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Arkansas Governor Trims 100 Pounds
By CARYN ROUSSEAU, Associated Press Writer
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Plain old healthy eating and exercise
not reliance on Atkins, South Beach or other diet plans have
Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee enjoying an active lifestyle
with some unexpected perks.
Month after month as the pounds fell off, the governor had
his suits altered apparently one too many times.
"When the pants join together at the (back) pockets, that's
when you need to get a new pair. That's really when it hit
me," Huckabee said recently as he marked losing 100 pounds.
The governor said he had tried various diets that rely on
low-carb and low-fat extremes but couldn't keep the weight
off until he joined a 15-week Weight Control Program at the
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences last June.
For Huckabee, health is the issue, not weight or looks. He
got motivated after a diabetes diagnosis and the death last
May of his friend, former Arkansas Gov. Frank White, who had
a heart attack.
Today, blackened catfish has replaced deep-fried fish
battered in cornbread. He cuts up fresh apples and peaches
and pours Diet Sprite over them to make a healthier fruit
cocktail. He chops strawberries and sprinkles a low-calorie
sweetener on them.
"I absolutely love asparagus and I used to hate it," he
said. "I haven't eaten dressing on a salad since last June.
I'm almost addicted to apples. I eat several apples a day."
Huckabee won't say how much he weighed when he started
the program.
"I don't want the weight issue to become the focus," he
said. "I want the focus on health and fitness. The
victory is feeling better and knowing that I'm healthier.
It's not setting a goal of a weight. That's the gravy I
can't eat anymore."
The UAMS program is for "chronic adult obesity" and puts
patients through three stages: a liquid diet, reintroduction
of food and weight stabilization with long-term maintenance.
It's no easy feat. In the first phase of the program,
participants are on a liquid diet and are allowed only small
amounts of regular food. They consume between 800 and 1,000
calories per day through a powder-based, low-calorie
beverage that has carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins
and minerals.
"Our main goal is to help them establish a healthy
relationship with food again," said Carolyn Bernthal, the
program's coordinator. "We're trying to get them to change
their lifestyle. (The governor) is a good advertisement for
us. It's changed his life."
Participants lose weight at a steady pace. At 5 percent
above their goal weight, they are gradually reintroduced to
food and plan a diet with a doctor and a dietitian. They
have weigh-ins, calorie-counting classes, therapy and are in
close communication with their own doctors.
Program doctors say they want it to be a lifestyle change
and the last diet their participants ever take up.
Huckabee has embraced the lifestyle, including his new
exercise regimen.
"I'm trying to be more focused on my blood sugar,
blood pressure and cholesterol numbers than I am on
weight," Huckabee said. "You need to focus on good
habits, good health."
He has switched from walking to running, something he didn't
even consider a year ago. He started with one lap around the
mansion grounds and now is up to four, running a mile and a
half and walking two miles before biking indoors.
"This is the first time I've been running since I was 14
years old in junior high gym class when I was forced
to," he said.
His new goal is to run a five-kilometer race, although he
hasn't committed to a date. Some friends have started
telling the now-trim governor that he can stop losing
weight. But that's not how the diet works, he said.
"What's happening is my body is simply adjusting and
regulating itself," Huckabee said. "I'm healthy and
continuing my exercise without any real effort to lose
weight at all."
Losing 100 pounds has altered his outlook on life.
"We ought not to be obsessed with how we look and how much
we weigh," he said, "as much as how healthy we are."
LV
Lady Veteran
- -----------------------------------
"I rode a tank and held a general's rank when the blitzkrieg
raged and the bodies stank..."
- -Rolling Stones, Sympathy for the Devil
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People who use anonymous remailers and ridicule fat people
are helping me change my life for the better.
- ---------------------------------------------
"To Do Is To Be" Socrates "To Be Is To Do" Plato "Do Be Do
Be Do" Sinatra "Oink Oink Grunt Grunt" Sanchez
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