Participants: Timothy Howe and Sheryl McWilliams
Series Code: WM
Program Code: WM000391
00:01 The following program presents principles
00:03 designed to promote good health and is not 00:04 intended to take the place of 00:06 personalized professional care. 00:08 The opinions and ideas expressed are those 00:10 of the speaker. Viewers are encouraged to draw 00:13 their own conclusions about the information presented. 00:35 Hi, I'm Sheryl McWilliams and welcome to 00:38 'Wonderfully Made.' How many of you like me 00:40 have lost a few pounds only to find them again 00:44 and find that they bring friends. 00:46 We would like to welcome Dr. Timothy Howe to the 00:48 show today and we're gonna be talking about the topic 00:51 of weight control. Thank you Sheryl, it's good 00:54 to be here. Weight control was something 00:57 I never used to worry about, but I'm with you, 01:02 it's creeping on, you have to watch it every minute. 01:05 I, not a day goes literally that I don't think about 01:08 my weight, it's something that I've struggled with my 01:11 entire life. So, this is a topic that's very near 01:14 and dear to my heart. As we get started, 01:17 I would like to understand what are some of the 01:20 complications with having too much weight? 01:25 Well, as I tell my patients sometimes, 01:30 you have to be careful if you run two ton on a one 01:33 ton truck, you're gonna break the springs down, 01:35 you're gonna have problems. 01:37 It's gonna be harder on the engine to pull it up 01:40 the hill and same is true with our bodies, you 01:42 know, if you're overweight you're going to wear 01:45 your hips out faster, you're going to wear 01:48 your knees out faster; you're going to have more 01:50 arthritis. About 50 percent more problems 01:54 with the hips, if you're considerably overweight 01:57 just the wear and tear of the weight on the joints, 02:02 it's hard on the heart, it raises the blood 02:05 pressure, lots of problems, cancer risk goes up, 02:09 obesity being too much of a good 02:14 thing can really be a risk. 02:17 Interesting many of us myself included have 02:19 tried many diets and there is just something 02:21 about that word that makes me feel uncomfortable. 02:24 How do we go about losing weight and actually 02:27 keeping it off for a lifetime? 02:30 Well, I'll tell you I don't like diet, 02:33 I say diets are the rhythm method of girth 02:36 control and they don't work any better than 02:39 that of the rhythm method, and furthermore 02:43 when you as one of my friends told me he said my 02:46 wife has lost over two tons since we have been 02:50 married. The same 10 pounds over and over and over 02:54 again you know that's one of the worst things 02:56 that you can do is lose the weight and gain it, 02:59 and lose the weight and gain it. 03:03 If weight is a problem whatever you take off, 03:07 keep off that's the very, very important and that's 03:11 why dieting, where I'm gonna be good, 03:15 I'm gonna be good for until, you know, 03:18 whenever it is, I've got a wedding coming up, 03:21 oh summer is coming, I've got to fit into my 03:23 you know whatever they wear, 03:25 so our look doesn't work because when it comes 03:29 back you know and there we have at the rhythm 03:31 method of girth control. We need not a diet, 03:35 but a change in the way we live. 03:39 What kind of changes and how we live would 03:42 end up in lifetime of weight management 03:46 or maintaining a proper weight? 03:48 Well, let me tell you a story to begin with this 03:52 is an powerful story, it's just to illustrate a point. 03:56 There was a gentleman, he was an older gentleman 04:00 and he decided he needed a new car and so he 04:04 went down to dealership and he looked at all the 04:07 cars and he found just the one he want it. 04:10 And he said to the salesman, now it's very 04:11 important to me to know how much gas you put 04:14 in this cars tank? And the salesman said 04:16 well right here on the sticker you can read it, 04:19 it holds 12 gallons of gas. Oh he said, 04:22 that's very good, he said I like to make sure my 04:25 car has a full tank of gas. 04:27 I like to know that for sure. 04:30 And so he bought the car and he took it home, 04:32 he polished in, he kept it there in the garage 04:35 most of the time he didn't have far to drive, 04:37 but every week he want to make sure that car 04:39 get fit and so he drive his car down to the gas 04:43 station he pull