The Addictocarb Diet [Interview][Transcript]
Guest: Dr. Bruce Roseman
Presenter: Neal Howard
Guest Bio: Dr. Bruce Roseman has been a Family Doctor in private practice in Manhattan for 30 years, and is affiliated with Mount Sinai Hospital where he holds joint appointments in the departments of Family Medicine and Ob/Gyn. He has served as medical editor for several food/health-related books and magazines and as a medical columnist. He is the author of A Kid Just Like Me (Penguin/Putnam, 2001), which details a popular method he invented to teach children with learning disabilities to read, and also The Addictocarb Diet.
Segment overview: Dr. Bruce Roseman talks about his new book, “The Addictocarb Diet” which is based on the latest in neuroscience research as it applies to appetite.
Transcription
Health Professional Radio – The Addictocarb Diet
Neal Howard: Hello and welcome to Health Professional Radio. I’m your host Neal Howard, thank you so much for joining us today. Talking about obesity and this diet, that diet, all these different types of recipes and all of the television food cooking shows that are on – one might think how can help but eat unhealthy, it’s all around us. Our guest in studio today contends that we all have some type of food addiction that we just don’t often admit it or maybe don’t know about it. Our guest Dr. Bruce Roseman with us today, Author of the Addictocarb Diet. He doesn’t believe that weight gain is related to portion control. And we’re goanna talk about why his diet works when others seem to fail. How are you doing today Dr. Roseman?
Dr. Bruce Roseman: I’m doing great, happy to be here.
N: Thank you so much. The Addictocarb Diet, are you saying that we’re addicted or we need to be addicted to carbs? What exactly are you saying with the Addictocarb diet?
R: Okay well the bottom line is that now new brain imaging techniques have clearly shown that weight gain stems from our addiction to certain foods, in the same way that we’re addicted to heroin. I have in my office a picture of two MRI scans, they’re actually fMRI scan, the MRI scans one of a person is addicted to heroin and one of a person that’s eating what I refer to is Addictocarbs. It occupies the same area of the brain and looks exactly, it would be hard for you to tell which is different. So it’s clear that certain food stimulates the addition center of the brain and that’s what causes us to over eat, okay? The reason that my diet works and other diets don’t is in terms of longevity, anytime you go on a diet you’re gonna lose weight, you go on any diet you’re goanna lose weight, there’s no question about it, I mean that’s why they call it a diet. The problem is that once you go on a diet you lose all the weight then you start a new diet and the new diet is beginning your weight back diet, and that’s why things like…
N: Because a lot of times.
R: Well no, it’s not conscious, but I mean look I’ve lost 70lbs three times okay. Over the course of my life, okay. The last time was when I went on Addictocarb diet which is 14 years ago. And my life has been spent going on diets and off diets as with my father’s. Now my father died at the aged of 52 and suddenly when I was at the age of 52, faced with uncontrollable diabetes, high blood pressure, prostate disease and a few other things and heart disease. I failed my stress test and I had to do something about it, I knew that I needed to lose weight, I knew I could lose weight, I’ve already lost 70lbs twice before. But I didn’t know whether I could lose weight and keep it off and when I came up with is something that based on the data and research that’s out there. I didn’t, believe me I’m not inventing the wheel here there are plenty of guide as doing study at Major University Medical Centers and Boston and California and Yale that have clearly shown that the reason that we eat too much is because of addiction. If you can get rid of those foods then you don’t continue to eat too much and that’s what my diet does. So yes, is it possible to eat healthy? Yes. On Facebook I have tons of recipes, the Addictocarb Diet of Facebook, I have tons of recipes and discussion and all sorts of stuff, I have plenty of followers and there all sorts of great things to eat. You just have to be careful not to eat the things that are really addictive. Number one and two on that list is bread and potatoes.
N: Bread and potatoes, we love those, we love bread and potato…
R: Yes of course, of course we love them, that’s why you can’t have them. No bread, no potato, no exceptions. Now that being said there are ways of getting away from eating bread and potatoes, I mean the first thing you have to do when you go on a diet you have to break the addictive cycle. Just like any other addiction yes you’re going to withdrawal, I make it easier for people, I have these shakes that I have people drink and which are basically like eat much fruit as you can into a smoothie with a little flavoring powder. Personally I use some… because I like the taste but to all of them my nurse use some other one that she gets on Amazon, there are flavoring powder and that will break your addiction. After 3 days the addiction is broken and then you have to learn how to live within the framework of diet which is just to stay away from these addictive substances.
