University Daily Kansan, April 29, 1981 Page 9
Dieters seek weight loss help
By AMY S. COLLINS Staff Reporter
Judy, a KU senior, studied for the medical school entrance exam eating cake and fruit smeared with butter to release her anxieties about the test.
"After I gained 20 pounds last summer my life fell apart," she said. "I tell all my tensions out on food, I really want to eat it and realize be overweight is serious."
Judy didn't believe in fad diets and turned to Parm Mangum, Watkins Hospital dietitian, for help. She said the reinforced iron reinforced what she already knew. When fruits and vegetables could be just as good or better than cake or cake.
Judy is just one of thousands of people who look for weight loss help, but she refused to contribute to the business her need has created. The dietitian services at Watkins Hospital are free.
"If I couldn't lose it myself I wouldn't pay for a weight loss program," Judy said. "I should have the gumption and fortitude to do it myself."
"I can talk to Pam about the psychological and spiritual problems of being overweight and she helps me with both."
UNLIKE JUDY, many people want to pay for a weight loss program. The past five years have left Lawrence with new fitness businesses, including salons for people who like machines to do the work for them.
af. According to sources at the Diet Center, Weight Watchers and the Fitness Center, about 30 percent of their clientele are students.
an "The whole secret to dieting and good eating is to learn control and discipline," Cathy Hessinger, director of the Diet Center. 935 Iowa. said.
Students pay Hessinger $171 for six weeks to learn to control their eating habits. However, the Diet Center suggests one diet that included in it is a diet supplement
tablet high in protein, vitamins and minerals.
"There's no short cut, you can't eat less and lose good weight," Hessinger said when explaining the use of supplements.
But one KU student who paid for her Diet Center diet said she rarely took the supplement and lost weight just by eating the suggested food.
"I think its psychological," she said,
"You had to take tons of vitamins a day and the supplement made me weak when I was running."
ACCORDING TO HESSINGER, the supplement provides the additional vitamins needed when food is cut out of a dish and it gives her customers a good feeling.
"You're not taking diet pills, you're feeling good about yourself," Hessinger said.
Mangrum said she stressed a balanced diet instead of recommending vitamins when suggesting a diet. Also, she said it would be different diet for each of her patients.
"There is no magical combination of food that will make you lose weight," she said. "I individualize the diet because everybody has a different activity level. Not everybody's needs are going to be met with the same diet and in big enough doses, vitamins are drugs."
MARGUNG SAID that for most people dieting was just a matter of behavior modification. Each week Mangung evaluates her patients' patterns and discusses what they have been eating. She asks them to keep a diary.
"I help people relearn the ways of eating and get them to think differently about food," she said.
Mangrum added that students diet mainly to look and feel better.
"Americans in general are becoming more weight conscious," she said. "Some people really respond to the competitive spirit."
She explained that students found it
"A lot of吃食 in a social thing," she said. "Like getting away from the dorm and eating pizza after eating the dining hall."
hard to live with people who could eat anything and not gain a pound.
Mangrum attributed overseeing to boredom, depression and family habits. She and Heasley agreed that exercise kept up the discretion of the individual.
ONE WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM
that of the Fitness Center, 1008 W. 8th St.
John McClure said that although the Center had no strict diet program, he would nutritionally counsel customers in conjunction with their exercise program. He stressed the importance of food in place of high vitamin doses.
Hot baths, saunas and lifting weights in conjunction with a good diet is an excellent way to stay in shape. Mike Flynn, Leawood junior, lifts weights at the Fitness Center, 6th and Maine St., on a regular basis to keep fit. The Fitness Center provides weightlifting tables, bicycles and hot baths to keep the body in shape.
SCOTT HOOKER/Kansan staff
"Balancing the body is what we're after." he said.
For $75 a person can use the Fitness Center as much as he likes for three months. Facilities also include a hotub and sauna. McClure said most of his customers are looking for some kind of weight loss or reopenment.
Marion Soul, Watkins Mental Health Clinic social worker, said people dieted to have a sense of control over themselves.
She said she believed the push for physical fitness in the past 10 years has been encouraged by the "stick figure" images she saw and the "imagined" images say "You ought to look like that."
"People say, 'If I look pretty, I'd be OK.'" she said.
SHE SAID THAT although some of the people she counseled were overweight, for most the problem was coupled with something else.
"We support our patients in what they are doing," she said. "If it's emotional aspects that are causing us to overheat, we try to deal with that."
A local women's weight control support group in existence for about five months this year dealt with the pro-
Gina Webb, group leader, said
members had to realize the emotional impact overeating was having on their lives.
"Understanding yourself and your environment with stress is the key to controlling your environment," Webb said. "In the long term of maintaining your weight it is a question of understanding yourself."
The group approach is based on a book, "Fat is a Feminist Issue," by Orsie Orchab. Orchab's idea is that overeating is both a problem and a solution. Women overate because they see it as a solution to emotional
problems, yet the actual problem is overeating.
WEBB EXPLAINED that people did not always face the emotional issues behind their weight problems. As a result, she said, many people were constantly on a "yo-yo" diet—one day on the diet, the next day off.
At local Weight Watchers classes, good nutritional eating habits are taught, Darlene Hart, Weight Watchers, lecturer said.
"The program is successful, but it all depends on the person," she said.
AT WEIGHT WATCHERS everyone is on the same diet and exercise is optional.
"The program is based on what the body will or will not handle." Hart said. "It's just behavior modification and what works with the person."
Weight Watchers catch $2 to join and the dieter pays a $5 weekly fee at each class. Dieters are weighed in and discuss what they've been eating for the week, but counts are determined by the cups and ounces. Exercise is left up to the individual.
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