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CNN Live Today
'Daily Dose'
Aired February 10, 2003 - 11:49 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We have for you right now the simplest diet yet, the idiot's guide to losing weight and keeping it off.
Elizabeth Cohen, who is no idiot, is here with the details in our daily dose of health news this morning.
Good to see you.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.
And this is the answer. This is a cookie, in case you can't tell. This is the answer. A bunch of researchers, very smart guys, all got together and said, do you know what? There is a way we can keep people from gaining the weight that just comes with age. Eat one fewer cookie a day. That's it, eat one fewer cookie a day and you will keep off the weight that many of us put on with age.
These researchers got together and they did the math. They said, OK, statistically speaking, Americans tend to gain two pounds per year. That doesn't sound like much. That means between your senior prom in high school and your 40th birthday, you've gained 45 pounds. That is a huge amount.
So what they said, they did more math, they said, look, if you just ate 100 fewer calories a day, you wouldn't put on those few pounds, or if you burned 100 calories. That's where that cookie comes in. That cookie is about 100 calories.
Let's take a look at some other foods that are also 100 calories. One small soda is 100 calories, a cup of hot cocoa or half a donut, all of those are 100 calories, so if you just didn't eat those, then you wouldn't gain the weight that comes with age.
Or burning 100 calories. Here's a couple of ways to burn 100 calories. For 15 minutes, you could shovel snow. I know there's some people who need to do that today, play basketball, bike, skateboarding, or step aerobics, any of those things for just 15 minutes, which isn't much, and you wouldn't put on that weight that comes year by year with age.
HARRIS: All right, well, see, OK, you got me on that one. I would rather do the basketball and not give up the cookie.
COHEN: That's your choice, and you can do that, absolutely.
HARRIS: What's the other food that we've got? COHEN: We have some yummies here. They're all a little stale, but we do have some yummies. All of these are about 100 calories. These two little cookies put together are 100 calories. This little brownie is 100 calories, half a doughnut, a cookie, a soda is a little bit more than 100 calories.
But if you just didn't eat any one of these things, again, you wouldn't put on those two pounds a year.
HARRIS: That underscores a problem we were talking a little while ago, about you can't buy a half a donut when you go someplace to buy something to eat. You don't just get a soda that size if you go to any restaurant, any fast food place, for sure. Everything comes in cups like a bucket. That's tough to do if you're always eating out.
COHEN: Absolutely. And I have to say, that this little brownie that we just showed you, we bought a brownie downstairs in the food court here, and it was actually four times that size. We had to cut it in a quarter to get 100 calories. The brownie we bought was 400. So imagine, if you didn't eat a 400 calorie brownie, you'd be better off.
HARRIS: All right, well, let me take that advice, but let me ask you this about the experts that we've been talking about. We had to look at a different diet a day about a week or two ago. We talked about these little changes that they're asking these folks to go through. It seems as though it's kind of like a sneak attack effect here by changing one little thing at a time here.
COHEN: Right, and what's happened is that years ago, or even now, you go to the bookstore, and you see books that are thick, and say, you got to change your lifestyle, it's not just a matter of changing a diet, changing a couple of things, you have to change your lifestyle.
Well, you know what, a lot of experts are now saying, we tried that and it failed. It just didn't work. Americans are not up to changing their lifestyle. So now they're just begging, saying, please, just do a couple little thins, please, 15 minutes of basketball, so their tune has changed over the years.
HARRIS: It's reality. They might as well catch up with it.
COHEN: Exactly.
HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Cohen.
COHEN: Thanks.
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 February 10, 2003 - 11:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We have for you right now the simplest diet yet, the idiot's guide to losing weight and keeping it off.
Elizabeth Cohen, who is no idiot, is here with the details in our daily dose of health news this morning.
Good to see you.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.
And this is the answer. This is a cookie, in case you can't tell. This is the answer. A bunch of researchers, very smart guys, all got together and said, do you know what? There is a way we can keep people from gaining the weight that just comes with age. Eat one fewer cookie a day. That's it, eat one fewer cookie a day and you will keep off the weight that many of us put on with age.
These researchers got together and they did the math. They said, OK, statistically speaking, Americans tend to gain two pounds per year. That doesn't sound like much. That means between your senior prom in high school and your 40th birthday, you've gained 45 pounds. That is a huge amount.
So what they said, they did more math, they said, look, if you just ate 100 fewer calories a day, you wouldn't put on those few pounds, or if you burned 100 calories. That's where that cookie comes in. That cookie is about 100 calories.
Let's take a look at some other foods that are also 100 calories. One small soda is 100 calories, a cup of hot cocoa or half a donut, all of those are 100 calories, so if you just didn't eat those, then you wouldn't gain the weight that comes with age.
Or burning 100 calories. Here's a couple of ways to burn 100 calories. For 15 minutes, you could shovel snow. I know there's some people who need to do that today, play basketball, bike, skateboarding, or step aerobics, any of those things for just 15 minutes, which isn't much, and you wouldn't put on that weight that comes year by year with age.
HARRIS: All right, well, see, OK, you got me on that one. I would rather do the basketball and not give up the cookie.
COHEN: That's your choice, and you can do that, absolutely.
HARRIS: What's the other food that we've got? COHEN: We have some yummies here. They're all a little stale, but we do have some yummies. All of these are about 100 calories. These two little cookies put together are 100 calories. This little brownie is 100 calories, half a doughnut, a cookie, a soda is a little bit more than 100 calories.
But if you just didn't eat any one of these things, again, you wouldn't put on those two pounds a year.
HARRIS: That underscores a problem we were talking a little while ago, about you can't buy a half a donut when you go someplace to buy something to eat. You don't just get a soda that size if you go to any restaurant, any fast food place, for sure. Everything comes in cups like a bucket. That's tough to do if you're always eating out.
COHEN: Absolutely. And I have to say, that this little brownie that we just showed you, we bought a brownie downstairs in the food court here, and it was actually four times that size. We had to cut it in a quarter to get 100 calories. The brownie we bought was 400. So imagine, if you didn't eat a 400 calorie brownie, you'd be better off.
HARRIS: All right, well, let me take that advice, but let me ask you this about the experts that we've been talking about. We had to look at a different diet a day about a week or two ago. We talked about these little changes that they're asking these folks to go through. It seems as though it's kind of like a sneak attack effect here by changing one little thing at a time here.
COHEN: Right, and what's happened is that years ago, or even now, you go to the bookstore, and you see books that are thick, and say, you got to change your lifestyle, it's not just a matter of changing a diet, changing a couple of things, you have to change your lifestyle.
Well, you know what, a lot of experts are now saying, we tried that and it failed. It just didn't work. Americans are not up to changing their lifestyle. So now they're just begging, saying, please, just do a couple little thins, please, 15 minutes of basketball, so their tune has changed over the years.
HARRIS: It's reality. They might as well catch up with it.
COHEN: Exactly.
HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Cohen.
COHEN: Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
