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going to talk about nutrition, eating disorders and other health issues and treatment. obesity among teenagers is an epidemic in this country and there are certainly factor fashion foods contributing to the problem. but in a quiet community a group of grossly overweight teens are changing their bodies and their lives. >> watching dylan amber along, it's difficult to remember he was able to finish a short work. >> i was 330 pounds, big kid. i wasn't satisfied with the way i was. i couldn't live life like a normal person. >> now down below 200, it's what dozens have classmates are accomplishing at a unique boarding school where losing to lose weight is the core curriculum.

>> i lost 43 pounds. i just ran 6 miles. >> the academy was founded in the farm community east of fresno in 2004, it helps oh beings teenagers shed pounds with a no-no sense program, exercise, diet and more exercise. three hours a day, every day. fitness director says the program is a burn to start slowly. >> its low key sport and low key strength training. they abuse their bodies when they are at home. >> every morning begins with a walk or run. students keep walking throughout the day to achieve 10,000 steps. >> we encourage them to get a great workout. >> and if the exercises is straightforward, so is the diet philosophy with a focus on cutting the fat. >> the fat grams per day is zero, we do permit up to 20 per day. >> students track calories as

well as fat grams. they are allowed snacks such as fruit and yogurt. they build self-esteem but many students they get the support from each other. >> by coming in and staying together and having the same common goal of becoming more healthy, it creates a community, really the first time for a lot of these kids. >> the studies show the graduates have a better success rate to keep weight off. dylan plans to return to the fall. >> its lifestyle, you don't go back to what you are doing. you stick with this forever. >> joining us from walnut creek is a author pamela mcdonald. thanks so much for being here. you practice what you preach, you are very trim and you look like you are in great shape. what the state of health in this

country today. just what what i've seen we are not doing well? >> out of the obesity epidemic comes a diabetes epidemic, children and adults, it's very well established. but out of diabetes, it's a knechb sha and amends which -- dementia and alzheimer's. it came out a year ago that showed an increase in alzheimer's insha. >> is it connected to overweight? >> related to diabetes and being obese. >> its come ples problem but eating an inflammatory diet, you express inflammatory disease. it's very connected to the metabolic system of the body. >> what would the diet include? >> diet would be a lot of

processed foods, a lot of preservatives. a lot of animal protein. when i do diet log west side patients, i see multiple times of day they eat these things. when you look at the problems they are coming in with, they are all inflammatory. inflammation of the stomach, inflammation of the joints, inflammation of the brain. inflammation of the arteries, most of our diseases is inflammatory diseases. >> so i talked with a resident doctor, that is never brought up never lose weight, lose 15 pounds. >> if you look at the educational physician and nutrition is not taught in medical school, this is something they are trying to change. with integrative medicine, it uses the tool of medicine and

uses food as medicine. that is where we're seeing a really big change now. that is going to be helpful for this very serious epidemic that we are seeing. >> is this called integrated medicine? >> it's an intelligent combination of traditional medicine, conventional medicine, but we use science to take all these tools of alternative medicine to teach effectively help the patient. we have many more choices with integrated medicine. >> what are the things you talk about in the book is acoe gene? >> its gene that we all have. its a gene that transfers fat the body and it's connected to heart disease. it was actually discovered for heart disease first by the national lab here at berkeley. then most of the research was done at gladstone institute in

san francisco but not a lot of primary care providers know about it. but its foundational gene. if you have high cholesterol and your doctor offers treatment, medication is the treatment that is given. diet is not offered first, but because this gene, if you have an abnormal one of these genes can really affect your cholesterol in a positive way if you eat the right diet. >> i want to talk with you more about that. we do have to take a break. so when we come back, what we cano get t t t t t t t t t t t ñ

