The Oprah Winfrey Show
People Addicted to Food

OprahWhen Oprah said on the September 27, 1999 show she may be a carbohydrate addict, the reaction was big. Today's show brought exciting news for Oprah and 157 of our audience members - all tested as carbohydrate addicts.

The Carbohydrate Addict
HellersRichard Heller, PhD, and Rachael Heller, PhD, authors of seven books on carbohydrate addiction, explained that for many people, "eating certain foods is (like) doing drugs for drug addicts." Rachael and Richard know firsthand about the battle of the carbohydrate addict. Rachael spent twenty years of her life at over 300 lbs. She has lost 165 lbs. since those days and kept it off for fifteen years. Rachael had tried many weight-loss programs before developing her own system. The Hellers stress theirs is a lifestyle program — not a diet. Dr. Christine Northrup, a carbohydrate addict herself, told Oprah that about 75 percent of all Americans are carbohydrate addicts.

"This isn't a matter of will power, it is a matter of biology."
MikeInsulin is key for the carbohydrate addict. When a person consumes carbohydrate-rich foods, such as starches, junk food, or sweets, the body releases insulin. Insulin signals the liver to put some of the remaining blood sugar into short-term storage for quick energy. Any extra blood sugar that still remains is turned into fat and put into long-term storage in fat cells. The brain chemical serotonin is also released and with it a "stop-eating" signal is given. Upon finishing the meal, the non-addicted person feels satisfied and complete and will remain so for several hours.

This doesn't occur for carbohydrate addicts, who produce "two to five times more insulin" than the non-addict. Their bodies never receive the serotonin signal to stop eating, and their bodies continue to produce more insulin. Without the signal, carb addicts don't stop until "the chips are gone, the Haagen daz is empty and the store is closed," says Rachael. That's because these addicts break out in "cravings". Rachael says that if we ate something for breakfast and we broke out in hives, we'd wonder what food was bad for us, but because we're breaking out in cravings, we wonder why we can't control them.

The Program*:
FoodsSo what to do if you're one of them?
The program works with complementary meals and one Reward meal a day. Complementary meals do not include any carbohydrates. They can include:

Meats - burgers, chicken, ham, hot dogs, sausages, lunch meats, veal
Fish
Cheese
Green Vegetables - asparagus, alfalfa sprouts, green beans, green peppers, celery, eggplant, mushrooms, spinach
Eggs
Milk
Sour cream
Butter
Olive oil
Garlic
Salad Dressing
Dill pickles
Mustard
Soy Sauce

Be sure to consult your doctor before making any substantial changes to your diet.

Sugarbusting
LeightonLeighton Steward, author of the book SugarBusters, explained just what we need to know about particular vegetables which sneak sugar into our diet. According to the USDA, the average American consumes 156 lbs of added sugar a year. How does all this extra sugar sneak in?
Baked Potato = 20 teaspoons of sugar
White Rice = 10 teaspoons of sugar
Banana = 7 teaspoons of sugar
Ear of Corn = 5 teaspoons of sugar

The Reward!!!
The Reward meal is the best part of the program. There are no foods you need to avoid as a carbohydrate addict, rather they're foods you "save" until your Reward meal. The Reward meal can be any meal during the day but completed within one hour. The meal needs to be balanced into thirds of carbohydrates, protein, and vegetables (that means if you had chicken, asparagus and macaroni and cheese, you would have a third of each on your plate). The Hellers believe in the Reward meal strongly because "You cannot keep it off if you cannot keep it up." Dr. Northrup cautions that you should not use the reward meal as a binge.

Some Foods to Save (carbohydrate rich foods):
Breads
Rice
Pastas
Sweets - cakes, cookies, pies
Fruit and fruit juices
Popcorn
Pretzels
Ice cream
Beans
Nuts
Carrots
Potatoes
Zucchini
Squash
Tomatoes

Final Notes
Oprah, former guest Kelly (from our addiction shows with Gary Zukav) and audience members have decided to try the program and report back on the show in a month. One audience member, who began the program last week, says the cravings have already disappeared. The Hellers say if the cravings do not go away, it may because hidden carbohydrates are entering your system - diet cola, breath mints, gum.

Oprah and the Hellers say that you still need to deal with the emotional component as to why you eat. But it is "no good to lose the weight if you don't lose the cravings."

If you have decided to join Oprah and others on the Carbohydrate Addict's Lifespan Program, join our message board! Otherwise, The Oprah Winfrey Show will be back in a month to tell you the results for Oprah and our audience!