WELCOME TO FATSVILLE, THE LOURDES OF THE OVERWEIGHT – August 17^th 2005

 

It has more obesity clinics than anywhere else on Earth but many believe this US city has found the harsh but expensive solution craved by the overweight.

 

 

hen Cambridgeshire teacher Tom Rowe asked his doctor for help in losing weight three years ago, he was shocked by the medic’s brutal response. ‘There’s no point. Even if you do lose it, you’ll never keep it off,’ the doctor said dismissively. ‘If you lived in Uganda where people are starving you might have a chance, but you’ll never manage it in a food-oriented culture like Britain.’

 

The doctor was right: Tom didn’t manage it in Britain. Instead, he sought – and found – help from the country with the world’s biggest obesity problem: America. Tom took his 28-stone bulk off on an extraordinary pilgrimage to Fat City – or, as the many dieters who flock to the weight-loss capital of America have dubbed Durham, North Carolina, the ‘Lourdes of Lard.’ Up to 8,000 people, many of them from Britain, head there every year and shed 100 tonnes between them – about the same weight as a fully-loaded plane.

 

As anthropologist and fat specialist Jean Renfro puts it: ‘Durham is Ground Zero for weight loss. If you can’t lose weight in Durham, you can’t lose weight and it’s the sort of model that the rest of the world should study and learn from

 

The clinics are intense and costly but they work. Hundreds of overweight people together in one town, all with the same problem and goal. It brings a feeling of community to what is essentially a lonely problem. People feel comfortable with each other in a way they can’t anywhere else.’

 

There are now half a dozen major, hospital-sized clinics operating in Durham, plus dozens of smaller treatment centers around the city’s suburbs. Together, they generate more than $80 million (£47 million) in profits every year.

 

But these aren’t the kind of pampering establishments where calorie-conscious cuisine is an option rather than a necessity. They are medically supervised, no-nonsense establishments with very strict regimens. Dieters are often restricted to a meagre 800 calories a day, which they must obtain from rice and fruit, and will be expected to exercise intensively for much of the day.

 

Durham’s diet industry started in the Forties, when Dr Walter Kempner, a  German doctor working at the city’s Duke Hospital, proclaimed that a diet of fruit and rice not only kept diabetes and high blood pressure under control, but also led to enormous weight loss.

 

The rice diet put Durham on the map, and celebrities with weight problems – actress  Shelley Winters among them – rushed to sign up.

 

Over the years, two more serious diet programs were established in the town: the Duke Diet & Fitness Center, and Structure House, which themselves spawned clinics that espouse all manner of weight loss theories, from Atkins to psychotherapy. But it’s the original Rice Diet Center that is the toughest.

 

Former competitive tennis player Tom Rowe, 62, has been going there for three years. His first weigh-in in September 2000, was nearly 28 stone.

 

Such was the pressure on his joints that he used to spend up to five hours a day in a swimming pool so that the buoyancy of the water would provide some relief. He also suffered from diabetes, and had weight-related heart problems.

 

He tried diets but found it impossible to stick to them and he simply wasn’t fit enough even to begin exercising. ‘It was getting increasingly difficult to do things I wanted to do,’ he says. ‘My doctor in Cambridge was less than helpful when I sought help.

 

My wife had heard of The Rice Diet Center and gently steered me towards it. Then when another friend also recommended it, I decided to give it a try. After all, I had nothing left to lose.’

 

 

uring his first, month-long, Tom lost a startling 80lbs (almost 3lbs a day)  taking him down to 22 stone. He lost another 32lb on a second visit the following year, and, for the first time in nearly two decades, he weighed under 20st.

 

But it hasn’t been cheap. The Center’s programme costs $4,800 (£2,800) for four weeks. The clinic says it charges more in the programme’s early days to discourage ‘quick fix’ dieters. Each additional day after that is $539 (£320). After three months, the rate drops again.

 

Included in the price is a complete medical examination, daily monitoring of blood sugar levels for diabetics, urine and blood analysis, and 21 meals a week – no more, no less. In addition, the clinic holds classes in everything from yoga to tai chi to weights and aerobics. Such is the clinic’s reputation that patients sell their cars and take out loans to be able to afford the programme. Others buy houses in the town after achieving a successful weight loss.

