thanks so much. See you again, in about 30 minutes.
Let's find out what's coming up at the top of the hour with Paula Zahn. Hi to you, Paula
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Heidi. Thanks so much.
We're going to start off our broadcast tonight talking about a very deadly problem, in fact, one of the deadliest health problems in the country right now, in a place you'd least suspect.
Believe it or not, one study estimates that mistakes at hospitals kill more than 100,000 people every year. That's more than AIDS, breast cancer, even car accidents. We're going to hear one family's frightening story at the top of the hour. And we'll have some advice on how to defend yourself or protect yourself against potential hospital horrors.
When you hear the story tonight of what this family went through, it will break your heart.
COLLINS: Yeah. Unbelievable. All right, Paula, we'll be looking forward to that. Thanks so much.
360 next, CNN's newest father, Dr. Sanjay Gupta gets some fatherly advice from his colleagues. He looks like he's doing just fine, though.
Also tonight, diet no-nos, the five most common blunders we make trying to lose weight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: If you're one of the millions of Americans trying to lose weight, going on a diet isn't exactly the problem. The challenge is staying on it. But How do you know what works and what doesn't? We at 360 want to help by showing you the five most common diet mistakes to look out for. To get the tips, Anderson spoke with Bonnie , a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about diet blunder number one, carb deprivation. At the height of the low-carb craze, the Atkins craze, the South Beach diet, I read that 27 million Americans were on some kind of low-carb diet. About half of those have dropped off. That's incredible.
BONNIE TAUB-DIX, REGISTERED DIETITIAN: That's wonderful. I'm really happy about that, because the whole low-carb craze was really pretty ridiculous. Any diet that says no something, you know is already bad news. So the key is really adding carbohydrates to your diet. It's not only important for energy, but carbs actually are the brain's feel-good chemical. Makes you feel good.
COOPER: Serotonin.
TAUB-DIX: Yes, because it raises serotonin levels. So when you add carbohydrates to your diet, you get that "ahh" factor where you feel like you've actually had something that you enjoy.
COOPER: But so you say any diet that says -- that eliminates an entire food group is not going to work?
TAUB-DIX: Right, you know that's bad news, because that has nothing to do with real life. After being on a high-fat, high-protein diet for a while, even a dry cracker looks good. So the important thing is to have balance in your diet. Every nutrient is important. No food should be left out. But you have to watch your portion sizes and balance foods throughout the (INAUDIBLE)...
COOPER: And that's really what it's about, portion size?
TAUB-DIX: Yeah, always. Always comes down to that.
COOPER: Let's talk diet blunder number two. You say pigging out on so-called diet foods, or light foods.
TAUB-DIX: Yes.
COOPER: Why is that a problem?
TAUB-DIX: I'll give you an example. Light olive oil, for example, means lighter color, lighter flavor, same calories as the regular oil.
COOPER: Oh, is that true?
TAUB-DIX: Absolutely.
COOPER: I didn't know that.
TAUB-DIX: So the thickest, richest olive oil you can find, the better off you are, because you can actually taste it.
COOPER: And olive oil has a lot of calories, which I mean, most people think, oh, it's a diet thing, but it's got healthy fats, right?
TAUB-DIX: Right, healthy fats, but that doesn't mean that fat is healthy if you're very overweight. So you have to be careful about the amount of fat you eat as well as the kind of fat you eat.
COOPER: Diet blunder number three, getting on the scale every day. Why is that a problem?
TAUB-DIX: Bad news. Because the scale doesn't only weigh fat, which most people think; it also measures the fluid in your body. So if you eat dinner out, and half of our food dollars goes to restaurants, is salt acts like a magnet to water. So salt increases the fluid in your body, so you can weigh yourself after having two pickles which are only 10 calories each, and be two pounds up.
COOPER: You say you should weigh yourself, what, twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays?
TAUB-DIX: Yes, Fridays and Mondays. Friday because that's before the weekend. If you weigh a little more than you thought, then you may cut back a little over the weekend. And Mondays, because if you lost weight on Friday, you won't fool around too much on the weekend because you know Monday you have to weigh yourself.
COOPER: Diet blunder number four, thinking liquids don't count. Frozen margueritas got, what, 650 calories? A bottle of vitamin water has like 128 or so?
TAUB-DIX: It could. It could. You just have to check the labels. Some of these vitamin waters actually have no calories, but many do. And a lot of people think that because you don't chew that it doesn't have any calories, and that's just not true. We have a huge problem with obesity with kids nowadays, and kids drink a lot of fruit juices. So again, just because something is healthy doesn't mean that it's low in calories.
