It takes a town - to lose lots of pounds - Think Healthy

Shape, April, 2002 by Kathleen Doheny

Thanks to a grass-roots campaign called Fight the Fat, Dyersville, Iowa, is 3,998 pounds lighter than it was four years ago. The 10-week, team-oriented program inspired 383 men and women in this meat-and-potatoes Midwestern town to shed their unhealthy habits and get fit for life. Bobbi Schell, co-author of The Town That Lost a Ton (Sourcebooks, 2002) and one of the program's creators, says Fight the Fat's success boils down to these three factors: The buddy system "Whether there are two people or 20 on a team, having built-in support keeps participants motivated and focused. It's a group challenge, and no one wants to let the team down. Plus, you realize you're not alone."

Interval training "Exercise can be intimidating for beginners because they don't have the strength to do it well. Interval training -- injecting short, measured bursts of high-intensity exercise into a workout -- increases strength and endurance no matter what level you're at. Workouts fly by and you never plateau. Best of all, it doesn't bore you to death, the way straight cardio can."

Portion control "This is most people's biggest diet problem. Once they realize what an actual serving size looks like compared to the gigantic portions they're used to consuming, eating a healthy, lowfat, high-carbohydrate diet is a lot easier."

Colleen Rush

lowerinq stress raises fertility

If you're facing in vitro fertilization or other assisted-reproduction procedures, managing stress and staying optimistic can boost your chances of becoming pregnant. In a University of California, San Diego, study of 151 women ages 26-49, those who felt the least optimistic and most stressed by life events other than their infertility treatments when they began them were 93 percent less likely to give birth within five years. Some tips: Seek counseling, join an infertility-support group, exercise regularly and practice relaxation techniques.

Karen Asp

long-lasting fat loss

Ten years of regular exercise can pay off in a 10-percentage-point body-fat advantage, a recent Oregon State University study concluded. It compared two groups of normal-weight women, ages 35-50. One group had exercised regularly for the previous 10 years, while the other hadn't. The exercisers had a higher resting metabolic rate (burning an average of 1,510 calories a day vs. 1,443 calories for the nonexercisers) and much lower body-fat percentage (18.9 vs. 28.8). The exercisers put in about four to six hours a week in formal workouts, but they were also physically active for up to three more hours weekly, taking part in recreational activities such as bike riding. The research was published in the Journa/ of the American Dietetic Association.

Michele Bloomquist

irregular periods, diabetes linked Long or irregular menstrual cycles may be more than annoying. The Harvard Nurses' Health Study ll, which followed more than 100,000 women, found that those with irregular or long (more than 40 days) cycles were twice as likely as women with normal periods to develop type 2 ("adult onset") diabetes. This was true even when obesity was taken into account (it alone is a risk factor for diabetes). Women with irregular cycles may have polycystic ovary syndrome, a hormonal disorder marked by insulin resistance, which is in turn linked to diabetes risk. If you're having menstrual irregularities, the researchers advise focusing on weight control and exercise.

K.A.

weight-loss update looking back at Xenical

The prescription weight-loss drug orlistat (Xenical) is intended for people who are 30 r more pounds overweight or 20 pounds verweight with related medical problems, such as high blood pressure. It now has a bit of a track record: In research reported to the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, about three out of four people who took the drug lost weight and kept it off for at least two years. The people who lost weight did so within the first six months; those who drop less than 5 percent of their body weight during this period are advised to stop taking xenical because it probably is not going to work for them.

Jenna Mccarthy

herbs in the headlines

be careful with kava If you take the herb kava to relieve symptoms of anxiety or stress, do so with caution, urges the nonprofit American Botanical Council (herbalgrarn.org). Recent reports from Germany, where herb use is carefully researched and regulated, have linked kava to 24 cases of liver toxicity in that country and five in Switzerland. The council maintains that kava is generally safe when used according to label directions but suggests these precautions:

* Do not use kava if you have any liver problems, take any medications known to affect the liver adversely or drink alcohol regularly.

* Do not use kava daily for more than four weeks.

* Do not use it if you are pregnant or nursing.

* Stop taking kava immediately if you notice symptoms of jaundice, such as dark urine and yellowing of the eyes.

Sharon Cohen

ginseng falls flat as mood, energy booster In a study reported in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association (ADA), 83 people, average age 25, took either ginseng (200 or 400 milligrams) or a sugar pill daily for 60 days. Psychological tests found the ginseng users in no better mood than the others. And a report in Nutrition Reviews says evidence that ginseng boosts energy is "exceedingly weak." However, studies in progress may find that ginseng has other benefits for stress, immune function and the heart, says ADA spokesperson David Grotto, R.D. Meanwhile, he suggests consulting a doctor and/or dietitian before taking ginseng or other herbs.