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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Dan Isaacson, Personal Trainer

Aired June 01, 2002 - 08:34   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: OK, if you're trying to slim down and shape up, we do have some help for you. Personal trainer to the stars Dan Isaacson has written a book, "The Equation." Billy Crystal is a follower. He says, "Dan helps me with everything." This is Billy Crystal that's saying this now. "Instead of eating a little bit for dinner, he will have me eat five small meals during the day so you always feel like you're getting something. You don't feel deprived."

Dan Isaacson joins us now from New York to talk about his fitness plan and fast foods. Please note, all the facts about the food now can be checked out on the companies' Web sites so we're not making this up.

DAN ISAACSON, PERSONAL TRAINER: That's right.

PHILLIPS: Hi, Dan.

ISAACSON: Hi. It's great to be here.

PHILLIPS: Oh, it's great to have you. I've got to tell you what, I am hungry sitting here by all this food.

All right, let's get down to business, all right? We're going to talk about, we've got a McDonald's Big Mac.

ISAACSON: Yes.

PHILLIPS: We've got Wendy's fries and we have this awesome looking chicken burrito, OK? So I guess I'm supposed to guess the fat content, is that right, and you're going to actually tell me what it really is?

ISAACSON: That's right. I think the key is for everyone to realize that you don't have to change your life to lose weight, you just have to make a few changes. But to know those changes, you have to know what you're eating. So take a shot at it.

PHILLIPS: OK. Oh, boy. All right, well, the Big Mac -- I love these, by the way. I can eat about two of these. They've gotten smaller as I've gotten older. I don't know, 50 grams of fat.

ISAACSON: Well, actually, that's a little high. That's actually 34 grams of fat. How many calories do you think is in that Big Mac?

PHILLIPS: Ooh, I don't know. Oh, 500 calories.

ISAACSON: Boy, you're actually pretty good, 590 calories.

PHILLIPS: Oh, all right.

ISAACSON: But to put this into perspective, you know, it's interesting, the average American diet is about 2,000 calories and about 40 to 60 grams of fat per day. That's what you need all day.

PHILLIPS: Wow.

ISAACSON: So you can see in one feeding, if you will, you're going to have almost a third of your total calories and over half of all the fat grams that you need.

PHILLIPS: OK.

ISAACSON: So there are better choices.

PHILLIPS: Oh, gosh. All right, we're going to talk about those better choices in a minute. All right, I'm not even going to guess anymore. I want to get down to business. The Wendy's fries.

ISAACSON: Wendy's fries, don't they smell good?

PHILLIPS: Oh, I just, they're a little cold right now, though, so I guess I'm not going to try them. Yes, they do smell good even if they're cold.

ISAACSON: All right, here's the test. How many calories in that little box?

PHILLIPS: I would probably say maybe as much as the Big Mac. I know how fattening those things are.

ISAACSON: All right, one chance.

PHILLIPS: Four hundred, 500?

ISAACSON: Is that your final answer?

PHILLIPS: That's my final answer. For a million dollars.

ISAACSON: No, it's 420 calories and that's the regular or medium French fry.

PHILLIPS: Wow, that's not the super size?

ISAACSON: No. And the total fat grams are 20 fat grams. So, again, that would be almost a third of your total amount of fat grams you need throughout the day.

PHILLIPS: All right, now my favorite, the Taco Bell chicken, stuffed chicken burrito. What do you...

ISAACSON: Don't eat them all at once now. I hope you don't eat all of this before you leave.

PHILLIPS: Yes, I know, I'll be in big trouble.

ISAACSON: But anyway, so how many calories...

PHILLIPS: I'm really going to need you. Oh, 600.

ISAACSON: Wow, you're actually pretty good. 690 calories in that.

PHILLIPS: Well, I've got to promise you, I did not look at these numbers. Honestly.

ISAACSON: You look very healthy, though, so you would have a pretty good idea. And you know what you bring up is a very good idea is I encourage people to actually add up the calories that you eat throughout the day because you can come up with your total. And if you add a zero to your weight, you have a rough estimate of how many calories you're going to burn if you were at rest. So you can start to get a feel for how you can literally eat less by knowing what you're eating.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, let's talk about alternatives because, I mean, there are times, Dan, I just don't have time to stop and get something healthy.

