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Patty, a stay-at-home mother of two who lives in Hollister, Calif., is aguest speaker this week at the Harvard Medical School-sponsored HealthyKitchens conference at the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena. Shewill tell a group of doctors, nutrition experts and chefs how loosing over 60pounds with the help of the Transformations program at the St. Helena Centerfor Health (http://www.sthelenacenterforhealth.org) changed her life.
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"It's one thing to hear a doctor talk about a successful program, butanother to actually have someone whose life was transformed by the programtell their story," said Heather Pena, MD, a lead presenter at this weekend'sconference and the Harvard-trained medical director of the St. Helena Centerfor Health. "We've now been able to collect data on over 300 people who haveparticipated in our Transformations program since its inception and, to date,the dramatic, life-changing results such as Patty's are the rule rather thanthe exception."
Transformations(TM): The Napa Valley Weight and Lifestyle ManagementProgram is an 11-day residential experience where participants -- led byphysicians, nutritionists, exercise physiologists and behavioral therapists --learn how to live a healthy life through good nutrition, exercise and otherlifestyle changes. The Center for Health was established in 1968 on the campusof St. Helena Hospital in the Napa Valley and applies a multidisciplinaryapproach to its programs, which also include smoking-cessation and a one-daypersonal health "super" evaluation.
Four years after graduating from the program, Patty says "I feel sovibrant and healthy" and is not the person she was: a 40-year-old obese womanwho at 5-feet, 8-inches tall tipped the scales at 232 pounds; a person scaredto death of suffering the kind of massive heart attack that killed her fatherat age 41. "I was just 14 when my father died and his death left me fearful ofmy own heart," said Patty.
After repeated failures to lose weight on all the popular diets, shediscovered the Transformations program during an Internet search. "On day fiveof the program, I finally said to myself: I get it: you have to change yourlifestyle, not just learn to cut calories," she said. "I realized although Icould eat Pop Tarts and be within my Weight Watchers point total, that didn'thelp my cholesterol, my energy or my long-term prospects for improving myhealth and keeping the weight off."
Today a strong, fit 170 pounds, Patty lives mostly on a plant-based dietwith some fish and chicken dinners. Her husband, always healthy and arunner -- and a good cook -- has enthusiastically embraced the lifestylechanges and helps come up with good-tasting, but healthy meals. She haseliminated all processed foods from her diet, helping lower her cholesterolfrom 300 to 122. She says when she goes to the supermarket, she now buys foodthat "speaks to my heart. I ask a lot of my body in terms of exercise so Iwant to give it the right fuel."
Patty's 20-year-old daughter Aly, who struggled with her own weight,attended the Transformations program after seeing the positive affect it hadon her mom. Despite all the family enthusiasm for their new lifestyle, her15-year-old son Robbie still pushes mom for occasional visits to McDonalds. "Ijust say no," says Patty. "It's a lot easier than it used to be. And when heprotests, I tell him, go ahead and sue me for loving you."
For more information, contact the St. Helena Center for Health at1-800-358-9195 or http://www.sthelenacenterforheal
