Alternative weight-loss methods examine issues that cause overeating
"A lot of (such methods) have to do with reprogramming people," said Brent Wisse, co-director of the weight-disorders clinic at the University of Washington.
Counseling is "very effective" in dealing with binge eating and nocturnal eating, he said. "And it certainly can be a tremendous key to weight loss."
At weight-loss programs that focus on counseling, leaders say the solution is always long term.
"People are getting more in tune with natural health and learning that drugs and medications and quick fixes aren't the way to go in the long run," said Sheryl Manchester, regional director at Positive Changes Hypnosis Center in Bellevue, part of a national franchise. "They're so sick of the yo-yo dieting and feeling like food consumes their life completely."
Here's a sample of nondiet weight-loss programs in our area:
Hypnosis
Once considered a mysterious practice involving bookish doctors, fainting couches and pocket watches, hypnosis today is considered mainstream treatment for addictions and overeating.
At Lighten Up! in Seattle's Belltown, director Katie Evans offers group sessions, one-on-one meetings and hypnosis tapes. Evans, a state-registered hypnotherapist, has been in the business for 17 years. Hers is a for-profit center.
First-time visitors start with a free consultation/hypnosis that lasts 45 minutes to an hour. If they like what happens, they discuss payment options — from $16 a week (most often for eight to 10 months) to $947 up front for a year.
The main program starts with four weekly foundation classes, in groups of eight to 10. In a format that permits seminar-style sharing, patients learn to recognize when they're hungry and when they're full. They're coached to imagine their ideal body and to deal with food myths and stress eating.
Next comes the support class, during which members discuss their food situation of the week. Evans then conducts group hypnosis.
The process begins with relaxing; techniques including "anchoring" (where you anchor a food you want to stop eating to something "kinda noxious") and meditation are meant to clear the mind and boost resolve.
"People think you're going to levitate or fly out of your body or cluck or bark or whatever, but all you feel is relaxed," Evans said. "When brain activity slows down, you're more easily able to access information in your own subconscious. And you can begin to change behaviors and habits."
About 80 percent of those who join Lighten Up! have 40 to 80 pounds to lose. Almost everyone who joins with more than 30 pounds to lose, loses at least 30 pounds, Evans said.
Hypnosis won't work for everybody. Evans has encountered clients who fail to fall under hypnosis. And some people oppose hypnosis for religious reasons.
But for others, hypnosis is the answer. Dick Watson, 58, tried it after a string of other diets — including eating frozen diet dinners exclusively for a year.
"Most diets, when the diet's over, nothing about you has changed and you go back to what you were doing," he said. "But Lighten Up! has made the changes in me. (I've learned) what foods are good for you, what foods aren't, the effects of alcohol on your body, the effects of sugar, the effects of caffeine."
He lost 114 pounds in 18 months and continues to visit the support classes weekly.
Other hypnosis programs in the area include Positive Changes Hypnosis Center in Bellevue and Hypnosis Seattle near Northgate.
The faith-based approach
Cindi Lund was more than 100 pounds overweight and needed a solution that would take off the weight and cure her of overeating.
The Aloha, Ore., resident joined the Center for Counseling and Health Resources, Inc., last year, driving at least every week to Edmonds for treatment at the faith-based, for-profit program.
Staff members there consider issues of faith an important part of the whole-person approach to addressing eating disorders. Upon request, clients can receive treatment integrated with Christian themes including Bible verses and prayer.
Lund started with the center's Intensive Counseling Program for disordered eating — five to six hours a day of treatment, five days a week, usually for two to six weeks.
She underwent clinical testing, intensive emotional counseling and coaching to stop misusing food. Lund opted for just a week of the intensive treatment, but she continued with weekly, hourlong counseling sessions.
Psychologists and counselors helped Lund, 45, deal with childhood abuse, the trauma of being raped at 21 and the fact that she was eating to build a shell around herself to keep men away.
"We worked through the issues that made me want to stay isolated from people," she said.
Lund was treated for depression, taught to change her self-image and advised to journal everything she ate. The Center, which also treats people with mental-health and chemical-dependency issues, incorporated her faith into the treatment.
"They totally bring God into the process," said Lund, who lost 160 pounds in just over a year.
Gregg Jantz, founder and director of the center, said faith, relationships, emotions and physical health play a part in eating disorders. Center doctors test each patient's metabolism and offer emotional counseling.
Most clients stay in weekly counseling for 12 to 18 months. Jantz, a certified eating-disorder specialist with the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals, and who is also a licensed mental-health and chemical-dependency counselor, has centers in Edmonds, Des Moines, Stanwood and Everett and is the author of: "Hope, Help and Healing for Eating Disorders."
In addition to the intensive program and weekly one-on-one counseling, Jantz and his state-licensed employees offer a weekly group meeting for those with eating disorders. He caps the group at about 12 participants. Coordinators lead the meetings, which are part presentation, part discussion.
About 80 percent of the clients who stick with one of the center's programs for six months or longer lose weight, Jantz said. Those who stop treatment sooner are less successful.
Clients who report being displeased with the program often cite that they didn't lose weight fast enough, Jantz said.