ISAACSON: Sure.

PHILLIPS: I mean fast food, especially in my job, I can't tell you how much fast food we eat.

ISAACSON: I understand.

PHILLIPS: But are there alternatives at these places? For example, McDonald's. OK, instead of a Big Mac, what would be better for me?

ISAACSON: Well, I have three things I encourage everyone to do and we do it with all the clients we work with. You literally will modify, substitute or shift to different foods. Let's take an example.

For example, the Big Mac. If you simply took off the super sauce and the cheese and the other condiments and really got that down to a basic hamburger with ketchup, mustard and pickle, you're going to save probably 250 calories.

PHILLIPS: Wow, that much.

ISAACSON: And if you -- absolutely. And with the Wendy's fries, if, in fact, you now could substitute a baked potato as opposed to a fry, like you have there, then you're going to save another probably 200, 250 calories. Now, if you go to that big burrito and go to just a chicken burrito, again, you're going to save probably 200, 300 calories. Now, what's interesting about that is if, in fact, you save 250 calories every day, over the course of a year you can lose 20 to 25 pounds. That's big news.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Now looking at it that way, that makes you feel -- it's encouraging.

ISAACSON: Small changes really are the key. It's what I've done with every celebrity I've ever worked with. And it's interesting, whenever you're on a movie set, for instance, you have certain times that you eat, which are very important. I encourage people to pick certain times that they're going to eat throughout the day. Drink water in between those times and try to substitute, modify and shift your food choices to healthier things. Just eat less food.

PHILLIPS: What about -- oh, easier said than done, especially when it smells so good.

ISAACSON: I'm going to help you.

PHILLIPS: OK. Good. I'm banking on that. Now, the salad...

ISAACSON: No, it really isn't that hard.

PHILLIPS: OK. Yes, I know. Oh, it just takes this...

ISAACSON: All right, now, the other thing is, don't forget, that you don't want to do is when you go to eat fast food -- and you know what? I want to encourage everyone who eats fast food, because the fast food industry is really making great changes to give us healthier foods and healthier choices. But the point of it is you can have a green salad before you eat. That's going to help you feel fuller. You can also have the different choice substitutions that we talked about. And furthermore, you can also drink water prior to eating so that you're not going to feel as full. That will help.

Finally, never go into a fast food restaurant feeling starved because you're going to smell the French fries and eat them all.

PHILLIPS: OK, so go through the drive through instead of going in?

ISAACSON: Yes, that absolutely will help. It sounds like oh, well, I should -- but remember, you make one change today, it will have a major effect long-term.

PHILLIPS: All right, Dan, will you stick around? We have lots of e-mails and phone calls for you.

ISAACSON: Sure.

PHILLIPS: OK, we're going to continue this discussion.

ISAACSON: All right.

PHILLIPS: All right, we'll be right back. COMMERCIAL

PHILLIPS: All right, we're continuing our discussion with Dan Isaacson, personal trainer to the stars, also author of the book, "The Equation."

We must talk about that. Five step program for lifelong fitness. Oh...

ISAACSON: Right.

PHILLIPS: And we've heard that we can still eat fast food. What a relief.

ISAACSON: Well, no, it's true. The one thing that I learned when I started working with celebrities years ago is that you don't come in and just change a person's life. What you do is you help them find small changes within their current lifestyle that will get the job done. And that's what we do with everyone. And it, honestly, it's the only way to do it.

PHILLIPS: I agree, because it's stressful when you have to make all kinds of nasty quick changes.

ISAACSON: It's actually impossible.

PHILLIPS: It is. And you always put the weight back on or you get frustrated half way through.

ISAACSON: That's right.

PHILLIPS: We've all been there, done that.

OK, we've got a phone call for you, Dan.

ISAACSON: Great.

PHILLIPS: George from Massachusetts. Go ahead, George.

GEORGE FOX: Hi, Dan. I'm George Fox from Nantucket Island.

ISAACSON: Well, hi, George.