COOPER: All right, what about like things like jamba juice or smoothies? I mean, I have one every day for lunch. Is that a good diet choice?
TAUB-DIX: Well, we'll talk after about your smoothie...
COOPER: Oh, really?
TAUB-DIX: But they could be loaded with calories. So it really depends on what's in it.
COOPER: Diet blunder number five, you say failure to reward yourself. Why is it important to reward yourself?
TAUB-DIX: Well, you know, losing weight is a very dynamic process. You know, when your clothing's getting bigger and people are complimenting you, you actually feel the motivation to keep on, but once you're at the wait that you want to be or you're not losing that much weight anymore, sometimes the motivation falls off. So you have to remember that you need to reward yourself for all that you've done, because studies show now that even just losing 5 to 10 percent of your body weight, which could only be 10 to 15 pounds, could dramatically improve blood sugar, blood pressure, high cholesterol levels. So what a lot of people do is they make the mistake by rewarding themselves when they lose weight with food that's high in calories. That usually turns into a punishment, not a reward.
COOPER: Bonnie, thanks very much. Good advice.
TAUB-DIX: You're so welcome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Up next on 360, just in time for Father's Day, a new dad. 360 MD Sanjay Gupta looks for advice on how to be the best parent.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: In tonight's "Current," Father's Day is this Sunday, just around the corner. We have a new father in our 360 family. Dr. Sanjay Gupta's daughter was born just two days ago, and like many new dads, Sanjay needed some advice on parenting. He didn't have to go very far to get it, though.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I wanted to get the best advice that I could so I could be the best parent possible. So I went to the source. CNN, certainly. There are a lot of fathers here, I've found out. Here's some of the advice that I got.
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There aren't very many tricks to being a good parent. Make sure they know you love them. Remember that caring and kindness and things like that are taught by example.
GUPTA: I was warned that it wouldn't be easy.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The first two weeks are the hardest. And then the next two weeks, they're hard, too. And then the next two weeks, they're kind of hard. And then after that, like the whole next month, that's a little hard. And then like even for the next couple of months after that, it's getting a little better, but it's still not that good.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: You know, when you think, just when you think brain surgery is hard, try fatherhood on for size. Now, that is a job.
GUPTA: The joys of fatherhood were always mentioned.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's worth it in the long run. It's worth it every day, because this is the best, best experience, the most productive, the most wonderful experience that you're about to have in your life.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is going to completely, completely change your life. Only you have no idea what that really means until after the wonderful event. But I can tell you this, it is the best thing that will ever happen to you.
GUPTA: Most people told me to simply forget about sleep.
O'BRIEN: The first thing I would say to a normal dad was, I'd say "forget about sleep for a little while," but you know, Sanjay Gupta, my gosh, this guy, he can't sleep, right? He probably hasn't slept in 23 years.
GUPTA: Lou Dobbs, not surprisingly, had some wise words for me.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: In terms of advice I can give you as a father of four, two boys and two girls, give them roots, give them wings, cross your fingers.
GUPTA: Some do's.
MYERS: The first smile is pretty special, man. You need to be there for that.
GUPTA: Some don't's.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Never forget Mother's Day.
GUPTA: I love this advice from Aaron.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Take a picture every Sunday for 52 weeks for the first year of your child's life. You will look back on those pictures and be amazed at what has happened in a year.
Five minutes before you go to bed every night, go sit in your baby's room for as long as she'll let you, and just sit there for five minutes, and listen to her sleep, and think about her life and your life. It's magic.
GUPTA: Perhaps the wisest piece of advice I got was this.
SUBHASH GUPTA, SANJAY'S DAD: Childhood is a very -- it's not a -- it's a limited time. So you are going to enjoy every moment of their different phases of childhood, don't put it off, think that I can do later. This, once it passes, it doesn't come back.
GUPTA: After all this sage advice, I somehow feel better about being a father, especially on this Father's Day.
SUBHASH GUPTA: Congratulations. I love you both. Spend as much time as possible. However, don't spoil them, because that's really the grandparents' job. So don't do my job now!
GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COLLINS: Happy Father's Day, Sanjay. And to my husband and father, too.
Thanks for watching, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. CNN's prime- time coverage continues now with Paula Zahn. Hi, Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Heidi. Thanks for the reminder, for all those children out there who think, oh my goodness, I better start working on the cards now. Have a good weekend, Heidi.
END
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
