Participants: Agatha Thrash (Host), Don Miller, Rhonda Clark
Series Code: HYTH
Program Code: HYTH000228
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00:01 Hello! Few accomplishments are more
00:04 satisfying to the individual than victory over a bad habit 00:10 such as the habit of overeating, the habit of being overweight. 00:14 We'll be talking about overweight in this session 00:17 and we hope you will join us. 00:38 Welcome to Help Yourself to Health 00:41 with Dr. Agatha Thrash of Uchee Pines Institute, 00:44 and now here is your host Dr. Thrash. 00:47 There are many things that a person dreads 00:54 when they are overweight. 00:56 The first thing is they dread is facing the problem, 01:00 they dread thinking about having to loose weight 01:04 or wanting to loose weight. 01:05 Another thing that they dread is the complications 01:09 that may occur from being overweight. 01:11 Several of those skeletal problems, digestive problems, 01:15 diabetes may be a problem, emotional upsets, 01:21 may be a problem for some, so there are many problems 01:25 that can arise from being overweight. 01:27 Now we would like to talk with you about some of these 01:30 and the way that we approach loosing weight 01:35 can be a major problem for one or can be one that one takes 01:40 just in stride, so we would like to talk with you just a little 01:44 bit about how you can go about loosing weight. 01:48 What tips you can have, is there more than prayer, 01:52 is there more than study and commitment of yourself 01:56 to the Lord, can you do something yourself that can be 02:00 helpful, and I have asked Rhonda Clark to join me 02:03 Rhonda is a colleague at Uchee Pines, and I would like 02:07 to welcome you to the program today. 02:08 - Thank you! Glad to be here. 02:09 - And I know that some of the things that you and I will 02:12 talk about that people hear that they will be very pleased 02:17 with, so tell us a little bit about yourself. 02:20 Have you always been thin as you are now? 02:23 - And on my way to being thinner. 02:27 I started my adventure at Uchee Pines quite a bit heavier 02:31 than I am now, and am excited to share with you some tips 02:35 today that have been very beneficial to me personally 02:38 and that I know will help me on my journey to reach my goal 02:41 weight, which I hope will be within the year. 02:44 - That sounds good. 02:45 We know that overweight is a spiritual battle, 02:53 it's a battle that has to do with how I relate to the Lord 02:58 how I understand myself, what commitment I have to the Lord 03:05 for how I handle His equipment. 03:07 All of these things are spiritual things, 03:10 my relationship with other people, this also has to do 03:14 with my weight and my appetite, and the way that I enjoy eating 03:18 or I enjoy having meal times. 03:21 All of these have spiritual overtones, 03:26 but we also know that there are some physical things 03:30 that we can do, while I can commit myself to the Lord 03:34 I can through prayer admit that I am powerless against 03:39 the habit of indulging myself in things that are going to make 03:43 me overweight. 03:44 I can look at myself and I can understand that 03:48 I don't like the way that I am, and I can determine that I 03:53 am not going to eat a certain thing, and then I have found 03:57 that in the past that I do it anyway. 04:00 There are some things that I have found that can be helpful 04:04 that the Lord has recommended that we do, 04:07 and so I know that it is not wrong for us to try 04:12 to participate. 04:14 And sometimes in the way that people look at righteousness 04:21 by faith and being saved by grace and not by works, 04:26 we understand that those things are true and yet the Lord has 04:30 commanded us a number of things to do, one is, 04:32 you see evil and you flee from it, that's works, 04:39 but never the less it helps a lot of times. 04:42 Now there are some other things, I may not flee 04:47 the evil, but I can take the evil out of my house, 04:51 that's another tip. 04:53 What are some things that you have found? 