N: Now which of, we’re talking about this addictive substances, can one person be addictive to one type of carb and another person addictive to something else?
R: Well that’s an excellent question. Okay let me be clear about one thing, carbs are not the enemy. There is nothing wrong with carbs, my diet is actually a high carb, high calorie diet. I have lost a lot of weight, my nurse’s loss a ton of weight, I have a couple of thousand patients that have lost a ton of weight and has been able to keep it off. Carbs are not the enemy, pure and simple, you can eat carbs the carb. The shakes that I make to help me with the diet, I have tons of fruit but the big point is you can eat, a bucket of strawberry and you can eat a quarter of a slice of bread. The bucket of strawberry have lots of carb, lots of sugar but it doesn’t stimulate the addiction center of the brain. But one quarter of one piece of bread does stimulate the addiction center of the brain, and once you do that you’re gonna feel that you need to eat more. If you eat all those strawberries believe me, if you especially eat and drink the entire bucket believe me you’re not goanna feel like eating anymore. That’s where with the issue’s with. So yes, there are certain carbs and do you have to give up all of the addictive carb? No, I give up all the addictive carbs, I got so skinny that all the patients were saying to me “Are you sick?” So what I did is I get one back and I gained about 10 to 12lbs. And the way I did was scientific and that as I decided I need to start eating I need to gain back about 10 to 12lbs. So what I did is I added two addictocarbs back to my diet. And the two addictive carbs that I ate…
(Crosstalk)
N: The rest of them trigger?
R: No, because if every addictcarb that you give up, you’re gonna lose a certain amount of weight, you give up bread you lose a certain amount of weight, you give up bread and potatoes it’s a certain amount of weight. If you add to that pasta, it’s a certain amount of weight, if you give them up you’re gonna get really skinny, okay. Not everybody needs to lose 70lbs, most people don’t. Some people just want to lose 10 or 15lbs. And then there’s a whole group of middle aged women that they get to a certain age, they get that stuff around their middle, my wife included you know and they just want to get rid of that and that may only require losing 5lbs, well you don’t have to give up all the addictocarbs for that. My wife has done very, very well by just giving up bread and potato and I have I think there’s a story in the book about one of my patients who I was shocked, absolutely shocked, she was in the office I was telling a patient about the diet one day and she says to me “Well how come you’ve never mentioned the diet to me?” And I’m saying to myself you, I mean why you I mean you’re a dancer, you’ve always been thin, you’re in great shape why will I mention diet to you? And she says to me “Well because everybody in my family is struggled with their weight and I feel that that it’s a struggle for me to stay this way.” So anyway I give her the book, she read about the Addictocarb Diet and she wrote a very, very nice piece which they published in the book which is that it’s just how to get rid of that middle stuff that she got when she started the age 50. Women all know about this. So no, she didn’t she give up all the Addictocarb no, she gave up bread and potatoes.
N: Now as we wrap up Dr. Roseman, your website addictocarb.com when I visit there what exactly should we expect to find at the site, helpful hints or recipes?
R: Well I mean, first of all, yeah the site has pretty much or most of it, most everything on there, a little bit of this a little bit of that. Also the on Facebook it’s also a step on Facebook, the Addictocarb diet on Facebook. But on the website it explains what the Addictocarb diet is and there are some testimonials that maybe it’s a TV show or two … that has me on it, talking about the Addictocarb Diet so you can hear me discuss the Addictocarb diet. And you can see me so you can realize I’m not a monster, I’m just a regular person who was like really fat, who’s lose weight and there are some recipes and look, I mean it’s an interesting website, I do it all myself, I built the Facebook page myself, I built the website myself.
N: Great. You’ve been listening to Health Professional Radio, I’m your host Neal Howard. Dr. Bruce Roseman has been our guest in studio today, New York based physician and Author of the Addictocarb Diet. He’s been here talking with us, he doesn’t believe that weight gain is related to portion control, rather getting rid of these addictive carbs. Some of which being addictive to one person may not be addictive to another. His book outlines different ways to find out which carbs you maybe additive to and how to get them out of your diet in order to live a more healthy, nutritious life. It’s been great having you here with us today Dr. Roseman.
R: Thank you.
N: Thank you. Transcript and audio of this program are available at healthprofessionalradio.com.au and also at hpr.fm and you can subscribe to our podcast on iTunes.