DR. JOHN LA PUMA ON THE JOY OF EATING

Dr. John La Puma is a physician/chef who thinks we could cut back on obesity by thinking of eating as an experience.  He treats patients with hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and other obesity-associated illnesses.  He finds that for a lot of his patients, and we know it is this way for many others, traditional dieting and calorie counting just don't work overtime.  This is his statement on the matter: "People are too fixated on numbers."  He believes we need more than 300 calorie frozen meals and height/weight charts.  He says we need new ways of looking at food, shopping for it, and preparing it.  He also believes, as I do, that one needs to sit down at the table and share their meals with family and or friends.  He says that when we sit down in front of a TV, etc to eat, we are not concentrating on what we eat, don't even taste it half of the time, and therefore overeat.

Dr. La Puma has created a clinical research program, designed to treat obesity, called CHEF (Cooking, Healthy Eating, and Fitness).  In future columns we will check into his program more thoroughly.

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