This story first appeared on CNET News.com

Tcho, a San Fransisco-based chocolate company, gets its cocoa beans from farmers in Peru, Ghana, and other countries. Although many of the families there have been growing cocoa beans for generations, some have never actually tasted chocolate, much less the products made from their own crops. Aside from not being able to enjoy the fruits of their own labor, they have no way to directly understand the relationship between their growing techniques and the final product.

Tcho has solved the problem by bringing the factory to the farm. Using what co-founder Louis Rossetto calls “appropriate technology,” the company sets up “flavor labs” on farms in the developing world using about $8,000 worth of equipment consisting of a Macintosh computer, an off-the-shelf-grinder, a roaster that uses a hair dryer as a heat source, and other equipment that enables farmers and technicians to turn raw beans into chocolate. That way the farmers can get a better sense of what their product will taste like to consumers. That process, according to Rossetto, helps the farmer know which beans to pick and how best to process them.

If Louis Rossetto’s name sounds familiar, some may remember him as co-founder of Wired Magazine. Also, Tcho was the subject of a CNET story, slideshow, and video in June 2009.

Larry spoke with Rossetto at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco.

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There are many Yerba Mate companies to choose from, so why do I drink Guayaki?

I was first introduced to Guyakaki Yerba Mate at the artist hospitality section at the UCLA Jazz Reggae Festival. I was absolutely depleted from hours in the sun and desperately in need of a pick me up. I had never heard of Guayaki but had tried Mate’ and figured this could do the trick. I woke up quick—however it wasn’t the Mate that did it.

Passionate employees

It was rather the enthusiasm of a man named Don Miguel. Miguel is the Guayaki resident yerbe mate evangelist  and  the face of the drink at festivals around the world. He’s also one of the founders of Guakayi.  He eagerly told me not only which flavors I might like but also about the consumer driven reforestation program at Guayaki .

Consumer driven reforestation

It’s really a pretty simple process. Farmers in the Amazon of Paraguay often sell their land to tobacco farmers or lumber mills — the result is trees being cut down. Unlike tobacco, Mate Grows best under a canopy of trees, therefore when Mate sells, trees stay.

Flavors

Not too long ago my family and I were given a tour of the Guayaki headquarters . One of the most fascinating parts was seeing the “labs.” The guy that works in there is like the Willy Wonka of Mate flavors. They don’t carry Shnozberry but, The Pure Passion really tastes pure and excites your mind, the empowermint gives you energy and tastes like mint.. he list goes on.

Commitment

Let me tell you a quick story. A few years back Pepsi wanted to invest in a healthy alternative energy beverage, they gave a generous bid to Guayaki. Guayaki turned them down. Instead Honest Tea grabbed the bid and over night Honest Tea was available everywhere. The fact is, Pepsi might not mess with Honest Teas internal practices, but at the tip of a dime they could, and that’s not a chance the folk at Guayakai were willing to take.

It’s the time of year where I start getting really excited. The Fancy Food Show is two weeks away. The holidays are over.  I have put away all of the lights and ornaments but haven’t put on any weight.

This year I have been preparing myself, not for the holidays that run throughout the months of November and December, but for the Winter Fancy Food Show.  I have been going to the gym, walking, and watching my diet.   I am ready.  I ate only one piece of Thanksgiving pie, 4 latkes during Hanukkah, no Christmas cookies, and only made three different kinds of candies.  Yes, I like my sweets.

If you haven’t gone to the Fancy Food Show…let me begin.

There is something for everyone who enjoys food.

I asked Katherine Tumminaro from Frumpkin Catering what she looks forward to and she said tasting the olive oils.  She, unlike me, doesn’t like sweets. The members of the Pangea Collective said they look forward to seeing new products from around the world and tasting beverages from Guayaki. I looked Guayaki up at the Fancy Food web page and Guayaki will be there again at booth number 1687.

