Yo-yo dieting: early education is the key in the potentially fatal gain-lose weight cycle

American Fitness, July-August, 1992 by Toni Luppino

Early education is the key in the potentially fatal gain-lose weight cycle.

Walter Hudson, once listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's heaviest man, died last Christmas Eve from heart failure. Although he once lost more than 500 pounds on a liquid diet, Hudson eventually gained all the weight back. He was 1,125 pounds when he died.

Researchers from The New England Journal of Medicine reported weight cycling, losing and regaining weight, plus gaining additional pounds, increases the risk of heart disease. It has been found 95% of dieters suffer from weight cycling. If people are better off slightly overweight rather than repeatedly losing and regaining weight, why doesn't the American public stop this potentially fatal cycle?

The diet industry doesn't want it to stop. The $3 billion industry profits from dieters' weight loss and regain cycle. People continue to try so-called "miracle" diet ideas and products to satisfy short-term goals of quick weight loss. A recent survey reported 80% of American 11-year-old girls feel they are overweight and are currently on diets. Television commercials showing thin models along with glamorous, slim cover-girls on magazines fuel the fire for our "thin is in" society. With their publicized weight losses, diet-conscious celebrities such as Christina Ferrare, Kim Fields, Lynn Redgrave and even Tommy Lasorda to name a few, perpetuate the idea that being successful and beautiful means losing weight.

On the other hand some celebrities are fighting back. Oprah, whose drastic liquid diet faded to last, has vowed to never diet again. Delta Burke, whose weight gain was highly publicized, stated it doesn't matter what she looks like, her husband will still love her. Paula Abdul made public her 25-pound weight loss with the help of Overeaters Anonymous, not a quick weight-loss diet.

Who is on the right track? "It's the person who learns to deal with life using internal tools rather than avoiding life through the use of external substances or relationships," says William C. Rader, M.D., founder and clinical director of The Rader Institute, a nationally known eating disorders treatment center. "One cannot abstain 100% of the time. It's dangerous and it's paradoxical to try to be perfect."

Society, as a whole, has yet to become size-acceptance conscious. A recent survey was given to children asking them what they would like to be and not like to be. Low on the list was a handicapped child with leg braces, below that was a "fat child." It seems we live in a society where children would choose to be crippled rather than be fat. Education is the key to changing this unhealthy programming.

People with eating disorders suffer from this negative programming. If they have a disease, such as compulsive overeating, they need to understand willpower is not the answer. They need professional help. A person who cannot control food intake, starves to keep thin or binges only to vomit immediately needs to be educated on the physiological, possibly fatal, dangers of their behavior. They need to become convinced they are enmeshed in an uncontrollable addiction. Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby, a recovering bulimic, got professional help for her disease, whereas Karen Carpenter and Walter Hudson were not as lucky.

Everyday dieters are telling their friends about a newfound secret to weight loss - "just vomit" or "take laxatives." The cycle may begin innocently, but can quickly turn into a deadly addiction.

For further information, contact the Rader Institute, 1663 Sawtelle Blvd., 3rd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90025 or phone (800) 255-1818. 0

Toni Luppino is a fteelance writer living in Los Angeles, Calihmia.