04:56 You know one of the things I know that the Lord had inspired 04:59 that has been very helpful to me in my weight loss program 05:02 has been transitioning over to a two meal a day plan. 05:06 And there is still a part of me even after several months of 05:09 following this, that can't believe I'm only eating 05:12 breakfast and lunch, and not eating supper which 05:14 has habitually been for many people and was for me 05:17 my largest meal. 05:19 - Three square meals a day, I grew up with that, 05:22 that was the sign that you had been successful in life, 05:27 I've always had three square meals a day. 05:29 There is a saying in the area where I grew up, 05:33 so what did you think when you heard about the... 05:36 I remember when I studied about two meals, and that being the 05:40 ideal physiologic pattern for human beings, 05:45 I remember when we studied that in physiology in 05:49 medical school, I thought well that's strange because nobody 05:54 but nobody eats only tow meals a day. 05:57 I didn't realize that there were a lot of people who really did 06:00 eat only two meals a day, that is the two healthful meals. 06:04 Of course I guess that probably 4/5ths of the world only eats 06:08 two meals a day, but the wrong two, they eat a light lunch 06:11 and a huge supper, or what they call dinner, 06:15 but the best meal pattern for a human being, a good breakfast 06:19 and a good lunch. 06:20 What did you think about that when you first heard that plan? 06:24 - You know supper for me had been much more than just a third 06:28 evening meal, for me it began when I came home from work 06:32 and was somewhat of a meal and kind of transitioned into 06:35 snacking in front of the television the rest of the 06:37 evening, even up until bedtime. 06:39 And so giving up my third meal, I was giving up more than 06:42 just a meal, I was giving up my source of relaxation, 06:45 I was giving up my entertainment in the evening, I was giving up 06:48 something a little bigger to me personally. 06:50 And when I first heard of a two meal plan I had a great 06:52 deal of anxiety about this, I knew that I would be suffering 06:56 a great deal of hunger, and that this would be quite 07:00 distressful for me, and so I was geared up to really be 07:03 miserable, but I was determined I was going to give it a try. 07:08 - And the giving up the TV may have been the biggest part 07:11 of the problem. 07:12 Mine might have been more distressing than giving up 07:15 the food, did you find it so? 07:17 - Actually I was so pleasantly surprised to find that this 07:21 was not as painful as I thought it would be. 07:24 - You didn't go around hungry all the time? 07:27 - About the first three days of giving up supper 07:31 I really was missing it, and I felt a sense of 07:37 what should I be doing with myself. 07:39 I had a little bit of disorientation in how to 07:42 spend my time, and that really helped me focus on the fact 07:45 that my stomach was empty. 07:46 - So it only took about three days to become a little bit 07:49 accustomed to it. 07:50 - Surprisingly! 07:51 - Oh Rhonda, it took me much much longer than that 07:56 I remember making a New Year's Resolution, 07:58 I had been cutting down on my suppers for a long time 08:02 but I made a New Year's Resolution, 08:06 I'm not going to eat suppers any more. 08:07 We had gotten to the place where we only had peaches 08:12 in the evening, or some kind of fruit, and then 08:17 New Year's Day came and I said New Year's Resolution! 08:21 I will not eat suppers any more, I know that it's physiologic, 08:26 I know that it's going to be beneficial, 08:28 I know that it will help me to loose a few pounds of weight 08:30 and by that time I was only about 10 or 15 Lbs. overweight. 08:35 Through the years I had lost a little weight, of the fat 08:41 that I had gained extra when I was a teenager 08:43 and so I was not to overweight by that time, 08:48 but I was happy to anticipate those 10 or 15 Lbs. 08:53 But to the thought of giving up my third square meal 08:58 was not very pleasant, so I sailed into it though 09:03 and I determined that I would not eat suppers. 09:07 I prayed that the Lord would help me to control my appetite 09:10 and I was so determined that I would not even look at the 09:14 refrigerator, I would try not to even think about the kitchen 09:17 nor think about food, nor planning menus, 09:19 nor anything of that nature until after I had eaten 09:24 again the next day 09:25 So three months went by it was the first of April, 09:29 and it was along about the first of April when I began 09:32 to be comfortable not eating that third meal. 09:35 - Really! Wow! 09:37 - What do you find now, are you happy with the third meal? 09:41 Do you ever just have a craving for supper? 09:43 - Yes, of course I've had some times it was difficult, 09:46 but I've learned some good tips, and I wanted to share 09:49 those you and with those who are watching today that 09:52 maybe these will be of help to them as well. 09:54 One of the things that I had to get over was the fear 09:58 of being hungry or being distressed about loosing this 10:01 third meal, and it took a lot of really good positive talk 10:05 knowing that I was making this change for good and important 10:07 reasons and really committing myself to making the 10:10 change fully. 