I have tasted some amazing stuff at the Fancy Food Show:  fresh US grown wasabi, herbal snow (herbal sorbet), teas, cheeses and, of course, sweets.

I wonder what will be the new thing…I predict organic will be more mainstream.  Last year, or was the year before (I can’t remember) there was a booth with organic alcoholic beverages.

Organic Vodka and organic gin were offered to taste…and were so good.

As I am getting older I am looking for foods that are not only organic but low salt, low fat, and low price.  Why is it that the less that something has in it the more expensive it usually is?

The Winter Fancy Food Show is in San Francisco at the Moscone Center.

Show Days & Hours

Sunday, January 18: 10am – 5pm

Monday, January 19: 10am – 5pm

Tuesday, January 20: 10am – 4pm

What to bring:

1. Good walking shoes,

2. Good appetite

This year I am also bringing a notebook with a glue stick and a camera person.  I want to record and share with you the Fancy Food Show experience.

Larry at age 23

It’s January 1, 2009 and, like millions of people, I’m coming to grips with the fact that my investment portfolio is getting thinner and I’m getting fatter. Neither my finances nor my waistline are in critical shape but both need a bit of attention.

Actually I think there is a connection between the two. For a variety of reasons – including the economic meltdown –  2008 was a stressful year and when I’m under stress, I tend to eat too much and exercise too little.

This is not the first time I’ve come to this realization. I was chubby as a child and obese as a young man. When I was 24 I got on the scale and realized I was 80 pounds overweight. I lost that 80 pounds and, over the next three and a half decades see-sawed between 155 and 200 pounds several times. The last time I did a big weight loss program was in 2001 when I went from 200 to 150, part of it under the supervision of a dietitian.

I actually don’t know how much I weigh right now — I haven’t been on the scale in weeks and I didn’t want to start the year out with bad news, but I’m guessing it’s about 180 pounds. I’d be happy to be 165 and even happier if I weighed 160. So, this is not an insurmountable goal.

While there’s nothing new about my starting a diet and increasing my exercise routine, this is the first time I’ve joined the crowd by starting on January 1st.

One of the things that complicate my start date is that in four days I fly to Las Vegas where I’ll spend 5 days at the Consumer Electronics Show. This is never a good time or place to watch one’s weight. In addition to the stress of eating on the run, there are nightly parties where wine, beer and exotic drinks flow and plenty of food is served. The finger food one picks up at parties can be especially devastating because it’s easy to lose control of how much you’re eating as you graze from table to another.

The other thing about starting a weight loss plan is that it seems overwhelming. Even 15 to 20 pounds is a long-term goal. Experts say it’s best to lose no more than one or two pounds a week and after an initial weight loss you typically hit a plateau so, on average, it’s likely I’ll lose less than a pound a week. Also, as one ages, weight loss gets harder so I know I’m looking at least three to six months before all the weight is off and of course that’s only if I stick to the program. I have to admit, I’ve been here before and have fallen off the wagon before.

So, here’s a plan. One thing I do know about adapting to a healthy eating and exercise routine is that you feel the results long before you see them in the mirror. Even after only one day of eating lightly, you wake up in the morning feeling less full than you did the day before. After three days, you feel considerably better and you are likely to have lost two or three pounds of “water weight.” I realize that the initial weight loss is not from burning off three or so pounds of fat and I also realize that it can come back as quickly as you lost it, but it feels good and if you let yourself enjoy that feeling it can be a motivating factor. The key is to take in how you feel when you get up those first few mornings and realize that if you stick with the plan you’re going to feel even better as time goes on.

Personally, I do like to step on the scale daily when I’m losing weight but I also know not to take daily variations too seriously. Your weight can change just based on water retention and if you do fluctuate by a pound or more, it’s clear that it is not body fat that’s making the difference (a pound of body fat = 3,500 calories and it’s not likely that you would add or detract nearly that many calories a day from the number of calories you need to stay at your current weight).