up, and he say to the attendant 04:45 I would like 12 gallons of gas. 04:49 So, the attendant would come and he put the 04:51 nozzle into the tank and he pull the lever and way 04:55 they go and the first time he went down, 04:59 no matter he driven a quite a bit because 05:00 it was a new car and it took 10 gallons of gas 05:04 and he went and he talked to that gentleman 05:06 and he said I'm sorry your car only took 05:08 10 gallons of gas. No it takes 12 gallons; 05:12 I'm telling you that's what they told me when 05:14 I bought it, now I want 12 gallons in my car. 05:17 The attendant scratched his head for a minute 05:18 and he said, I know what I'll do so he went and 05:21 got a gas can and he put 2 gallons in the gas 05:25 can lifted up the trunk, put it in the trunk, 05:27 shut the lid. The guy said thank you I have my12 05:32 gallons and he drove off, next week same thing, 05:34 next week same thing, but almost every time 05:37 he couldn't get a full 12 gallons in there sometimes 05:41 it was only 10, sometimes it was 5 and guess 05:46 what that car look like after while, 05:47 it was kind a sagging down of the springs, 05:50 you know because it had gas cans flopping 05:52 all around it. Do you ever seen anybody like that? 05:55 Yes myself, it's once a time. 05:58 See that's the problem with weight. 06:00 When we eat more, put more in the tank then 06:04 we burn and the key to weight management 06:07 is balancing that burn and filling problem. 06:12 Is that simple there is no magic, 06:14 there is no magic unfortunately, 06:16 I wish I had some pill, you know, 06:19 if you just had a pill that you could take and it 06:21 solve all of your problems but that didn't gonna 06:23 happen we still need to have self-control. 06:28 And that's what it boils down to, 06:31 there is a lot of tricks and things that 06:33 we can talk about, but the most important 06:35 thing is balanced calorie intake with calorie 06:39 expenditure. You know, a car is an internal 06:43 combustion engine that's what it is, 06:46 we are too, and its very important just like 06:51 for that man with a car to fill the tank but don't 06:55 overfill it right, don't overfill it, don't put gas 07:00 in your trunk back there, you know, 07:03 you want to put gas in the tank but don't add it 07:05 on and carry it for tomorrow and 07:07 the next day and the next. 07:09 Well sometimes in my personal experience 07:11 it seems that when I start to reduce the amount 07:14 of calories that I consume I lose weight at first 07:17 but then I suddenly stop losing weight. 07:21 You start plateauing, yes. You know it's an interesting 07:24 thing if you weigh 500 pounds and I've patients 07:27 who weigh 500 pounds and they are not that tall 07:31 either I mean if you were 10 feet tall maybe 07:35 500 wouldn't be far off but they weigh 500 pounds. 07:38 I think of one gentlemen, he came into my office 07:42 and he said I need to lose weight I really do, 07:45 I need to lose weight and I said well I can help you, 07:48 no problem. And I described the diet to him 07:52 and I said I want you on about he said I wanna lose 07:56 it fast, I said okay we will help you lose it fast. 07:59 I said we will give you 1200 calories a day and I 08:01 described it. He said doc I've starved on that diet. 08:06 Starve at 500 pounds might take you a few years 08:09 before you starve. You have to balance 08:12 things there, but you know you got to keep in mind 08:16 of this rhythm thing; you don't want to lose a lot, 08:20 gain it, lose it, gain it. You will be in trouble 08:23 if you do that. Absolutely, what will this 08:26 breakfast play when you are trying to lose weight? 08:29 Well, breakfast is the most important meal 08:32 of the day; your body is ready for those calories 08:35 first thing in the morning. And if you wanna lose 08:39 weight and you wanna keep it off, 08:41 eat your breakfast that's the most important meal. 08:46 I look at it this way you want to eat breakfast 08:48 like a king, lunch like a prince, and supper like 08:52 a pauper if you wanna keep your weight off. 08:55 And that's not how most of us were raised, 08:57 most of us were raised if you are gonna skip 08:59 a meal you skip that breakfast meal, that's 09:02 right. And then you have your larger meal or supper. 