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American Morning
More and more Americans Losing Battle of the Bulge
Aired August 22, 2001 - 09:23 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: More and more Americans are losing the battle of the bulge, and that may be because people look for a quick fixes. They want to pop a pill, drink a shake or crunch a bar that will melt away the fat, but a new study shows people who depend on weight loss medication are less likely to change their diet and exercise behavior, and both of those are crucial to maintaining or losing one's weight.
CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at the growing problem of obesity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an alarming trend: obesity, one of America's fastest growing health problems. It contributes to some of our worst health problems, like heart disease and diabetes, and it is killing people, often in the prime of their lives.
In fact, each year, more than 300,000 deaths are blamed on complications from obesity and physical inactivity. Americans are more sedentary than ever. In the last 10 years, obesity rates have increased nearly 60 percent among adults. And our children are not exempt; 20 percent of children in the U.S. are considered overweight. It doesn't help that there's a dramatic and steady decline in the amount of students who attend a daily physical education class, according to research.
Public health officials say more than a wake-up call is needed to stop the obesity epidemic. The messages to exercise and eat right have been out there for decades. Now, they say, it's time for Americans to act on them.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And when you consider the times we live in, why you should be surprised to find the World Wide Web is coming to rescue for folks to fight against fat.
Joining us live from New York to discuss this and take your e- mail questions as well is dietitian Lisa Drayer. She's the e- counseling program director for dietwatch. com. Good morning, how are you.
LISA DRAYER, DIETWATCH.COM: Good morning, how are you.
HARRIS: Good.
I'm kind of fascinated by the idea of going to an e-counselor to help me lose weight. How does that work?
DRAYER: Well, basically, on dietwatch.com, we have two programs, personal e-counseling program and professional e-counseling program, and you actually get to communicate with a real registered dietitian. You can go onto the site, you and set goals and log weight, your daily food intake, what you've eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then you get weekly progress reports from dietitians to tell you how you are doing.
HARRIS: How is that better than going to see the dietitian face to face?
DRAYER: Well, there are so many advantages, I can tell you from a personal point of view, being a dietitian who's worked in office. First of all, anonymity. Diet sites offer you the ability to remain anonymous, and this provides a safe, secure environment for someone who wouldn't necessarily like to present themselves in person. In addition, diet sites offer you tracking tools. On dietwatch.com, we have a nutrition calculator that enables you to see what you are eating, and we give you immediate feedback in the form of a personalized nutrition facts label. This is important, because people immediately realize, gee, if I don't cut back on these calories, I'm not going to be successful in losing weight.
HARRIS: Tell you what, let's jump in and get you some of our e- questions, if you will. Let's see. Here's what we've got this morning. This is coming from Brian in College Park, Maryland: "Many popular weight loss pills contain a mixture of ephedrine and caffeine. Is this a safe formula for weight loss?" What's your opinion?
DRAYER: My opinion is absolutely not. Definitely ephedra with the combination of caffeine is potentially dangerous. There have actually been studies that have associated ephedra use with increased risk of heart disease and even deaths from heart disease. So what happens is ephedra and caffeine combined can increase heart rate, increase blood pressure and can, therefore, increase the risk of adverse cardiovascular events, so you definitely want to stay away from any dietary supplement containing ephedra along with the combination of ephedra and caffeine.
HARRIS: And the drugs that interact, other things you are taking in or eating throughout the day.
DRAYER: Absolutely.
HARRIS: Next e-mail. Where is this coming from. This is from Ed Chiodo of Westbury, New York: "Of late, I have seen many advertisements -- many on talk radio shows -- that claim to burn away fat and/or cholesterol 'while you sleep.' Have you any insight as to the veracity of these claims?"
DRAYER: Forget about it. You know, the truth is we'd all love to think we're going to go to sleep and wake up 10 pounds lighter. But the reality is, that's not going to happen. So the chances are, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
HARRIS: All right, Ed, stop watching the radio.
DRAYER: Right.
HARRIS: Let's get to the next one.
DRAYER: Right.
HARRIS: All right, this is from Stacey in Antigua. "I am 28 years old, 5 foot, and weigh 172 lbs. I try to lose weight, but I never succeed. What can I do?"
All right, help her out?
DRAYER: OK. Well for this person, the best thing to do would be to watch her diet and increase her exercise. It's 50/50 when it comes to diet and exercise, exercise being significantly important, just as important as the diet component. So what I would recommend is having her keep a food journal, whether on dietwatch.com or elsewhere, to see exactly how much she is consuming. You would be surprised, you take away the little things, like the butter on the bagel or you know different things, the creamer in coffee.
HARRIS: They add up?
DRAYER: They absolutely add up. Being able to keep track of food intake in a journal can significantly can make you more aware of how much you are actually consuming. Keeping track of your food habits and meeting with a dietitian. The dietitian is the most reliable source of nutrition information. Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist, but only if you met the criteria established by the American Dietetic Association can you actually call yourself a registered dietitian. So diet and exercise are the key.
HARRIS: And you are like a broken record. Because we keep hearing that no matter what. People still don't want to listen and believe it.
Thank you for coming in...
DRAYER: But it's true.
HARRIS: ... and taking your turn at drumming that lesson into people's head. Lisa Drayer, thank you. Hopefully we will talk to you later on.
DRAYER: You are welcome.
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