OK, enough writing. It’s a gray day in Silicon Valley but it’s not raining so I’m going to go for a hike. Nothing strenuous, just enough to get the year started in a positive way.

The article explains how chornically high blood sugar can damage organs and how “adding sulforaphane to a mix of blood vessel cells and glucose cut oxidation (read damage) by as much as 73 percent.” Of course more research is needed to see if it actually makes humans healthier but — given that we already know that broccoli is good for us, we may as well add it to our diets.

There is a great deal of debate over what’s best for you — a diet that is high in carbohydrates and low in fat or one that is rich in fat yet low in carbs. I’ll leave it to another day to discuss the merits of these two opposing views and, instead, focus on something that most dieticians, diet doctors and even diet faddists can agree on. Fiber is good for you.

Just how good is still debatable but it’s hard to find a health expert who wouldn’t agree that most of us should have more fiber in our diet. Even the two leading yet opposing diet gurus –Dr. Dean Ornish who advocates a diet high in whole grains and the late Dr. Robert Atkins, who prescribed a diet high in animal fat and protein, agreed on the need for more fiber in our diets.

Fiber, which my mom used to call “roughage” is the non-digestible material found in plants including fruits and vegetables, nuts, whole grains and seeds. Because it is not digested, its nutrients are not absorbed into the blood stream and therefore don’t provide the body with any calories. It’s also completely devoid of carbohydrates and fat, though, the mere fact that a food has fiber doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s good for you and it’s certainly not proof that the food will help you loose weight. Virginia peanuts, for example, contain a generous 2.4 grams of fiber per ounce. While peanuts can be a healthy part of your diet, it’s also important to point out that an ounce of raw peanuts has 13 grams of fat and 160 calories. Eat too many peanuts and you’ll gain weight, regardless of how much fiber you may be getting.

Most experts agree that you should get between 20 and 30 grams of fiber a day and the USDA, which is pretty conservative when it comes to health claims, acknowledges that fiber may lower the risk of both heart disease and some types of cancer. Most Americans get about half as much fiber as they should.

And, as your mother probably already told you, it can also improve your “regularity” which is a euphemistic way of saying that it helps you avoid constipation.

It isn’t clear how much of the benefit from a fiber rich diet comes from the fiber itself or the fact that fiber tends to displace fat and simple carbohydrates. Though it’s possible to eat a diet that is high in fat, sugar and fiber, people who eat a lot of fiber rich foods are more likely to also eat less fat and sugar. This correlation was born out in a recent study published in the Lancet (www.lancet.com) that people who ate a more fiber rich diet were also more likely to exercise more, smoke less and consume less alcohol and red meat. Still, the study found that those who eat the most fiber had a 27% lower risk of adenomas which are benign precursors to colon cancer.

There are actually two types of fiber. Soluble fiber, which is found in oats, barley, rye, dried beans, carrots, apples, black eyes peas, pinto beans, brown rice and oranges, has been shown to help lower cholesterol and blood sugar. Insoluble fiber (or roughage) helps keep bowels regular and prevents constipation. Insoluble fiber, which doesn’t dissolve in water and therefore helps add “bulk” to our stool, resulting in better regularity, can be found in cereals, wheat bran and the stalks and peels of fruits and vegetables, strawberries, bananas, pears, green beans, broccoli, and peppers. Many vegetable and fruit sources contain both soluble and insoluble fiber.

There is some controversy over whether fiber supplements are a good idea. Many nutritionists argue that most people don’t need to take supplements as long as they eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Still, product like Metamucil can provide a significant amount of fiber.

To add fiber to your diet (and reduce your intake of simple

carbohydrates) chose whole foods over processed foods. Whole wheat bread is better than white bread, brown rice is better than while rice. Whole fruits are better than juice.