GEORGE: I'm looking for a -- hi. I'm looking for a book that would serve two purposes. One, that would list a complete glossary of all foods and their nutritional values and then also the same book that would give the most complete tables of all food counts. Now, maybe it's two books.

ISAACSON: Yes, actually I think the best thing to do is to contact the American Dietetics Association and I'm sure we can get you that information. I don't have it right in front of me. But they'll be able to give you the exact information that you need. And I always encourage people to go back to the organizations that actually give us the right information and do all this research.

PHILLIPS: Yes...

ISAACSON: You know, whether it's the...

PHILLIPS: Oh, no, I'm sorry. So you talk about the break down of macro nutrition in your book, right?

ISAACSON: Absolutely. I mean I just think that he's asking for a very detailed, comprehensive overview and I always go back to the academic or medical communities to find out what they recommend and the specific organizations within. So, but honestly, for everything you would need, the equation in the book we provided certainly tables and charts in there that would give you the information that you could need that would make great changes in your life.

PHILLIPS: All right, this e-mail comes from Sheryl in New York City. "Would you please outline some nutrition basics for post- menopausal women? I'm interested in finding out how to lose weight safely as well as how to maintain weight loss."

ISAACSON: Sure. Well, in that case there are certain hormonal changes that have, that you certainly want to check with your own physician to begin with. But honestly, one of the keys is regular physical activity along with feeding yourself. We talked about it earlier, in terms of eating on a regular basis. A lot of particularly women don't have a regular time in which they eat. I encourage people to eat every three hours so that you eat at, say, seven in the morning, 10 in the morning, 12, three and 6:00 p.m. so you can regularly give your body the kinds of nutrition that you need so you don't have these ups and downs. And that's really important.

PHILLIPS: Well, what do you think of the big craze with these power bars? I have to admit, I do it. A lot of people do it. They keep them in their purse. Is that a smart way to go?

ISAACSON: Sure. I think it's a great way to snack and I think that, and I do it. So I think it's an important thing to do. But I would also encourage fresh fruit. There's oranges and bananas and apples that you can also take. You can take a half a turkey sandwich. There's lots of ways to snack and I encourage everyone to shake it up a little bit and find out what works for you.

PHILLIPS: I'll tell you what works for me, a big pizza.

All right, Judy on the phone from North Carolina. Go ahead, Judy.

JUDY: I wanted to find out about the diets that really preach that low carbs are great and if you eat no sugar and no starches, but you take lots of vitamins and supplements. But you just don't have the vegetables that have the sugar in it. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

ISAACSON: Sure. Well, there are certainly, in terms of carbohydrates, needed carbohydrates that you need every day. This is your whole grains, whether it's oatmeal or whole wheat pastas, things of that nature, are very important. So whenever you say low carbohydrate or we don't need carbohydrates, that's not true. The fact of the matter is your body needs good sources of grains and carbohydrates.

The reality is, though, that you must stay away from those high sugar processed types of foods like muffins, donuts, etc. So that's -- and I hope that answers your questions.

PHILLIPS: No, that was, you definitely answered that question. I'm looking ahead at some of the e-mails and you're answering some of the questions already. So I'm going to read number four here.

ISAACSON: Great.

PHILLIPS: Grill versus gas barbecue? Is it the carcinogen factor that separates the two or is it just a matter of style and taste?

ISAACSON: Wow, that's a pretty good question.

PHILLIPS: A pretty good question, huh?

ISAACSON: And there may be some questions I can't answer. But I can certainly give you my opinion in terms of gas or -- what was the other, gas or?

PHILLIPS: Yes, it said grill versus gas barbecue. Is it the carcinogen factor that separates the two or is it just a matter of style and taste?

ISAACSON: No. I would say it's probably style or taste. But, again, I must say that question puts me out of my league.

PHILLIPS: This is book number two.

ISAACSON: I'm not a grill expert.

PHILLIPS: You could do a grill book now.

ISAACSON: I should probably do a grill book. But I will say one thing about the carcinogens. The new information is that if you do marinate your food like your chicken and your steaks, it will prevent that from happening in terms of the carcinogens. And that has been a recent problem.

PHILLIPS: All right, David from Virginia is on the phone.

David, what's your question for Dan?

DAVID: Dan, good morning.