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why don't we have both? [ male announcer ] old el paso. hard and soft tacos. ♪ feed your fiesta. welcome back. today we're talking about family health and our guest is pamela mcdonald. we were talking about the amoe gene, what can we do about that? >> it's the gene that transports fat and cholesterol to the body so each of them have a different dietary requirement. if you have a four, you don't process cholesterol properly. if you have a three, moderately. if you have a two you use fat quickly. so each individual type, one from mom and one from dad gives us a recommendation. >> you have to have a test for

that? >> it's very easy test. >> you can pay for it by insurance? >> yes, but you want a good conversation with your provider. >> now when you are talk about dieting? >> education is the key. we're into the media and the media revolution is here and everybody putting them into play in january. i think we've got to think differently now because the diabetes epidemic. there is a lot of silent disease. going through a nutritional program, i think we need more information. you need to get tested using the new tools. there are 13 different types of cholesterol. >> and this is the gene that transit ports those? >> the technology today is very useful. if people can learn a little bit more about their individual own genetic expression, liberty helpful. >> we talk about the gene and

diet, how about exercise? >> exercise, if you neve ve exercised before you can start very slowly. what i recommend for my patients is to start walking five minutes. then add another five minutes. slowly build your engine which is your muscle. when you can do that and get used to it and be gentle your b with your body, you will be very successful. >> reporter: why should people exercise 30 minutes? >> it takes a get to what we call anaerobic pathway. it takes 10 minutes, then you are doing it for at least 30 minutes to get good fat burning. >> do you want other exercises to that? >> strength exercise for the anaerobic exercises. doing both in an exercise

program every day. they say an hour a day, seven days a week reduces disease in the body. think i we are yet you are of habit and we are lazy but people that do the behavior is helpful. if you can get with a friend who already does exercise and can motivate you, two people together can motivate themselves and bring better health. >> this is the book you were talking about, the perfect gene -- you brought us something we never talked about before? >> the best thing to do is start with diet or exercise? >> i think you need to get evaluated by your physician so you don't have any underlying diseases and get with a professional, a dietitian, any medicine provider like myself -- there are a lot around the bay area -- who can help you put a program together for you.

>> people can't afford it, what would you recommend? >> that is why i wrote the book. i had a lot of patients, i can't afford to do a pick expensive club -- i have the solution in the book. you can read the book and get on your own program, get with a friend. that is helpful. >> what would you like people to remember? >> i think looking at integrative medicine. if you failed with nutrition, there is a lot of one diet fits all and i think diet is unique and looking into your genetics will be very helpful. >> we have a lot of good things to think about. we do have to take another break. when we come back, we're going to talk about eating disorders. one person's struggle with an rocks yeah and how she overcame it. we'll be right back.

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welcome back to beyond the headlines, i'm cheryl jennings of we've been talking about family health but we're going to talk about eating disorders. we welcome jennifer lombardi from sacramento. she came all the way from sacramento to be with us today. this is a really important issue. you have been a person that

suffered with an eating disorder. tell me about that? >> that is correct. between the ages of 17 and 22 i struggled with anorexia and unfortunately at that time treatment was extremely limited where i grew up. but that has changed in the last 10 to 15 years. fortunately a lot of support from family members and loved ones and support of a good therapist i was able to fully recovered which prompted me to get into this if he would. >> can you describe it briefly? >> different types of eating disorders, with anorexia where an individual tends to restrict this their food intake. eat a limited amount to almost nothing on a daily basis. some people do it with exercise but typically this is a person that would lose a significant amount of weight in a very short period of time. i think oftentimes in our

culture it has to do with vanity or society. the best way i can explain it to my patients and to family members is think of it as a puzzle and there are five pieces number one, is genetics. we know now with research that people that suffer from it, with anorexia or bulimia usually have a family history of depression. also personality traits. they tends to be driven, people pleasing also extremely sensitive. ,es, we look at culture. certainly our society doesn't cause eating disorders but it creates a toxic environment that give young women and men about weight and appearance. it's interesting, i would say the average age has been between

14 and 16 but there is a spike between 18 and 22. if you think about those two periods in life, there is number of changes occurring, but in terms of life expectancy tiagsz. with the personality traits, people with disorders like this are sensitive to change and conflict. >> reporter: tell me about your treatment program? >> we have different levels of care. we treat all different types of eating disorders. partial program, five day a week program where patients are with us throughout date. they receive a high degree of medical treatment. they see a physician and psychiatrist every l every week and then they get family therapy and support groups and we do do yoga, pilates, meditation. that is highest level have care. we treat those people.