09:04 In fact if you talk to people who have been 09:06 around a while 80s, they will tell you that when 09:10 they were growing up they ate breakfast, 09:12 dinner and supper. Now we eat breakfast and lunch 09:18 and dinner. Our big meals in the evening, 09:22 well if you eat your calories late in a day what 09:25 you gonna do with them? You're gonna store them, 09:29 there they are gonna go right here around 09:30 your middle. Whereas if you eat them early 09:33 in the morning, you'll tend to burn them throughout 09:36 the day and you'll actually eat less than if you 09:39 eat your majority of your calories in the evening, 09:41 so that's number one with weight loss eat those 09:44 calories early in the day. Get your breakfast like 09:49 a king or like a queen. And lunch or dinner, 09:54 if you will, you want to have that like a prince 09:58 or princess and supper like a pauper or if you're really 10:03 having trouble with your weight skip that 10:07 evening meal. You don't need it, 10:10 not as long as you're overweight. 10:13 And just have two meals a day it works better 10:14 and it doesn't hurt you to be hungry. 10:19 You know, I think that's one of the first things 10:20 to keep in mind, hunger as long as you are overweight 10:25 is a sign of health. If a patient comes into my 10:29 office and he says doc I'm not hungry and I worry. 10:34 They are in trouble; they are in trouble. 10:36 Cancer causes loss of hunger. 10:39 So, when you're hungry you can say that's good sign. 10:43 I'm healthy; hunger is a sign of health provided 10:46 you are not underweight, of course. 10:50 There are many people the world over that are hungry 10:52 and that's the sign of malnutrition but very few 10:57 in this country. Now I often think Sheryl that if 11:01 we just took the calories away that we are eating 11:05 that we shouldn't from this country and gave them 11:07 to people that should have them there probably 11:10 wouldn't be any hunger in the world at all. 11:12 Do you know that 60% of the people in United States 11:16 today are overweight, 60% and that is increased in 11:21 the last 20 years; obesity is just climbing like this, 11:24 it's just taking off like a jet taking off, 11:28 just like that. And we say well it's genetic, 11:30 genetics haven't changed in 30 years, 11:34 it's just climbing obesity rates are. 11:36 We're eating way too much you know the Bible says 11:38 'do unto others as you would have them do unto 11:41 on you.' You often think about that when 11:43 I'm talking with the overweight people or when 11:46 I'm dealing with myself. You know do unto others 11:50 there they are starving and I'm eating too much 11:52 and people say, well you can't send the food 11:55 over there, but you could send the money 11:57 you are spending on that food, food isn't free. 12:00 And if we just thought about that when 12:03 we are eating and denied our self, you know, 12:07 if we fast that evening meal and took the savings 12:11 and send it for disaster and famine relief. 12:15 What an impact our country could make today 12:18 on world wide hunger and we help 12:23 ourselves too. And that's the blessing of that. 12:27 So, when you talk about nutrition and eating 12:29 as it relates to weight control are there certain 12:31 foods that we should eat or not eat 12:34 when we are trying to lose weight? 12:36 No there are many diets that people talk about, 12:40 they talk about counting calories and this and that. 12:43 I don't think I have met many people that can count 12:47 calories for a long time successfully. 12:52 It's much better to switch the food you eat 12:56 and to go to foods that are less calorically dense, 13:01 if that have higher fiber that are more natural 13:05 and then eat until you're full. But, not snack, 13:09 not eat a big evening meal preferably if 13:12 you are overweight no evening meal. 13:15 And you will find that your weight will go, 13:17 where it needs to. One thing that we find is if 13:19 people are dieting but they are eating high 13:22 fat foods that food goes in through the lips 13:27 to the hips just like that. Whereas if we can switch 13:32 them to 'whole food whole' you know the best 13:35 food for someone that's overweight to eat 13:39 is to go down the road to the farmer's field 13:41 and pick it out of the field and then eat it 13:44 or it doesn't have to be raw they can cook it 13:47 that's fine. But, if you have fresh fruit 13:50 and you have fresh vegetables you are going 13:53 to lose weight as I often say if you want to stay 13:58 out of a box don't eat out of a box and it really 14:03 does help when you are losing weight. 