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CNN Live Saturday

Americans Overweight and Gaining

Aired March 09, 2002 - 22:40   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: A frightening majority of adult Americans are overweight and more people are getting that way every year. A Harris poll released earlier this week says that 80 percent of Americans over the age of 25 are overweight, a nearly 40 percent from 1983. U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher says that obesity's reaching epidemic proportions in the nation and could soon cause as much preventable death and disease as cigarette smoking. Unbelievable.

Joining us now to talk about those astounding figures and what Americans can do to get out of it is Lisa Drayer. She's a registered dietitian and joins us this evening. Thank you very much.

Lisa, 80 percent of Americans overweight? What is going on?

LISA DRAYER, REGISTERED DIETITIAN: It's true. You know, we keep getting fatter and fatter as a country. And it's really a problem because being overweight puts us at risk for obesity-related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. So it's really important that we learn how to shed the weight in safe manner and watch our portion sizes as well.

CALLAWAY: You know, Lisa, we're tracking the stat, but are we tracking the reasons why? Do we have any idea why?

DRAYER: Exactly. You know, I think it comes down to we're eating more and we're exercising less. You know, if you go out to any restaurant, you'll notice the portion sizes are huge. And it's a lot of this more is better mentality. You know, people think that they're doing good for their wallet if they're getting larger portions. But the truth is, it's not good for our waistline.

And of course, we're exercising less. You know, we have so many labor saving devices. We use escalators and elevators, instead of taking the stairs. So we're not being as physically active as we should be. So it's very important to combine eating less with exercising more in order to shed excess pounds.

CALLAWAY: I'm curious what in this poll they considered overweight. And I was wondering if you could help us all.

DRAYER: Sure.

CALLAWAY: Try to find out what our body mass index is? DRAYER: Exactly. The body mass index is actually an indicator of body fat. And research shows that if you have BMI of 25 or greater, that puts you in the category of being overweight. If your BMI is 30 or greater, you are actually classified as obese.

CALLAWAY: Can you tell us how to go through doing that? And then we have the BMI formula up n the screen for everyone now.

DRAYER: Absolutely. What you would do is you would take your weight in pounds, multiply that by 703, and then divide that by your height in inches squared. And there's a nice quick and easy way that you can figure out your BMI formula. You can go onto dietwatch.com or cyberdiet.com and you can take our free diet assessment. And we will give you, not only your BMI, which is your indicator of health risks, but also an ideal body weight. So it's very important to know your BMI and to know where you are in terms of risks.

CALLAWAY: So and we do that, we find out what our BMI is. And we're all depressed and discover we're overweight. Give us some things -- some tips on how to battle the bulge.

DRAYER: Sure. There are plenty of tips. One of the most important ones is keeping a food journal. You know, you'd be surprised when you start writing down what you're eating.

CALLAWAY: I got to say I've done this before.

DRAYER: Right.

CALLAWAY: And it's frightening. And you have to write down everything, like a handful of jellybeans.

DRAYER: Absolutely.

CALLAWAY: You know, the things that you just -- you get on the fly.

DRAYER: Exactly.

CALLAWAY: They add up.

DRAYER: Absolutely, you know, it's true. People think, you know, nuts, not a big deal, but 10 macademia nuts will cost you about 200 calories.

CALLAWAY: Oh, my goodness.

DRAYER: So it's really important -- yes, you want to keep careful records. And actually on dietwatch.com, we have a nutrition calculator that gives you a breakdown of all the calories in the foods that you're consuming. But it's a really important behavior. And research has shown that those who do keep food records ends up losing more weight than those who don't, even during high risk seasons, such as the holiday season.

There was a study that found that those who kept careful food records during the holiday season lost an additional three pounds, whereas those didn't keep careful record ended up gaining seven pounds. So it's very important, not only for weight loss, but also for weight maintenance, very important behavior.

CALLAWAY: Budgeting your food, another suggestion?

DRAYER: Exactly. I always say if you can budget your money, you can budget your food. But even if you can't budget your money, you can still budget your food. An example of this is carbohydrates. You know, we love carbohydrates. A lot of diets promote restricting carbohydrates, but there's really no need to do this. All we need to do is learn how to budget.

So for example, for breakfast, you know, let's say we're going to say I'm going to have two starches for each meal. So for breakfast, this could mean a half a cup of cereal and a slice of toast. For lunch, this can mean two slices of bread with a sandwich. And for dinner, two servings of pasta, one serving being equal to half of a cup. So it's important to know your limitations ahead of time. And this way, all of your favorite foods can fit into a healthy diet for the long term.

CALLAWAY: And I like your idea of getting the menus faxed to you or taking along the menu before you go to a restaurant. That's a great idea and exercising, obviously. We've always heard that, even if it's just a walk. But getting the buddy, boy, it's so helpful to have someone, you know, making you get up every morning and taking that walk.

DRAYER: Absolutely. It is so critical. And a lot of people don't realize how critical this is to have a support system, whether it's a friend, a family member, whoever it is, someone who understands your goals, what you're trying to accomplish, because there are going to be situations where you're going to be faced with challenges, many obstacles, whether it's out at dinner, out at parties, or just stress, daily stress. That can interfere with our best efforts at losing weight.

So it's really important to have someone you can confide in, someone who understands the goal that you're trying to achieve, who can be there for you during the hard times.

CALLAWAY: Lisa Drayer, thank you very much for being with us tonight and helping us through all these ugly fat times.

DRAYER: Thank you.

CALLAWAY: Bye bye.

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