10:11 Also I planned to keep myself busy during the evening hours 10:16 I did not follow the same routine that had been so 10:19 connected with overeating and my snacking habits, 10:22 I did completely different things, in fact I even stayed 10:25 out of my house during that time and kept busy, 10:29 I started practicing the piano which I hadn't played for 10:31 many years so that was fun to kind of renew that hobby, 10:34 or I would go for a walk, those are things I recommend 10:37 to fill that time another way. 10:38 Also it's important to make sure the breakfast and lunch 10:42 that you have are very nutritious full of things 10:45 that will give fiber fruits, and vegetables, raw foods are 10:49 important to include in each meal, having whole grains, 10:52 legumes and even a few nuts, but making sure they will hold you. 10:57 Not overeating, that will actually make you hungrier 11:01 in the evening than if you have appropriate portion size 11:04 very nutrition meal. 11:06 Another thing that I found helpful was to have a friend 11:08 do this with me, when I wasn't in this alone and I had a 11:12 partner to go and do things with during supper time 11:14 or someone to pray with me or to encourage me along the way. 11:19 These are some tips that I have found helpful in 11:23 implementing a two meal plan. 11:24 For people who have children Dr. Thrash who have to 11:30 have a third meal for their children, what suggestions 11:32 might you have for someone who's trying to do a two meal plan? 11:35 Well we sometimes think that two meals might be alright 11:40 for adults but certainly children could not survive on 11:44 two meals, but the answer is yes they can in fact it's the 11:47 most healthful plan for children as well. 11:50 This I learned when I was in Physiology classes in 11:53 Medical School, now for the child who is in a home 12:00 where the adults do not take a third meal, the most logical 12:05 is for them also not to take a third meal. 12:09 You will find that your children if you are practicing 12:13 two meals a day, a two meal plan, your children will have 12:18 to be interrupted from what they are doing and brought in 12:22 and told it is now time for you to eat supper, 12:26 or they won't remember it at all, you don't have food 12:30 on the table, you are not cooking in the kitchen, 12:33 you don't have anything that they are accustomed to getting 12:36 at a certain time, you don't have any of those things around 12:40 then they will find that the most logical thing to do what 12:43 you do, you continue your activities until it's time 12:47 for you to prepare for that routine that you go through 12:51 before you go to bed, worship, maybe a story time, 12:54 and then to bed for the children. 12:57 They will consider that the most logical, and rational, 13:00 and normal thing to do, and I have seen it happen many times 13:04 in families where the children are from 1- 3 years of age 13:11 they can easily be trained to a two meal plan. 13:14 If they are older, let's say they are about 10 or 12, 13:17 you may have more difficulty with them, because they remember 13:22 that they are supposed to eat at this time of the day 13:25 that being in the evening, but it's better for them 13:29 if they don't eat the third meal because one the big things 13:33 we are seeing now days is obesity in children and a child 13:39 who goes through puberty being over weight 13:43 it's very likely that they will be overweight 13:45 the rest of their lives, or they will at least be fighting 13:49 the battle of appetite all of their lives. 13:52 So I tell parents who are the parents of small children 13:56 do not allow your child to go through puberty 14:00 being overweight, conquer this habit, the habit of eating 14:03 to much, of eating to frequently, of eating foods 14:07 that are to rich, conquer these habits before they go through 14:10 puberty or they will forever have a hard time. 14:14 Yes, a two meal plan is for children as well. 14:19 - That's so helpful to know. 14:20 - Now tell me, I have found two things for my patients 14:27 that have been really serious problems, 14:29 one is how do you handle the church pot luck, 14:33 and secondly how do you handle the big sit down function 14:39 that occurs in the evening, say someone is getting married, 14:43 and there is a real premium on this marriage, for "You," 14:47 it's a close relative, or in some other way, 14:52 you really are a part of the spotlight, what can you do 14:57 in those two instances? 