Q & A with Dr. Gage

Question: How is your book different from other weight loss books?

Answer: There are a lot of guru-type books out there that are essentially looking at one methodology and most of these diets are restrictive diets. Most people who use this one technique never change their lifestyle patterns. They are just forcing themselves to eat a certain way and they never take on the patterns that must occur in order for them to maintain the weight off. My book, The Thinderella Syndrome is totally individualized and it is not just looking for the weight loss, it's actually guiding a person to permanent weight loss and that is the key to my book.

Question: What is the Red Alert of Defensive Eating?

Answer: Through my twenty-five years of working with patients in my clinical practice, I have developed my technique called The Red Alert of Defensive Eating. One of the biggest things that I have seen that every diet has in common is that 97% of individuals regain their weight. These diets are lacking the key focus on not regaining weight. I call this "Defensive Eating Style and The Red Alert Number". It comes down to the ability of a person to have a strong signal that is either external or internal, where they are alerted that they have hit a number in their weight that is substantially lower than what people hit when they "yo-yo". I tell my patients that they can only gain or have a buffer zone of about 3% to 5 % in their weight. The Red Alert Number is the critical number that I assign my patients. It's individualized, it's really customized, and every single patient in my office is practicing different habits and different patterns to maintain their weight and to lose their weight.

Question: Can this Red Alert Number be used for all physicians in their practice?

Answer: Yes. One of the biggest problems we have is that physicians are too busy trying to see many patients. They are poorly trained to identify and treat obesity in their practice. I tell physicians to share the information in my book or even have the patient read the book. The patient will understand that I break the techniques down into simple steps for them to achieve success in their weight loss and weight maintenance.

Question: What I like about your book is that you are empowering physicians and all individuals because people are used to failing on diets and your techniques set them up for success. Can you tell me how you can convince people to change their lifestyles to live healthier lives?

Answer: Convincing a person to change their lifestyle is not hard, you basically say "You know you are "x" amount of weight, you are diabetic, your blood pressure is up, and you are taking five to ten medications. There are two paths that you can follow, there is the "patchwork" path of taking your medication; five or ten medications, or you can say I'll take the path of lifestyle change and get off these medications and maintain a healthy lifestyle which will support my health". That's pretty convincing.

To learn more about the book, read The Scarsdale Inquirer newspaper article, "Doc wants to end dieting as we know it".

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