health & wellness

Metabolic Reset

Local doctor writes book on how
to lose weight without starving.

Hannah Posen

Special to the Jewish News

F

or many, the New Year brought
with it a resolution to lose
weight. And with so many dif-
ferent weight loss programs, diets and
workout plans, it is hard to find the right
one. For Dr. Matthew Weiner, the solu-
tion is simple.
In his new book, A
Pound of Cure, Weiner
explains the metabolic
reset diet, a diet that
he has found to have
the most effective out-
comes for his patients.
This diet is unlike diet
Dr. Matthew
programs where you
Weiner
have to starve yourself
or push yourself in the
gym every day. The diet is comprised of
12 steps that help you change your eating
patterns to conquer the cravings and hun-
ger that may have sabotaged your diets in
the past.
Weiner is a bariatric surgeon and has
been performing gastric bypass surgery
for seven years. He attended medical
school at the University of Michigan
and did his residency at NYU in New
York City, after which he returned to the
Detroit area. He lives in Birmingham with
his wife, Lauren, and children Lucy, 7,
and Ruby, 5. His family belongs to Temple
Beth El in Bloomfield Township.
When he opened his private practice
two years ago, his focus shifted to also
include non-surgical weight loss plans
and counseling.
"I see so many people suffering,"
Weiner says. "By the time my patients

come to me for surgery, they
are 100 pounds overweight, and
I have come to the conclusion that they
are resistant to diet and exercise. Their
metabolism has been so disrupted that
they get to a point where, if they are not
absolutely starving and developing signs
of malnutrition, they will not lose weight:'
After meeting with and counseling his
patients, Weiner began to put together
his work into A Pound of Cure. "There is
so much misinformation about how to
eat:' Weiner says. "And there is so much
of a misunderstanding about what are the
right foods for you to eat"
Weiner has found that the standard
model of eating fewer calories and exer-
cising more is not good advice, doesn't
lead to successful weight loss and is likely
to leave you frustrated.
"When you break down all of these
diets:' Weiner explained, "they are an
effort to lower your caloric intake one way
or another by restricting food groups or
limiting portions. In very few of them is
there an actual change in the content of
the diet"
Changing the content of your diet is the
key to Weiner's program.
This concept stemmed from Weiner's
experience with bariatric surgery. After
surgery, patients lose weight without ever
feeling hungry. Bariatric surgery resets
what Weiner calls the metabolic thermo-
stat, which works to balance the calories
we consume with those that we burn to
keep our weight constant.
"Your body has a set weight" Weiner
explained, "and if you lose weight, your
body is trying to get back to that weight,
set by the metabolic thermostat. If you
reset your metabolism to a lower set

point, you will have no hunger and
a faster metabolism and the weight
will come off'
MaryJo Vernon, 48, of Milford, a col-
league of Weiner's, ended up talking with
him about her own struggles with weight.
"I have had weight problems my entire
life," Vernon says. "I have been to doctor
after doctor and have done every diet out
there. Dr. Weiner was the first physician
in my life, after 20 years of suffering and
thinking I was doing the right thing, who
showed me that whole grains and wheat
were hurting my body. Once I got rid of
that, the weight fmally came off'
Vernon has lost 55 pounds in less than
six months.
"I don't crave sugar anymore; I always
go for the fruit:' Vernon says. "I wish I
had met him 20 years ago because this
has changed my life drastically. This is
something I can do the rest of my life
and be successful:'
It's all about changing the content of
your diet, Weiner says. "The more nutri-
ent rich foods you eat, like fruits and
vegetables, the more you can shift the
set point of your metabolism down. It is
a slow process but the weight will come
off:'
Weight loss is something that many
people struggle with. This new take on
weight loss may be more complicated
than the models most are familiar with,
but it is understandable and works.
"Be patient:' Weiner says. "Weight loss
requires a lifestyle change. There will
never be a time where you go back to
eating the way you did. If the scale isn't
moving, give it some time and focus on
your behaviors rather than getting on a
scale every day:'

❑

Dr. Weiner's 5 Tips For Successful Weight Loss

1.Avoid starvation and
hunger. "Hunger is almost always

associated with a slowing of your
metabolism," Weiner says. "You
must always address hunger as a
symptom that you are starting to
veer off track, and at the first sign
of hunger, you must start eating the
right foods."

2. Shift your mentality.

Change your thinking from the old
weight loss plan of eating fewer cal-
ories and burning off more through
exercise to eating more good calo-
ries than bad calories. This means
eating more fruits, vegetables and
protein and less processed foods.

36

February 7 • 2013

JN

The weight loss program in A Pound
of Cure prevents starvation and
is directly targeted against limit-
ing the portions. You must eat the
weight off by eating foods that are
good for you, he says.

bite of food that you eat should
be about 80-90 percent veg-
etables and 10-20 percent healthy
proteins. You can eat as much of
this as you want without gaining
weight.

3. Exercise.

5. Be a smart consumer

Exercise is good for your heart and
brain and is part of being a healthy
individual. But unless you exercise
in a very specific way, it will not
cause weight loss and should not be
a part of your weight-loss program.

You must recognize that the food
industry and the claims being
made about healthfulness are mis-
leading, Weiner says. Foods that
claim to be lowfat are almost as
bad for you as the regular product.
Most of the foods that you should
be eating do not have nutritional
labels.

4. Add fruits and veggies.

Fruits and vegetables should make
up a huge part of your diet. Every

❑

Bullying Is Focus Of
Parents' Support Group
There is help for parents of children who
are facing a bully at school or for parents
who think their child might be a bully.
A new support group at Beaumont
Hospital, Royal Oak, the "NOBLE Support
Group for Parents Dealing with Bullying:'
provides a safe environment and open
forum to discuss all aspects of bullying.
The group meets 5:30-7 p.m. on the
first and third Tuesdays of the month
February-May at Beaumont Hospital,
3711 W 13 Mile, Royal Oak, in the
Administration Building, first floor,
OUWB Conference Room C.
"It's been a whirlwind
year since we created the
state's first hospital-
based program to help
young people address
the pressures of bullying
behavior and deal with
their fears and con-
i i .0/7 i r
cems," said Marlene
Marlene
Seltzer, M.D., medical
Seltzer
director of the NoBLE
program at Beaumont Children's Hospital.
There is no charge, but donations will
be accepted. Registration is required. Visit
Beaumont.edu/urnoble for more informa-
tion, or call (248) 898-9951.

JCPA Petition On Guns,
Mental Health Reform
Following the Dec. 14 attack at Sandy Hook
Elementary in Connecticut, where a gun-
man murdered 26 children and adults,
more than 10,000 Americans have signed a
Jewish Council for Public Affairs petition to
make access to guns and mental health care
a national priority.
The online petition at www.
EndGunViolenceNow.org was dissemi-
nated by a group of leading rabbis from
the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox,
Reconstructionist and Renewal movements.
It circulated through social media and the
JCP/Vs network of 125 Jewish Community
Relations Councils across the country, and
also has been shared with the White House,
members of Congress and federal agency
officials.
The petition acknowledges the country's
shared grief and offers signers a chance to
share their reflections.
While recognizing "the right of
Americans to own guns:' the petition,
inspired by the Jewish teaching that each
person is created in the Divine image, says:
"We will not allow the intense emotion we
feel now to return to a place of complacency
where we become desensitized to the atroc-
ities that unfold around us daily"
JCPA is the public affairs arm of the orga-
nized Jewish community; it serves as the
national coordinating and advisory body
for the 14 national and 125 local agencies
comprising the field of Jewish community
relations.