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Don't Look Back
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Published: December 28, 2007
Looking at your waistline and wishing you could turn back time?
Granted, you're a few decades older, but what's keeping you from returning to a weight last seen in the disco era? Or, for that matter, from trying the latest, greatest weight-loss fad from that time: The Scarsdale Medical Diet?
In the 1970s, a few weeks on Scarsdale was all it took to drop the pounds. You could just flash back and get the same results today. Right?
Well, dusting off that 30-year-old diet book could prove to be an unhealthy choice and one unlikely to result in weight reduction, say weight loss specialists living in the 21st century. People should know better now than to follow a plan essentially designed to cause them to drastically shed water and muscle weight. But they still want a quick fix.
"The population as a whole wants everything fast," says Lisa Saff Koche, medical director of Tampa's Spectra Complete primary care and weight loss clinic. "They don't want to make changes or see the nutritionist or address stress eating."
In 1978, "The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet" by Herman Tarnower was the world's best-selling diet book. Its "Lose up to 20 pounds in 14 days" claim wowed the nation and convinced overweight Americans they would drop pounds by focusing on a 1,000-calorie-a-day, high-protein, low-carbohydrate plan that includes roast lamb and Brussels sprouts.
Tarnower was shot to death by his lover in 1980. The book remains available at libraries and online at Amazon.com. Its accessibility begs the question: Are old plans as good, or better than, those in the onslaught of new diet books hitting the market today?
Saff Koche, a certified internal medicine and bariatrics specialist, says a blanket approach to weight loss ignores unique medical and nutritional issues. Also, she sees several fundamental differences between Scarsdale and eating plans promoted today.
Among Scarsdale's problems:
Unrealistic weights
Tarnower, a cardiologist, suggested dieters base their goal weight on height. According to the book, a 5-foot-4 woman should weigh between 110 and 123 pounds. Today, most doctors would say a woman that height should weigh about 125 pounds.
More importantly, most doctors today prefer to use the body mass index, or BMI, scale.
"It doesn't take into account at all muscle weight," Saff Koche says of the Scarsdale plan.
Too much, too fast
Constructive weight loss will produce decreases of no more than 3 to 4 pounds a week, Saff Koche says. The Scarsdale pitch to drop up to 10 pounds a week means you're losing weight essential to your well-being.
"On face value, it's dangerous," she says. "It's not fat you're losing; it is primary muscle and water."
Also, people who drop pounds quickly rarely keep it off. According to the recently released book "The Diet Selector," by Judith C. Rodriguez, weight lost on Scarsdale will return as soon as the dieter returns to normal eating. Also, it's aimed at healthy folks. Those with diabetes or renal disease or who may be pregnant shouldn't consider it.
Balance Missing
The Scarsdale diet requires strict adherence for each of its meals, but it doesn't restrict portions on meats or vegetables. "Plenty" and "all you want" are part of the recipe for certain lean meats. Vegetables might as well be on a buffet line.
"It sure as heck won't teach them long-term control," Saff Koche says.
Another program popular in the 1970s — Weight Watchers — is still around because it focuses on gradual weight loss and on portion control, she says.
Scarsdale, one of the first popular high-protein diets, invites criticism similar to that aimed at the Atkins diet in the 1990s. Both plans encourage people to eat disproportionate amounts of proteins while depriving them of foods with fats and carbohydrates.
The American Dietetic Association, American College of Sports Medicine, the Women's Sports Foundation and Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research are among groups suggesting these kinds of diets include "potentially dangerous side effects."
Unbalanced approaches — including the no-fat craze that invaded snacks and foods on the nation's grocery shelves — are largely to blame for our increasingly overweight nation, Saff Koche said. That was true 30 years ago and it's true today.
"Our entire way we approach eating is outdated," she says.
Messing With Your Mind
Tarnower's best seller included a slew of patient questions, accompanied by the good doctor's replies.Today, some are outdated, unrealistic and downright chauvinistic.
"Q: Whenever I diet, I get cranky, and my husband says, 'I like you better fat than cranky'; have you any suggestions?
"A: You should be able to diet without getting cranky. Your husband, I am sure, would like to have you attractive, lean and pleasant. The diets we have listed should help you."
That kind of thinking can do little good for a person struggling with her weight, Saff Koche said. She said Spectra Complete has three psychologists on its staff to address the real mental health issues tied to weight.
"Many of my clients have emotional eating issues. If you tell them no [to food], you have to help them find other outlets than eating," she says.
Reporter Mary Shedden can be reached at (813) 259-7365 or at mshedden@tampatrib.com.
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