Distilled alcohol and wine, I’m afraid to say, doesn’t have any fiber although beer has .7 gram per 12 ounces and you’ll get 1.4 grams from a Bloody Mary from six ounces of tomato juice and a large stalk of celery. And, contrary to what some people in Silicon Valley may believe, chewing on fiber optic cables will not improve your vision.

Most people put weight on during the holidays but I have a better idea. If you’re overweight, why not use the next 12 weeks to lose a few pounds and then try to keep your weight stable during the holiday season.  We’ll later worry about turkey, stuffing, latkes and Christmas but for now, let’s concentrate and what we can do to be in shape when the holidays do arrive.

Wouldn’t it be nice to sit down at the Thanksgiving table feeling a bit better than you do right now? Even if you do stuff yourself on November 27^th, it won’t be a big deal if you approach the holiday dinner a few pounds lighter.

The good news is that 12 weeks is enough time to make a difference. Most people can lose a pound a week without jeopardizing their health or having to go on a radical diet.

A pound equals 3,500 calories which means – to lose a pound between now and next week– you need to consume 3,500 fewer calories, burn 3,500 more calories or some combination of the two.

That’s only 500 calories a day and it’s not all that hard.  If you’re a beer drinker, you can save 148 calories by consuming one less 12 ounce beer. If you eat a typical desert such as a piece of pie and some ice cream, you might be able to cut 400 to 600 calories a day just by switching to something lighter like a piece of fruit or sugar free Jello Pudding with Cool Whip.

Do you think you’re “eating healthy” because you drink orange juice instead of sugary soda?  Orange juice is a good source of nutrients but don’t fool yourself into thinking it’s low in calories. A 12 ounce glass of Minute Maid Orange Juice has 177 calories – 31 more than an equal amount of Coca Cola Classic. Drink a 4 ounce glass or stick to water.

If you go out to restaurants you can save an enormous number of calories by cutting down on portions.  Ask for a doggie bag when you start your meal or – if you’re going out with someone else – split a meal. It can be just as satisfying, half the price and half the calories.  Ask the waiter to have the chef divide the meal. My wife and I split an incredibly opulent meal at a great restaurant when we were on vacation.  Even though the restaurant added a $10 split charge (often they’ll do it for free) it still wound up costing us only $90 instead of the $160 if we each had a whole meal. It was just as tasty, we spent just as much time dining, we had just as good a time together and we saved hundreds of calories.

Whether eating at home or at a restaurant, don’t pile up too much food on your plate but stick with serving sizes as suggested by the American Dietetic Association:

* Meat (3 ounces cooked, about the size of a deck of cards

* Fruit: about the size of a baseball

* Cheese (one ounce, about the size of four dice)

* Baked potato (small, the size of a computer mouse)

* Peanut butter (two tablespoons, the size of a golf ball)

I know it sounds compulsive, but try weighing and measuring your food for a week and looking up the calories for each portion.  You might be surprised. You’ll find calorie counters in the calculator section of www.nobellyprize.com

At meals fill your plate with the amount of food you think you should eat and don’t go back for more.  If you’re hungry, wait 20 minutes until your brain catches up with your stomach.  Eat slowly.  If you eat too fast your food will be gone very soon which is a big problem if you’re eating with people who eat at a regular pace. They’ll still be eating and you’ll be tempted to pile more food on your plate so while they’re finishing their (normal sized) meal.  I know this from experience. Even though I’ve lost and kept off a lot of weight, I still eat too fast and it remains my biggest dietary problem.

Another tip is to write down everything you eat, including portion size. Just keeping a journal is usually enough to make you conscious of what you’re eating. Avoid eating when standing or in front of the TV and don’t eat when you’re nervous, frustrated, depressed or angry.  Go for a walk instead.  .

