How’s that New Year’s resolution coming? You know – the one where you said you were going to lose weight? Are you tired of eating cheese and meat yet? Are you beginning to wonder if there is a better alternative to low-carb dieting?  

Then put down the pork rinds, suggests Philip Kern, M.D., director of the UAMS Medical Center Weight Control Program and professor in the UAMS College of Medicine’s Department of Internal Medicine, endocrinology and metabolism division.

Kern said low- and no-carbohydrate diets are destined to fail because people can’t keep the weight off once they return to normal eating. “Long-term dieting and denial of favorite foods, commonly lead to binge eating and regaining weight,” he said. 

The UAMS Weight Control Program is a comprehensive, medically supervised, outpatient program, which is helping many Arkansans lose weight. The goal of this program is to help you lose weight, improve your health, maintain your weight loss, and enhance your chances for longevity.

“Obesity is the No. 1 nutrition problem in the United States,” said Kern, “Over one-third of our population is obese, which is medically defined as 20 percent above an individual’s ideal weight.  Obesity is a problem that was almost nonexistent before the turn of the century, but can now be attributed to our country’s much more sedentary lifestyle and high-fat diet.” 

Being trim is more than fashionable. It's life insurance. Although maintaining an appropriate weight can't guarantee you perfect health, it is good protection against heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, gall bladder disease and vascular disease. Such disorders are aggravated by obesity and can be minimized or even reversed with proper diet and weight control.

To address these and other problems associated with obesity, the physicians, dietitians and other health care professionals of the UAMS Weight Control Program work closely with their patients – tailoring the program to fit the medical needs and lifestyle of each individual. The heart of the program is a one-hour, weekly class during which the staff members and patients discuss nutrition, exercise and behavior modification techniques. 

The program begins with a nutritionally balanced, low-fat diet.  One way patients can adhere to this type of diet is by increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables they consume.  “Rather than always emphasizing the negative – ‘Don’t eat this, and don’t eat that’ – we emphasize the positive by telling patients to eat all the vegetables and fruits they want,” Kern said.  “There are very few calories, yet very high nutritional values, in vegetables.  These foods are also very filling and help patients lose fat.”

For some patients, their food plans may include a dietary supplement.  A pleasant-tasting powder mixed with water or a low-calorie beverage, the supplement provides patients with the nutrients necessary to minimize hunger and maintain health.  Patients can initially substitute the supplement in place of food to lose weight. 

In addition, Kern stresses that patients should record their daily caloric intakes.  “Most people don’t know where all the calories are coming from, so they often wind up eating more than they think they are,” he explained.  “But they can solve this problem by writing down everything they eat and tabulating the calories.  And if they want to eat chocolate cake every now and then, that’s fine as long as they’re accountable for it when they record their calories.”

Exercise is also a vital part of the Weight Control Program.  “It’s nearly impossible for people to shed pounds and sustain that weight loss without increasing their levels of activity,” Kern said.  “Exercise is a natural anti-depressant that makes people feel good.  And, it doesn’t have to be backbreaking, body-aching work.  For many patients, a brisk, 30-minute walk three times each week is sufficient.” 

The program highlights behavior modification as well. While altering diet and exercise regimens to lose weight are forms of behavior modification, there are other actions that patients can take.  For example, many people reach for food when they are under stress.  With the help of the program’s health care professionals, these patients can pinpoint the situations that cause them tension and can learn to deal with them through relaxation and other techniques, rather than through eating.

For more information about the UAMS Medical Center Weight Control Program, call (501) 603-1497.