14:06 If you get your food in the produce section 14:08 primarily and only a small amount in the other 14:12 sections your weight is just gonna drift down 14:15 to where it needs to be provided you are 14:18 eating regularly that will take care of it. 14:22 The concept of eating from the produce section, 14:24 when I implemented that into my own life 14:27 I found that I was little nervous about my grocery 14:30 bill because the price of a pineapple or 14:34 fresh fruits and fresh vegetables they are fairly 14:36 expensive but as I began to do that 14:38 I realized my grocery bill was actually going 14:41 down a little bit because I was not buying 14:44 as many boxes and bags and packages 14:47 as I had been before and my weight did eventually 14:51 go down but it took time and 14:53 that was most frustrating. 14:55 Do you know the important thing I think 14:56 with weight control is this don't get in a hurry, 15:00 don't get in a hurry and the most important 15:03 way that you will ever lose is the first five pounds. 15:08 If you lose five pounds, just five, 15:10 that's all five pounds and keep it off, 15:14 keep it off just that five, you will lower your 15:18 risk of obesity associated cancers by 50 percent. 15:23 The reason for that as you shifted the balance 15:26 completely if you lose five pounds to keep that 15:30 five pounds off, you've either got to continue 15:32 to exercise more or eat less, 15:36 if you don't you're gonna regain it. 15:38 So, just that five pound weight loss will drop 15:42 your risk of obesity associated cancers 15:45 by 50 percent, it's amazing, just small changes 15:48 make a big difference. Now it may take more 15:51 weight loss to work on those joints, 15:54 it will probably take more weight loss to work 15:57 on your blood pressure although the first five 15:59 to ten pounds really does drop the blood pressure. 16:02 It may take more weight to reverse diabetes 16:06 because right following that obesity take off 16:10 or were we just having huge epidemic of obesity 16:14 right behind it, just nip and tuck right behind 16:16 it is diabetes. And it may take a little more weight 16:20 loss than five pounds but you know I found people 16:23 come in that first five to ten pounds if they are 16:27 type II diabetic will often turn off their diabetes, 16:31 now they avoid medicine, they keep working on it, 16:35 they are golden and that's why we want, we want 16:37 to reverse that illness all of them and it's, 16:41 it's really that first five pounds that makes 16:43 the difference, but if you gain it back oh my, 16:49 it brings all its friends with it and then you 16:53 just zoom right up. I often tell people don't have 16:57 a goal weight have a ceiling weight. 17:00 You drop to a certain point and then say I'm never 17:04 gonna go over this way ever. 17:07 And that's really helpful because it's that regain 17:10 and that rebound that really 17:12 hurts you on the long haul. 17:14 So, we don't have to lose tremendous amounts 17:17 of weight we need to focus on losing some weight 17:20 and actually keeping that off for a lifetime. 17:23 Absolutely, that's the most important thing. 17:26 Lose a bit of weight and keep it off that makes 17:30 the difference because to keep it off 17:32 you have to change your lifestyle. 17:35 And, and it truly is a lifestyle change, 17:37 certainly it has been in my own life. 17:39 What role does physical activity play 17:42 with regards to weight control? 17:44 Well you remember my story about the man 17:47 and his new car, if he would have just driven 17:49 that car around the block a few more times 17:51 then he could have filled his tank or at least filled 17:54 that little more nearly full and the same is true 17:57 with us, if we exercise regularly we can eat more 18:02 and I am telling you I like to eat. 18:04 It's one of my favorite things to do but I have 18:07 found the weeks that I don't get exercise if I 18:11 eat until I am full I am starting to carry weight 18:15 around with me that I don't want to, 18:17 and you know it's that weight around the 18:19 middle and that's where we tend to put it 18:21 on that really gets us in trouble. 