Fees vary from $98 per session with medical insurance to $30 to $35 a session through Jantz's Hope Scholarship Program, a nonprofit branch of the center funded by private donors.
The center is a preferred provider for numerous insurance companies including Premera and Regence Blue Shield, Jantz said.
Overeaters Anonymous
Much like Alcoholics Anonymous, this program for compulsive overeaters uses a 12-step program, is run by members and has volunteers on call at all hours.
It's a spiritual program — not a religious one, said member Tanis. Like other 12-step programs, OA is noncommercial. Members use first names only and believe in a higher power to which they can turn over their addictions.
Anonymity is promised, and members can attend as many meetings as they need for as long as they need. Meetings often involve a speaker and almost always enough time for group sharing. Most committed members attend for about two years, and at least half of them return after leaving, Tanis said.
Overeaters Anonymous (OA) is a national organization with groups in many Washington cities, including Seattle and Bellevue. There are meetings at various times each day, often in churches or medical facilities.
One-on-one interaction happens largely with a "sponsor," usually somebody who has belonged to OA long enough to experience some "physical recovery." Members call their sponsors every day, which is especially important when a change is about to occur in eating routines.
"Someone invited you out to dinner," said Tanis, who has lost about 100 pounds in OA. "You tell (the sponsor) what you're planning to eat." The hope is to intervene "before you take that first compulsive bite."
According to what Tanis has observed in her 30 years with the program, about 50 percent of those who try OA lose weight.
All OA meetings are free or by donation. Visit www.seattleoa.org for information and to find a meeting.
Dahnhak
Central to this holistic mind-body training method is "Dahn," or life energy. The practice, which has Eastern origins, is designed to help with everything from stress to weight loss.
At Yoga Cafe in Shoreline, a holistic tao center that offers Dahn training, manager Ho-Jin Nam uses relaxation, meditation and yoga postures meant to strengthen designated organs. Nam is a certified headmaster, or high-level instructor, from the Dahn Healer School and Master Training Course — a global institute in Korea and the United States.
Masters lead the Dahn yoga class, which usually has 10 to 15 members, in stretching exercises to "activate internal energy channels," and in meditative breath work, movements that teach members to feel their own energy, circulate it through the organs and heal themselves.
"When you restore the health of your organs, it helps with weight loss," said Dorian Matney, a certified Dahn master.
The average client takes classes for a year, Matney said, and close to 100 percent of those who stick with the program lose weight, he added.
Client Teresa Luttrell, 43, said fear plays a large role in why she is overweight. She has burst into tears during particularly cathartic "healing sessions" that have helped her work through her fears. She has experienced emotional cleansing through Dahnhak, she said. These sessions involve activities to get her energy moving, including stimulation of acupressure points and a gentle rocking on the abdomen.
"As I do the program and intestine exercises and I'm releasing stagnant energy, it's not only physical energy, but emotional energy," said the Kenmore resident, who has lost 12 pounds in 18 months. "I've had some huge realizations through this program, where the source of whatever's underneath my fear becomes very evident."
The yoga cafe, part of a national chain, also has locations in downtown Seattle and elsewhere.
First-time visitors start with private "energy checkups" that determine the most appropriate training method. Potential clients are checked for their overall physical condition and the state of their energy system through stretching, movements to gauge stiffness, coordination tests to check the level of mind-body communication and other techniques. Classes are held seven days a week, multiple times a day. Each session runs an hour and 10 minutes; prices range from $8 to $15 a class.
Mindful eating
Robin Maynard-Dobbs, who teaches a process called Aware Eating from her North Seattle home and a studio in Bellevue, says most people don't pay attention to their food.
"Most of us eat in front of the TV, when we're at the computer, at our desk," said Maynard-Dobbs, who has been running her private, for-profit business for more than 10 years. "Wherever your attention is, is where your satisfaction is."
In addition to weekly classes of about seven to 10 people in private homes and one-on-one coaching, she holds weekly classes over the phone. The "teleclasses" are offered in six-week bundles, four times a year. Maynard-Dobbs focuses on teaching people to "connect with their body" — to put your hand on your abdomen, for example, and try to gauge whether you're really hungry by bringing your awareness into that area.
She also helps clients identify emotional eating. About half her clients who want to lose weight succeed, said Maynard-Dobbs.
The former behavior-change counselor for Group Health, who worked largely with diabetics, is also trained in the therapy process of neuro-linguistic programming and eating awareness.
Victoria Harris, 52, turned to Maynard-Dobbs more than a year ago, before traveling to Europe. She suffered from an eating disorder in her teens and 20s, and she learned to control it, but still harbored an "uncomfortable relationship" with food.
"I was going to a foreign country; I wouldn't have control over my diet," Harris said. "She taught me how to get in touch with my body and tell when I was full. She taught me how to eat like a little kid again."
Maynard-Dobb's program costs from $115 to $149 for the six-week class. Members receive a bridge phone line for the teleclass when they sign up. In-person groups cost $200 for six weeks.
Young Chang: 206-748-5815 or ychang@seattletimes.com
 |