14:58 The church pot luck or the the family reunion 15:02 or the big sit down evening meal, 15:07 do you have any tips on that? 15:08 - I have a few, one tip that I really like to give for people 15:12 who are going to pot luck is take your own food, 15:15 take your own dishes, you can even take your own lunch 15:18 and you can still enjoy all of the fellowship and social 15:21 activity around you without being tempted by all the lovely 15:24 things that are over on the other table. 15:26 Bring dishes that you know your family can enjoy, 15:29 that you enjoy, sometimes it's helpful to save one of your 15:33 favorite healthful dishes to take to an occasion so that 15:36 you don't feel deprived, you get your special dish 15:38 to take with you. 15:39 Another is to go towards the end of the pot luck line, 15:44 and if you go towards the end you will know many of the 15:46 selections will already be gone, so you will have fewer things 15:49 to choose from. 15:50 Now this puts you at risk of being left with choices 15:53 that may not be as healthful for you and so just keep that 15:57 in mind as you consider... 15:58 Always pray before pot luck and remember that you have 16:01 and angel right beside you who is there to help 16:03 and strengthen you. 16:04 Sometimes I would go at the end of church service, 16:07 and drink two large glasses of cool water, walk around 16:11 a little bit, head back over towards the pot luck, 16:13 towards the end of the line and by then enough time 16:16 would have passed that the water would have helped suppress 16:19 my appetite and I was able to be a little more temperate 16:22 in my choices. 16:23 It becomes more difficult when we get involved in social 16:27 occasions, so much of our society involves evening events 16:30 and evening activities. 16:31 A friend of mine says what she does is tells her friends 16:34 and family, you know I'm sorry I won't be able to eat 16:37 any of that because of my doctors orders, 16:41 and your doctor... - Doctors orders, 16:42 that's a good one. 16:43 - The great physician has ordered me to refrain 16:47 from that third meal. 16:49 Again maybe you can take your own vegetable tray or something 16:52 that if you feel that you have to imbibe can be something 16:56 very simple an very light that would be something easily 17:00 digested, I think though it's best just to be honest with 17:03 people and let them know I won't be able to have any food 17:07 with you that evening, but I would love to sit 17:09 and enjoy your company. 17:10 Those are tough if you are very tempted by the 17:13 things before you. 17:14 - Yes and sometimes something that you can do is drink 17:18 a cup of tea at the time that they are taking the meal 17:22 and you explain this ahead of time, doctors orders 17:25 that I won't be taking the third meal, and then 17:29 they may ask well what can I provide for you, 17:32 will you take some juice or will you take some soup, 17:35 and the answer is of course no I will not need that either. 17:40 And then you can say but if you have some herb tea, I will be 17:46 happy to have something like mint tea or catnip tea, 17:50 that's another good one catnip also quails the appetite a bit 17:53 and that can be very helpful. 17:56 - I would like to mention to our viewers a couple of other teas 17:59 that have been helpful to me personally on occasions when 18:02 I have been feeling hungry and known that I shouldn't eat. 18:04 There are two teas that have been helpful and I make them 18:08 together: One is chickweed, the other is fennel, 18:12 and fennel has a really nice licorice taste, 18:14 those two teas put together have quelled my appetite 18:18 on occasions when I didn't want to eat, and something about that 18:21 warm tea is very soothing, so again helping you 18:23 not feel deprived. 18:25 So I guess that's some of the tips that I have for that 18:28 Dr. Thrash. 18:29 - I have another tip and that is when you are going 18:33 to someone's house and you are going to be there for a 18:36 few days, it is well to let the hostess know ahead of time 18:40 what your dietary restrictions will be, if they lay in some 18:45 beautiful steaks for you and a lot of cheese and other things 18:51 that you don't eat any way, and certainly don't eat on a 18:55 weight control program. 18:56 It may be that you have a serious problem with the hostess 19:01 she may feel quite unkind towards you for letting her 19:06 lay in all of these things that you are not going to eat anyway. 