Of course, being more physically active can also help you shed that 3,500 calories a week but don’t fool yourself. It takes a lot of exercise to burn off that many calories.  A nice 20 minute stroll after dinner is definitely better than sitting on the coach eating chips but – for a 150 pound person – a 17 minute per mile walk burns off only 96 calories. It’s a good start, but it won’t make up for an extra serving of ice cream.  If you make that a brisk walk (say a mile in 13 minutes) you increase your burn to 120 calories (the heavier you are, the more calories you burn – go to www.nobellyprize.com for fitness calculators).

In general, try to be more active. As I’ve said in past columns, take the stairs instead the elevator. Don’t drive around looking for the closest parking space, park far and walk briskly to the store – you not only burn more calories you’ll probably save time. Riding a bike instead of driving is not only good for you and the air but the time you save not having to park might make up for the slower speed of the bicycle.

Even if you take my advice, you can still pretend your Santa on December 25th. Only you’ll need some padding this time.

School is out and, if you have kids at home, routines are changing. If yours is like most families, you’re no longer having those hurried breakfasts and brown bag lunches. Instead, the kids are spending a bit more time in the house — and at friend’s houses — with nearly 24/7 access to snack foods. There is nothing intrinsically unhealthy about snacking, but too many snacks — and the wrong type of foods — can add up to some serious calories, which can result in putting on pounds and inches between now and back-to-school time.

Also, snack foods tend to be lower in nutritional value than what mom or dad serves for dinner, so even if your kids don’t overeat, they may wind up eating the wrong foods. In theory, summertime should be an active time for kids. They have plenty of time to play, run, swim and engage in sports.

But too many of today’s kids spend their summer in front of the computer or TV or being driven to relatively sedentary social events. The combination of unhealthy eating and lack of exercise is taking a toll on today’s kids and the results are far more serious than weak muscles or a few extra pounds.

A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control predicts that one in three U.S. children born in the year 2000 could contract diabetes during their lifetime. Type 2 diabetes used to be called “adult onset” because it was very rare among children, but it’s now far too common and it’s generally due to childhood obesity. In 1998, about 11 percent of the nation’s 6- to 17-year-olds were overweight compared with about 5 percent in 1970.

The number of children diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has tripled in the past five years, according to research from the Irving, Texasbased VHA Health Foundation.

Diabetes isn’t the only risk. Children who are overweight are more likely to be overweight as adults and run an increased risk of heart disease and other problems. OK, enough scare tactics. Raising kids is hard enough without having me browbeat you into policing everything they eat.

I also caution you to avoid making your kids neurotic about food and health. Fitness is important, but we also don’t want to raise a generation of kids that are so “health conscious” that they fail to enjoy their childhood. It’s also important to make sure that kids — especially teenage girls — eat enough to maintain a healthy weight, which isn’t necessarily as skinny as some of the models and actresses they see on TV. Kids want to be as independent as possible and that includes what they put in their mouths. Sure, you feed them healthy meals, but they’re going to be hungry — or bored — during the day. They’re likely to reach into the refrigerator and grab whatever is handy. And it may not be your refrigerator. They may eat at a friend’s house or at a fast-food restaurant or convenience store. Unless your kids are quite young, you can’t control everything they do, but you can make it easier for your kids to get healthy snacks by keeping your refrigerator and cupboards full of the right stuff while keeping unhealthy foods out of reach. So, what foods should you have on hand?

You’ve probably already thought about fruit and vegetables but be sure you think beyond apples, carrots and celery sticks. Berries, cherries, apricots, and nectarines are also quite healthy.

At times these fruits can be a bit pricey, but they’re usually a bargain compared to the price of packaged snack foods.

In addition to sweets, kids often crave salty foods, especially in the summer. There are two issues with salty foods. One, of course, is that they’re high in sodium. The other is that snack foods that are salty also tend to be high in calories and fat

Still, for most kids, a bit of salt is OK, but consider salty snack foods that are also low in fat, such as baked or partially baked chips or low-fat pretzels.