then out patient program ranges between 9-15 hours a week. for most patients, regardless of what level of care they start out, we step them down as they become less symptomatic and stable. >> do they relapse? >> that is part of recovery. if they are able to maintain be a sentence fans for a good year, their chances of recovery are extremely high, but during a first year in recovery process there can be difficult moments. that is especially true for the age brackets that i mentioned because those are times in life that are filled with pain. so when that happens like that in a person's life. >> so what advice to people can

you give to people right now? >> it's to have hope. that people really do recover. i've been recovered 18 years and i'm not unique. there are many people that work in the field that are recovered. you don't recover in a vacuum. you need to have a high degree of medical supervision, psychotherapy and counseling to do it. >> i'm are doing are doing better, too. >> we do need to take another break. we'll be back in just a moment.

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welcome back to beyond the headlines. topic is family health. we talked about nutrition and exercise and disease prevention and also eating disorders. now a problem that doesn't get the attention it deserves and that is mental health. often they can be detected

early. >> i had children but i aged quickly but the fact that i aged what i would hope would happen from this, people -- take them to get checked out to make sure servicing fine. >> reporter: with us right now mental health program is bob bennett. he is bennett. the family service agency in san francisco. thank you so much for being here? >> thank you for having me. >> you have a program called the prep program. what does that stand for? >> prevention and recovery and early psychosis. it's the most comprehensive program treating the early onset of schizophrenia. >> among children? >> children and young adults.

12 to 30 and begins between 16 and 24. >> how does that work? >> the start of the program, my wife and i have six kids between us, three of hers and three of mine. there is a lot of mental illness in our family. teenagers always act like they are crazy. [ laughter ] >> but one of my children may be exhibiting of early psychosis. even though we are in social services key could not find anyone that could give us expert advice on what we should be looking for and what we should do about it. when i came to here about five years ago, i determined that we would prevent other families experiencing the kind of

heartache that we experienced. and the other individuals, ucsf is in the forefront of research in early psychosis and we created the program. i it's designed to accurately diagnosis whether is a child is risk of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and provide treatment to remit the zoo disease, rehabilitate the child and put the children on a lifestyle that can sustain them and give them a full and effective life. >> reporter: you bring up so many questions. it's controversial to give one children medication? >> it's not a medication program once the full onset of schizophrenia, we do provide

medication but the goal is to provide the lowest dose that a person can be sustained on. the goal is to make the symptoms manageable, not to go away. once we provide that, we provide therapy for early psychosis. it teaches you how to recognize your symptoms, from reality, how to recognize what they are and how to manage symptoms. >> you talk about symptoms, can you describe what some of those might be. >> sure. the early onset symptoms, actually what many teenagers go withorth. their worth. they will tend to withdraw and stay in their room. they develop ideas in heavy metal music and then how to do you tell whether that is normal

teenage behavior or a sign of something worse. the way you tell is calling out our program. wichbt through this with my daughter, a set of interviews with parent and child over a over a number of sessions and you get a diagnosis you can believe. some will say you are experiencing or or bipolar disorder. some will say you are at risk. for others they will say it's normal teenage behavior. we don't see any sign. that would be the best. >> what would you say to folks that they are worried? >> they should call us wherever they are, wherever they may be seeing thishouldey should call our number, 415-3476-7278. >> we'll put that on our website. provide a confidential screening

and if there is a risk of disorder we'll schedule an assessment. >> thank you so much. >> will there is so much to learn from bob. check the website out for that information. we are out of time. i want to say a very special thanks to our guests today to this edition of beyond the headlines. information on the show can be found at www.abc7.com. if you can looking for community resources dial 211 for help. i'm cheryl jennings. thanks for joining us. ♪ leftover desserts, boardroom, now. and hurry before the interns get here. thanks but i already have some yummy black forest cake. black forest cake? ♪ so? [ female announcer ] need a guilt fretreat? tryoplait light. and i've lost weight. [ female announcer ] with 30 delicious flavors, all around 100 calories each.

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