19:10 Now I've asked Dr. Don Miller if he will also give some 19:16 thoughts that he has about how to approach this problem 19:20 it is certainly not a small problem, it's a very serious 19:23 thing and Dr. Miller welcome to the program and I'm happy 19:28 that you are going to bring us some tips also, 19:31 what do you have to say to us? 19:33 Well an interesting point, you've talked a lot about 19:35 eating suppers, but almost as important if not eating 19:39 suppers, is eating breakfast. 19:40 - Good point! 19:41 - And many people, they don't eat breakfast, 19:43 and if you don't eat breakfast that means that your glucose 19:47 is going to start getting low and you start getting that 19:49 feeling in mid morning and you then you have to sort of 19:51 grab some of this and grab some of that, 19:53 and that's going to be very bad for your body 19:55 because it's almost always going to be refined 19:57 carbohydrates, it's going to be a soda, it's going to be chips, 20:00 it's going to be candy, which is going to raise your 20:03 triglycerides. 20:04 When your triglycerides go up, now this is a new study coming 20:07 out of Rockefeller University in New York City, 20:12 that when our triglycerides rise in the body from eating 20:15 high fat diets, it can effect the brain, 20:18 it goes into the hypothalamus, the hypothalamus produces 20:22 some neuro peptides which then suppress the... 20:26 well not suppress the appetite, it suppresses your ability 20:30 to feel like you are full and it makes you more hungry, 20:34 and so the more fat you eat, besides the fact that it's 20:36 going to perhaps make you more fat this way, it makes you 20:39 hungrier, so the best thing to do is to lower the fat intake. 20:43 But going back to the breakfast it is the most important meal 20:46 of the day, we find that people that don't eat breakfast 20:49 have more heart attacks in the morning when most 20:52 heart attacks occur. 20:53 So eating that good breakfast, now people sit and say 20:56 I can't eat breakfast, I get sick, I don't feel like eating 21:00 that's fine don't eat breakfast, don't eat lunch, 21:04 and don't eat supper, the next morning go back to the 21:08 breakfast table, if you still can't eat breakfast, 21:10 don't eat it, and don't eat lunch, and don't eat supper, 21:15 and the third morning when you go to the breakfast table, 21:18 you must be hard core if you can't eat breakfast yet. 21:21 But if you can't eat breakfast yet don't eat it, and don't eat 21:25 lunch, and don't eat supper, you do until finally 21:28 you sit there and say I will eat anything including the 21:32 tablecloth, but now the key is make sure what's on the table 21:36 is good food, 21:37 Remove temptation from the plate here, get things that 21:42 you should not eat... We had a patient come to 21:44 Uchee Pines some years ago, now he had prostate cancer, 21:48 and we don't just change their lifestyle, while they are with 21:52 us we give them a new lifestyle and a new rest of their lives. 21:55 I remember one day I heard him on the phone, he called home 21:58 he had an older child watching his house while he was gone, 22:01 he say's oh, by the way, everything in the refrigerator 22:03 everything in the freezer, everything in the cupboards 22:07 you can have because we can't eat it any more. 22:10 And he really cleaned out the place so when you start looking 22:14 for those things you should not have, 22:15 there not there anymore, and then if you stock your home 22:18 with good foods, low fat foods, complex carbohydrate foods like 22:23 some fruits and vegetable, whole grains, nuts and seeds 22:26 in moderation those last two, you are going to find that your 22:29 satiety factor is much more satisfied, you feel like umm, 22:32 I've had a good meal, I feel good about this. 22:35 Then I recommend when people want to loose weight 22:38 is after they eat the meal, they leave the scene 22:40 of the crime, my thought here is you get done with the meal 22:44 and you leave the table. 22:45 So often you get done eating and you are sitting there 22:49 and you look back down at the table and 22:52 well that looks pretty good and... you're just talking 22:56 around the table and you are looking and there's one over 22:58 here, and you just keep on eating and you never seem 23:03 to stop. 23:04 - Dr. Miller, in our society it isn't appropriate 23:08 to leave the table while there are still people eating. 