18:23 It's the weight around the middle, 18:26 it's what gives us diabetes, 18:28 the weight around the middle it's what gives us 18:30 blood pressure problems, the weight around the 18:32 middle is what gives us heart disease and 18:35 cancer risk. You know, it's that what I call 18:40 is bureau disease, you've ever heard of bureau 18:43 disease? That's where your chest drops into your 18:46 drawers. Well, I tell you that's the worst 18:49 kind of obesity to have is bureau disease. 18:53 And it seems that many of us that's the kind 18:55 of weight we are carrying around is 18:56 right around them. That's where it settles on me, 18:59 I have to watch it or else I'll have that 19:02 bureau disease. So, when we are trying 19:05 to lose weight we need to pay attention 19:07 to our food and you talked about whole foods 19:09 whole and eating from the farmers from the 19:12 farmers market or from the produce section 19:14 of the grocery store, that's great but I tend 19:18 to put lots of toppings on my farmer's market food. 19:23 Well now you have to be careful with 19:25 those toppings. You can choose toppings 19:27 that are good for you. In fact you can put 19:30 some nuts on there and sprinkle a few nuts 19:33 on your veggie that tastes good. Those 19:35 nuts are very high in fat, but it's a good fat. 19:40 They are also high in fiber, they are high in vitamins, 19:43 minerals, they are very good for toppings. 19:46 The ones you want to watch are those cheeses 19:49 and the other types of fatty foods that will 19:55 cause problems, they will add on the pounds. 19:58 You better off just eat simple food simply 20:03 prepared. Now I tell you at first it may not taste 20:07 too good, you may have to re-educate your 20:11 taste but you know that's possible. 20:12 Before I went to medical school, 20:14 my mother was a dietician and she said to me 20:17 you know you are going to medical school and 20:19 you ought to try a low salt diet. I said sure, 20:22 I'll try a low salt diet. She put me on a 20:24 low salt diet and I want to tell you my food 20:27 tasted like cardboard I thought I was gonna die, 20:30 she said stay with it, stay with it and I did 20:34 and you know it wasn't very long until the food 20:36 tasted fine. Oh, it took me two to three weeks 20:40 but then you know I went out to one of these 20:42 church potlucks and I tasted the food 20:45 and it was terrible salty, it's what you're used to, 20:50 and over two to three weeks, 20:52 it only took Daniel two weeks you know, 20:55 but over two to three weeks you can re-educate your 20:58 taste, so that Broccoli actually has a flavor 21:00 of its own and in spite of the fact it doesn't have 21:02 the Hollandaise Sauce poured over or the cheese 21:05 sauce or whatever. It can happen and that's 21:09 what you need if you are going to lose weight 21:11 is go to that produce section and stay right 21:15 there buying those fruits and buying those 21:17 vegetables buying those grains whole grains stay 21:20 away from the refined grains because they don't 21:23 fill you up as well, they push your blood sugar up, 21:26 they push your weight up and push your cart 21:29 around the store a few extra times for the energy, 21:32 grow a garden, you know gardening is a wonderful 21:35 exercise it's one of the best. If you grow 21:39 a garden you're out there and that food taste better 21:43 if you grow it yourself, make sure you does. And 21:46 it will help you control your weight as well. 21:49 Grow a garden, can some of that fruit or freeze it, 21:53 that's very good for you and it help 21:54 with your weight, absolutely. 21:57 One of the things that helped me in my process 21:59 of trying to lose weight is I transitioned away 22:02 from drinking juice and milk and began drinking water. 22:07 Is that something that others should do? 22:10 You know the worst thing that you can do 22:12 for your body regardless to your weight the 22:15 worst thing that you can do is have juice or 22:18 soda or milk or calories between meals. 22:23 It's calories you don't need almost always 22:26 and I am telling you it will increase your rate 22:29 for all those diseases that are associated 22:31 with obesity, it's hard on your pancreas 22:34 to have foods between meals. You know it's just 22:38 not a good idea. There is a same amount of 22:40 calories in a glass of juice as there is in a can 22:44 of soda and people say well it's natural. 22:47 Well just because something is natural doesn't 22:49 mean it's good for you, okay. 22:52 Tobacco is natural, it's a natural herb but 22:56 I'm not gonna tell you to have it and juice 22:59 I would say if you are going to have juice have it 23:01 with your meal and have a small amount 23:05 four ounces don't have it between meals it's 23:09 calorically rich, calories go into your system 23:13 faster, it's harder on your system. 