 

They say the Durham experience is addictive because of the sense of community a fat person feels.

 

 

om hesitates to calculate how much he has spent on his four visits, but he doesn’t begrudge a penny of the thousands it has cost. ‘There’s no price to feeling better, it’s incredible,’ he says. ‘It’s been much harder than I thought. It’s ‘our way or the highway’ and it’s a tough diet to stick to. I used to eat the wrong foods – every time I had a coffee, I’d have a doughnut to go with it – and far too many of them.

 

Here, you’re only permitted fresh fruit and vegetables, grains, rice and legumes [beans]. It doesn’t feel like you’re being deprived as the food is very filling. But not everyone can stick it out. One woman insisted on going out and eating fried chicken once a week – and wondered why she’d have put on 2lb.

 

For someone who’s never done it before, portion control is hard. If you ask someone how much they eat, they’ll lie without meaning to as they don’t really know. I really have to watch every mouthful and be careful I’m not piling too much on my plate or the weight piles back on. But if you stick to the regime, it gets results.’

 

In addition to helping reduce their clients’ obesity through diet and exercise, the Center also aims at tackling the psychological reasons behind excessive weight gain. Daily interactive educational groups teach skills designed to help participants make changes in their eating patterns, and the medical staff provide weekly sessions called ‘fireside chats’ to answer questions and cover topics of particular interest.

 

There are also lectures on health, disease, nutrition, stress management and exercise, with course topics ranging from ‘Mindfulness Meditation for Binge Eating’ to ‘Tips for Eating Out.’

 

There is a school of thought that says obesity is not about over-indulgence but is the result of an addiction to food. Tom is having none of it. He knows he simply put on weight when he was no longer able to exercise. After a knee injury, he suddenly switched to a sedentary lifestyle that proved disastrous.

 

‘Most people find their weight sneaks up over the decades, little by little. When I got married at 25 I weighed just over 14 stone, which, since I’m just under six feet, was fine. By the time I had to quit tennis in my 40s, I’d crept up to 17 stone, but I was still fit. In fact, it was almost an advantage because people didn’t I could get around the court as fast as I did.’

 

But once he was forced to stop playing, his weight ballooned to nearly 28 stone. ‘It just happens – I woke up one morning and looked in the mirror and thought, my God, how did I get to be this big?’  It’s hard to diet because unlike tobacco for example, you can’t just quit eating food and go cold turkey.

 

But people should be told they’re addicted to food - that takes away personal responsibility. People eat for a lot of reasons other than being hungry, but ultimately you can’t get off the hook by calling it an addiction.’

 

His son, Matt, a slim, fit tennis coach who grew up with Tim Henman, has never had any weight issues. ‘He’s seen what happens to me, and knows I was thin when I was his age. He watches what he eats, and I’m grateful for that.’

 

Tom’s wife Irene has been staying at the Rice Diet Center with him to provide emotional support. The clinic, which has visitors from as far afield as Saudi Arabia, New Zealand and Africa, claims that 65 percent of its clients have maintained their weight loss a year after leaving. Even after six years, it says, 45 percent of patients have kept the weight off.

 

Tom wasn’t one of them. Of the 112lb he’d lost in his first two visits, he quickly put back on 40lb as he slipped back into his fast-food habits. He is four months into his fourth visit and, though he admits to some backsliding – two weeks away from the clinic to attend a wedding in Mexico led to a gain of 12lb – he says he is getting to grips with his problem.

 

When I come back to the Center, I’m not so discouraged by how hard the regime is. I know what I need to do to put things right – avoid sodium, cut down on portions, stick to fruit and grains. All I have to do is stick to it. As one of the doctors is fond of saying, ‘The good news is, the diet works; the bad news is, the diet works.’ If you stick to the rules, the weight falls off.

 

Now 19 stone, Tom has set himself a target of 13 stone. ‘I know it’s not going to be easy, but I don’t want to spend the rest of my life growing more and more resentful over the things I can’t do.

 

Coming to the Center hasn’t been easy, but at the end of the day, if it gives me back my life it will have been worth it.’

 

 

For more information about the Rice Diet Center, log on to www.ricedietprogarm. Com.