ISAACSON: Hi.

DAVID: Taco Belle bean burrito. If you took off the cheese, what is the fat content there? I'm looking for low fat, low saturated fat, particularly, but low fat content total fat. ISAACSON: I can answer that. Get the pinto bean burrito without cheese and use a little bit of salsa, if you want, with it. It's wonderful, high fiber, really low in calories and low in fat. The exact amount of fat grams I don't have before me, but it's certainly going to be relatively low and that's a great lunch choice.

PHILLIPS: All right, this e-mail question comes from Joanna. "What foods should be eaten in order to prevent bloating? What foods should be avoided?"

ISAACSON: OK. Too much food at one time.

PHILLIPS: Yes, I know that feeling. I've got the stomach to prove it, thank you.

ISAACSON: But honestly there are certain foods that will make you have that bloated feeling. Sometimes foods very high in water content, if you have too much of it, can cause that. But I must say that it's different for everyone. I encourage everyone to realize that you are you and you must experiment, to a degree, with yourself. And I encourage people to try different foods. If certain foods make you feel bloated, then you should certainly stay away from those.

But usually you'll feel a sense of bloatedness because if your stomach is overly full at one time you're going to feel that.

Now, the other thing I must encourage people to do, if you want to find out what you best, in other words, what's going to make you get through a day without eating a lot, take three days in a row and one day eat just protein like eggs. The next day try just a carbohydrate like oatmeal. And the third day try just fresh fruit. Three hours later, ask yourself how hungry you are and you'll find certain kinds of foods that are more, really, associated with the kinds of lifestyle that you want and at the same time it works biochemically best for you.

PHILLIPS: Dan, what about alcohol, cocktails versus wine versus beer?

ISAACSON: Sure.

PHILLIPS: How fattening?

ISAACSON: Well, first of all, they're all calories so they're going to add on. And, again, remember we have a certain gas tank here and you add a zero to your weight and you have a rough estimate of what you burn when you're at rest. So if, say, you burn 2,000 calories and you're going to have an additional two glasses of wine and a beer every day, you're going to increase that 300, 400 calories. So those calories are going to be stored as fat.

But to answer your question in terms of it's a personal choice in terms of wine or beer. Certainly I think a good recommendation is moderation. But it will add some calories to your diet.

PHILLIPS: What about these smoothies? This is a big thing around here.

ISAACSON: Good question.

PHILLIPS: Yes, OK, good, where I live. You know, they have the, you know, those little fat burning stuff that they add.

ISAACSON: Right.

PHILLIPS: And then they have the metabolism something or other that they add.

ISAACSON: Right.

PHILLIPS: Is this all for real, these little additives that they put in there?

ISAACSON: That's a great question. I'm going to love to answer this.

PHILLIPS: Oh, good.

ISAACSON: The key is, is that whenever you add those items that will improve your memory or improve your energy, the point of the matter is that there is a certain amount of research that will tell us how much really does have a positive effect. Usually, in most places they're not really going to parallel what research is going to say is the exact amount that you should have in that drink. That doesn't mean that it's going to be harmful for you, by any means. In fact, I like them.

The big concern is that they are a lot of calories. So when you go to one of the smoothie outlets, please make sure that you get the small one, because I guarantee you it's going to be more calories than what you're going to, which you would really think is in the drink.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Good advice.

Dan Isaacson, personal trainer and author of "The Equation." You'll come on again and talk to us about nutrition?

ISAACSON: Oh, I'd love to. You've been just great and I've really appreciated it.

PHILLIPS: Well, thank you, Dan.

Hey, call me next time you're in Atlanta, OK?

ISAACSON: I'll do it.

PHILLIPS: OK, thanks so much.

All right, that wraps up this week's edition of CNN's summer shape up. Next week we're going to focus on kids' fitness and nutrition. So if you have a question for our expert, Jake Logo (ph), you can e-mail us at wam@cnn.com. We'll hold onto those. Also, keep on e-mailing or keep e-mailing us, rather, on your exercise success stories and tips. We'd love to hear about those also and talk about that. And if you missed anything from our series, well, you can log onto cnn.com/health. Find out who we talked to, their books and find out how to get in shape this summer.

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