23:16 Here is another very important thing and this 23:18 is the juices that are sweetened. 23:23 You read the labels on those sweetened juices. 23:26 There are almost always sweetened with corn syrup. 23:29 Corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup 23:32 is interesting because the high fructose 23:35 doesn't turn off your appetite, and if you look 23:40 at the intake of sugars in this country today. 23:43 Our intake of sugars are much higher in 23:45 fact it's a little lower than it was in the 1950, 23:48 but our intake of sweeteners is much, 23:51 much higher and it's all high fructose corn syrup 23:55 which doesn't satisfy the appetite but sure 23:58 we will pack on the pounds, you want to be 24:01 careful particularly of those things 24:03 if you are trying to lose weight. 24:04 I noticed when I was trying to lose weight 24:08 that in my physical activity program 24:11 I walked that's what I did mostly but 24:13 I seem to lose weight faster once I added 24:16 to that some weight lifting, why is that? 24:20 You know it's interesting if you build muscle, 24:23 muscle burns more fat then fat does, 24:27 quite a bit more. It burns about 10 times 24:30 as much just a muscle cell sitting still burns 24:33 more calories than a fat cells stood in still. 24:37 So what you want to do is build muscle because 24:39 if you build muscle you can lose weight while 24:42 you are sleep I like that, it raises your basal 24:46 metabolic rate to have more muscle on your frame. 24:49 So lifting weights is good, walking faster is good, 24:53 anything that you can do to build your muscle 24:56 mass helps you lose weight, if you just diet 25:00 and don't exercise it is highly unlikely that you 25:04 will be able to stay in that weight loss. 25:07 You know they did an interesting experiment, 25:08 they had people take these diets 25:11 where you just drink your calories and they follow 25:16 them for two years, they could ask them one 25:18 question at the end of two years after the program 25:22 and determine with a 100 percent accuracy 25:26 who had regained their weight. 25:27 You know what that one question was? 25:28 How many hours do you watch TV? 25:32 The reason for that is when you are watching 25:34 TV you burn less calories then when you are sleeping. 25:38 Wow. Because they shift the images 25:41 so fast that it puts the brain to sleep and 25:46 your brain burns a lot of calories. 25:49 You know, there is another thing that's very 25:51 important and that is all hunger is not physical. 25:58 Now I want to tell you I know this, 26:00 when I go home from work after a hard 26:02 day and I am feeling you know you've had 26:06 those kind of days. Often, I'll go into the house 26:11 and the first thing I do is I go and I open the 26:16 refrigerator and my wife will see me 26:18 there in front of the refrigerator you know 26:20 what the first question she ask is have you had 26:23 a hard day? She knows that my hunger 26:27 is not physical, it's something else. 26:32 So many of us are over eating because we 26:35 have a hunger that needs to be fed but 26:40 it's not a physical hunger, it's a spiritual or an 26:44 emotional hunger, and if you feed an emotional 26:49 or a spiritual hunger with food you'll never be full. 26:55 You know Saint Augustine said, our hearts 26:57 were made for thee o God and they find no 27:01 rest until they find their rest in thee. 27:05 So very, very important so many of us like me, 27:10 our hungry but not for food, we're hungry for Jesus, 27:17 and only in Him can we find our hungers fulfilled 27:20 and lose the weight, we need to be healthy. 27:26 So, aside from physical activity and nutrition 27:30 and water and all of these other things making 27:33 sure that we are in tune with our emotional 27:36 and our spiritual health will be helpful 27:41 for long-term weight control? 27:42 Absolutely, that's so very, very important and many 27:46 of my obese patients, I don't talk to them 27:49 about their food; I talk to them about their 27:53 need for their Lord and Savior. 27:57 Thank you for joining us today on 27:59 'Wonderfully Made' this topic is certainly 28:01 interesting to me and I appreciate you 28:03 sharing it with us Dr. Howe thank you. |
Revised 2014-12-17