Nuts are high in calories, but they’re very filling and especially appealing with sweet (yet sugar free) dried fruit. If your kids tend to munch like there’s no tomorrow, consider packaging up an ounce of so of nuts with about an ounce of fruit into plastic bags so they’re less likely to consume too much of this health, but relatively high calorie treat.

Popcorn can be another healthy, though sometimes salty, treat. If you have an air popper, you can make fat-free popcorn but even if you do pop it in oil it’s still relatively low in calories because popcorn is mostly air. Read the labels on microwave popcorn. Some brands are high in hydrogenated fat, which is almost as bad for you as saturated fat.

Granola bars are sometimes high in sugar and fat, but they’re also high in fiber, which is certainly better than most candy bars. The same is true with fruit bars such as Fig Newtons.

Another option is frozen fruit bars. Frozen treats tend to satiate and take a long time to consume and you can get bars that are sweetened with fruit juice rather than sugar. Another trick is to put some seedless grapes in the freezer and feed them to the kids like candy. Also consider making your own shakes in the blender with frozen fruit, low fat milk or yogurt and honey, if needed.

Other healthy snack ideas include breadsticks with hummus, tortilla chips with bean dip, cereal in a bag, toasted whole-wheat breads with peanut or almond butter and fruit, gingersnaps dipped in applesauce and frozen bananas.

Mom was a big yogurt proponent because of the active cultures. Yogurt is full of “friendly” bacteria that are associated with all sorts of heath benefits including improving digestion, fighting yeast infections, colon cancer, ulcers and strengthening the immune system. Fortunately, my family members haven’t had to use antibiotics very often but, when we do, my wife Patti (who’s also smart like my mother) makes sure that we get plenty of yogurt to counteract the anti-bacterial carpet bombing effect of the drug.

Yogurt is also high in protein, calcium, riboflavin and vitamin B 12 but unlike most other milk products, it doesn’t necessarily aggravate people who are lactose intolerant. That’s because the live yogurt cultures help brake down the lactose.

Non-fat plain yogurt is relatively low in calories (130 per eight ounce serving) and, of course, virtually devoid of fat. But be careful.  Not all commercial are low in calories.  I love Nancy’s whole milk Yogurt, but a cup has 180 calories and 16 grams of fat. A typical 8 ounce serving of fruit flavored non-fat yogurt has 150 calories. So-called “low fat” fruit flavored yogurt typically has 228 calories along with 3 grams of fat.

Dannon makes all types of yogurts but watch out for its “la crème mousse” variety. The numbers for a a single “serving” don’t sound all that bad: 120 calories, 5 grams of fat, 3.5 grams of saturated fat and 15 grams of carbohydrates.  But they define a serving as 2.6 ounces.  To get the real picture you have to multiply those numbers by 3.08.  Based on a 2000 calorie diet, an 8 ounce serving would have be 18% of your total calories, 24% of your daily fat allowance, 55% of your daily saturated fat, and 15% of your daily carbs. If you’re trying to lose weight on a 1,200 calorie diet, a single serving out take up nearly a third of your day’s calories.

But here’ the good news about weight loss and yogurt.  A recent study conducted found that people who ate a certain type of yogurt “lost significantly more weight compared to others who simply reduced calories.”  That certain type was “Yoplait Light.” There’s nothing in Yoplait’s press release that says they sponsored the study, but I have my suspicions.  Still, the study was conducted by a credible researcher, Michael B. Zemel, Ph.D., professor of medicine and

Director of the Nutrition Institute at the University of Tennessee.

The yogurt eaters, according to the study, “lost 22 percent more weight, 61 percent more body fat and 81 percent more trunkal (stomach) fat during the 12-week study.”

Dr Zemel believes that the calcium in yogurt could be a major factor in the results. The people who consumed yogurt, “consumed about 1,100 milligrams of calcium each day” compared to the control group which consumed 500 milligrams of calcium which is typical of the American diet. Both groups consumed about 500 calories less than they would usually eat.

