TAKE TWO APPLES AND CALL ME IN THE MORNING
Interview with Judy Stone MSW, CN

How is Take Two Apples… different from other nutrition books out there?
I wrote this book to capture my experience of helping people with the process of change rather than one focused solely on informing people about good nutrition. To that end I speak to the reader about what's ideal, but also about what's realistic for them. The book is a step-by-step coaching guide because it's been my experience that people who succeed at lifestyle changes do it in pieces rather than in one fell swoop.

Along those same lines, I make suggestions for nutritional changes that I know will give tangible results quickly, such as more energy, better sleep or weight loss. Having the experience of feeling better is way more convincing than words on page.

I believe teaching people what they need to know in order to make good choices is a lot more effective than telling people what diet to follow. So I took great pains to make the scientific information easy-to understand and interesting to read. I used my background in psychotherapy to make the book user-friendly, understanding how people change, how they get stuck and what helps them get unstuck.

Finally, my book addresses more than just nutrition. Nutrition is inter-related with so many other aspects of health-sleep quality, exercise, hormone balance and of course the ability to competently shop for and cook healthy, great-tasting food. I address all these things, even for those who insist they "don't cook".

Why did you shift your practice from psychotherapy
to nutrition?
As a psychotherapist I saw many people who were dealing with food issues, depression, or health problems, and I have always known nutrition was piece of the picture. My clients experienced significant changes when we looked at what they were eating and they began to make different food choices. As I did more research and incorporated more nutrition counseling in my practice the results were very exciting. The improvements in both mental and physical health were dramatic and I felt and feel passionate about "getting the word out".

How can food be used to help with depression or anxiety?
Both depression and anxiety have strong biochemical components, which frequently can be altered by what we eat. Today's typical American, low fat diet, high in breads, pasta, cereal and sugar-sweetened food is a sure trigger for both depression and anxiety. Adequate protein is essential to provide the brain with the ingredients it needs to produce chemicals that prevent depression and anxiety. And the brain and the nervous system depend on having substantial amounts of healthy fat in the diet to manufacture and move those chemicals around effectively.

Do you advocate a high protein, high fat diet like Atkins?
There's no question that keeping blood sugar well regulated as Dr. Atkins has been saying for years, is one very important key to health. I think people have latched on to the idea that Atkins stands for high fat, high protein because it's less effort than trying to understand the whole picture. And the media loves to portray it that way because it's controversial and it makes a sound byte that sells. I accept Dr. Atkins' premises but I have created an approach that has more flexibility for individual needs and more emphasis on an abundance of vegetables. I am partial to people eating naturally unsaturated fats over consuming tons of calories from saturated animal fat, although we certainly need both.

Would someone have more success sticking with your program than with any other diet?
My approach is not a diet. It offers a range of changes people can make and enough education so the reader can choose what would work for them. Each step will bring a little more health, and people can add changes at their own pace. Health is a journey, not a destination like a number on a scale. Take Two Apples... will be invaluable to people who want to have some control over their health and are willing to be involved in the ongoing process.

Why do you think there is such a problem with obesity in this country?
There are lots of threads in this discussion, but I think the one most overlooked is the fact that nutrition and health policy are shaped more by economics and politics than by than by sound decision making in the public interest. We blame people for their obesity and resulting health problems but we don't make it easy or economical for people to have the food that would improve health. As an example just look at the way the fast food and snack industry has been invited into public schools to help create revenue for education. It is nonsense to think we're supporting education by feeding kids junk that unquestionably interferes with their ability to concentrate and learn. I have rarely been to a corporate function that didn't serve refined carbohydrates and sugar, yet the corporations are screaming that their employee health insurance costs are out of control. Insurance companies don't want to cover nutrition counseling or food coaching-the things that in most cases would have the most direct impact on health and health costs. Right now the food industry is kicking because the FDA want to require the labeling of trans-fatty acid content on all foods. We know that trans fats have no positive benefit for health and they increase the risk of heart disease. But they do increase profitability for the food industry. There shouldn't even be a discussion about the right thing to do here.

What have you noticed to be the biggest obstacle to adopting healthier eating habits?
One is the confusion and frustration people feel with the rapidly changing nutritional landscape. People are having a hard time keeping up with all the new research and making sense of the debate between the low-fat advocates and the low carbohydrate advocates. I think people are just starting to recognize how powerful a tool food is in creating and protecting health and it's simply going to take time to convert that awareness into behavior. Right now it takes a fairly motivated consumer to sort out fact from fiction; then go out of their way to buy and prepare healthier, unadulterated food-food, which generally costs more than cheap, manufactured alternatives. Convincing people of the long-term benefits is for many, just an intellectual argument that isn't relevant when they're making the decision about what to eat for lunch today.

Have your clients been able to stop taking medication because they've changed their diet?
Many have either reduced or been able to eliminate medication for blood sugar regulation, gastric reflux, blood pressure, cholesterol, depression, and thyroid. I advise people to make those adjustments in partnership with their doctors, but doctors consistently see improvements when people change their diets for the better and are happy to reduce patient medication.

Isn't losing weight just a matter of burning more calories than you eat?
Technically yes. But you can either focus exclusively on the calorie intake part of the equation which is how it's traditionally been done, or you can look at rehabilitating the metabolism so it functions more effectively and burns more calories. Working with the overall metabolism is the systemic way of approaching the problem of obesity and overweight. The fact that it's not how we typically approach it is why weight loss dieting has been so resoundingly ineffective.