Lean on Me
The new best dietician, personal trainer and coach might just be a best friend
A recent study that found that heavy friends beget heavy friends has a silver lining. Friends can also help friends to lose weight.
The New England Journal of Medicine study found that when good friends become obese the perception of being overweight could change. Maybe obesity isn’t so awful, goes the theory. Nutrition experts, however, are intrigued by the idea that the same relationships that can encourage friends to continue unhealthy behaviors can encourage healthy behavior as well.
“There are social forces at work now that are a negative influence, but they can be turned around for the positive,” says James Hill, Ph.D., director of the
Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado, Denver.
Getting people into groups with healthy lifestyles may offer a solution to the obesity crisis, according to Hill, the co-founder of America on the Move and author of “The Step Diet Book” (Workman Publishing, 2004).
“We have to get around the idea that yelling for people to exercise isn’t going to work. We have to look at social networks,” Hill says.
Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, Chicago, says she is so enthusiastic about peer support that she provides incentives for it.
“If my patients come in with their friends I give a discount,” Blatner says. But if you don’t have a diet companion, you can still get support from the Internet or from groups in a place of worship, school or health facility.
“You don’t have to rely on people close to you to get healthy,” says Blatner, who is also a dietitian with LifetimeTV.com.
Success is more likely, however, if there is both action and emotional support, she says.
Action supporters exercise with you. They may be colleagues who walk with you at lunch, a spouse who goes to the gym with you or your children who help cook low-calorie dinners.
“You also need emotional supporters,” she says. “They may not be exercising with you but will give you a shoulder to cry on, or support you when you’d rather sit on the couch [than exercise].”
But emotional support comes from both sides, Blatner says. The person seeking the support should explain his or her needs.
“Of all the successful buddy systems I’ve seen, whether two people or a group, I see them do better when they’re open to a discussion of expectations,” she says. “Groups flourish with different personalities. If you’re down, it works well if someone else will pick you up.”
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