23:11 How do you handle that? 23:13 - Well, that's a good question, you know I travel a lot overseas 23:17 and depending on where you go, I love Ukraine, they are my 23:20 second family over there and they look at me and I'm... 23:24 they might use the word gaunt, I use the word I'm a runners 23:28 physique, but they look at me and they think have to 23:30 fatten me up, and so the way that they fatten you up 23:34 is add more fat to the food, well that's what their food is, 23:36 high fat food, and why do we add fat to food? 23:40 Because it makes it taste better, and so they are putting 23:42 all this fat in my food... and I was there not long ago, 23:47 and I had taken two suits with me, one suit is still 23:51 over there because I can't get into that thing any more 23:53 at all, the second suit... 23:55 - They did fatten you up I see. 23:56 - Did they ever, and one suit I had on, I bent down and 23:59 put a big air hole in the back of that one, 24:01 and it had to be sewn back up, but I found that when I went 24:05 back down to another country like Moldova I got right back 24:08 down to my size. 24:09 - They understood about not giving a lot of fats 24:12 with the food. 24:13 - There was not fat in this food, or very little, 24:15 as soon as I get back up to Ukraine, they say Ahh! 24:17 what happened, and they start giving you the food. 24:22 I love them for it, and I love, the food, but it's a challenge. 24:25 - They are very hospitable. 24:26 - When there is still food on the table, or they are still 24:29 around the table and you are still there, now is time for 24:34 some will power, I don't know any other... 24:35 do you have a suggestion? - Let me ask you, 24:37 what if Aunt Jane comes to you and says "Donald son," 24:44 I have made this "just for you," how do you handle that? 24:50 You know it's something you should not eat. 24:52 - Well, I don't know if you are going to like my answer because 24:55 I've been in this situation. 24:57 When I first became a vegan, I was getting ready to go home 25:02 to Cincinnati and my wonderful sister was there and she knew 25:05 I had become a vegetarian so she made a special dish 25:09 just for me, Manicotti! 25:11 - What is that? 25:13 - It's pasta filled with cheese. 25:15 - Oh yes! 25:16 - And I didn't know what to do, you go home and... 25:19 and to me as long as it does not violate my moral code 25:25 unclean meats, I think cheese is almost in that category 25:29 but the point I was at I ate some, I didn't pig out on it, 25:33 but I ate some, she had made that just for me. 25:37 If Aunt Jane or Aunt Sue, whatever her name is, 25:39 makes me a dish, correct me if I am wrong, 25:43 and I say alright there's no pork in there, there's no 25:46 rattlesnake, there's no camel, maybe a little bit of milk, 25:49 although nowadays we are living in a strange world, prions and 25:52 e- coli, and everything else... 25:55 - It's a hard thing, I understand. 25:59 - The key is making sure that they know before you even 26:01 go there, I'm sorry, I am a complete vegan. 26:05 I was once eating at my sister's home, and my brother-in-law 26:09 brought home pizza's for supper, well I can't eat the pizza. 26:12 - Covered with cheese, covered with pepperoni's. 26:13 - Of course, and I says well I'm sorry, I really can't eat 26:16 that but I will eat your crusts, and as they would finish 26:19 their pizza, I would gather their crusts, 26:22 and my brother-in-law told my sister afterwards, 26:24 he said I was so humiliated by what he did. 26:27 So now when I am at their house, they will bring home 26:29 a pizza with no cheese on it. 26:31 - No cheese on it, that sounds good. 26:32 Well I have found that often that does happen, 26:35 but it's a hard thing to deal with that kind of problem. 26:39 I know that one of the most successful things as a physician 26:45 that I have done is to help a woman loose weight when she 26:50 was 100 Lbs. over weight, had a large diabetic ulcer, 26:54 had already lost the feeling in both legs, she felt that she 27:00 was not going to survive another month, and during the time that 27:05 she was at Uchee Pines, she did loose about 65 or 70 Lbs. 27:10 She was with us about 6 or 7 months as I recall, 27:14 had an enormous weight loss, very successful, 27:18 the leg ulcer healed up, she got so that she could walk 27:22 without a walker or a cane. 27:24 It was just a really great success story. 27:27 So I hope that the things that we have talked with you about 27:31 concerning how to control the weight will be an eternal 27:35 blessing to you. 27:36 That you will not only benefit in this life, 27:39 but that in the life to come you can praise the Lord for 27:43 the victories that you have won in controlling the appetite 27:47 and what happens in one area, can also give you strength 27:50 and moral courage in another area. 27:53 May God Bless you! |
Revised 2014-12-17