“Not only did yogurt help the study participants lose more weight–the average weight loss was 13 pounds–they were about twice as effective at maintaining lean muscle mass,” Zemel said. “This is a critical issue when dieting — you want to lose fat, not muscle. Muscle helps burn calories, but it is often compromised during weight loss.”

Zemel’s previous studies have found “as calcium intake goes up, weight and body fat go down.”  He argues that a diet low in calcium “appears to stimulate the production of fat-producing enzymes and decreases the activity of enzymes that break down fat.”

My mother was one pretty smart lady.

OK, I haven’t really done any formal “research” but I have successfully lost weight using structured diet programs even though, in theory, I could have done just as well on my own.

I don’t care what program you join: Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, the Diet Center, Overeaters Anonymous, Atkins or even the ice cream diet (yes, someone actually did come up with that one).

The reason that these diets help you lose weight is because they require you to follow rules set down by an external authority figure.  That could be the person who weighs you in each week at the Weight Watchers meeting or a dietician who sits down with you to review how you’re doing or the author of a book you’re following.  It almost doesn’t matter who it is, as long as you are willing to impart to them a certain amount of authority or influence.

I know this from experience.  I can gain weight all by myself but it’s very hard for me to lose weight if I’m not in some type of program.  I can wake up in the morning and vow that “today I’m going to eat sensibly” but – by the time I go to sleep that night – I’ve eaten too much.  And some point in the process I’ll stop thinking about weight all together which is when I shoot way up.  It’s a vicious cycle that’s hard to break on your own, though it’s clearly not impossible.

In my case, any structure is better than no structure at all.  Programs that require me to meet with some type of counselor work best for me because I have a person to whom I’m accountable.  I have, however, lost weight by strictly following recommendations from a book.   The key is following those regulations.

Pam Webster, a Palo Alto resident who has battled with weight control was about to join Weight Watchers when I ran into her recently at the Palo Alto Cafe. “I need a formal arrangement to maintain discipline,” she confessed. “I would do well if I went to a nutritionist but I’m not about to go poking around looking for one.”  Weight Watchers is a “closed system” which provides you with everything you need to eat properly.

While weight loss programs do provide you with lots of good information, many people who are on diets already know what’s good for them.  There are no longer any local Diet Center offices in this area but there used to be one in Redwood City where I paid a monthly fee for a diet, a daily weigh-in and daily reinforcement.  The Diet Center worked so well for me that I wound up using it several times.  I used it during the 1970s to lose 40 pounds and I went back twice during the eighties and once in the early 90s. After awhile I knew almost as much about the Diet Center program as my counselor but she was still very helpful because I needed an ear and an authority to help me stay on track.

Taking Off Pounds Sensibly or “TOPS” (www.tops.org) is a non-profit organization that provides support systems in communities across the country with weekly meetings in Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Mateo, San Bruno, Sunnyvale and other bay area communities (for meeting locations and times click on chapter locater at www.tops.org).  The fees are extremely reasonable – between $5 and $8 per month plus $20 a year for the TOPS magazine.  Local coordinator June Hodsell says that the key to TOPS is “accountability.”  Ms. Hodsell advises TOPS members to “do a journal every week and that you put down exactly what you do eat. Lots of times we’re not even aware.”

TOPS, according to Ms. Hodsell, works because the members form a support community.  Members help each others during the meetings and, sometimes, between meetings. Members are weighed in at each meeting but the feedback is always supportive, even if someone gains a pound or two during the week. “You don’t know what they’ve gone through but we’re always supportive.”  Unlike most diet programs TOPS doesn’t prescribe what you should or shouldn’t eat as long as its “sensible.” Members are encouraged to seek medical and nutritional advice.

After you’ve lost the weight, you can join KOPS  – “Keeping Weight Off Sensibly” which is kind of the honor society for successful TOPS members. This gives people a lifelong support system for keeping their weight under control.