Who Will Get Fat First?
By Lambeth Hochwald
The Junk-a-Holic
"I can snack on doughnuts, ice cream and cake and stay a size 0."
--Annette, 29, PR executive
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 106
Dress size: 0
Eating style: Annette's tiny stature -- she can still fit into clothes she wore in eighth grade -- belies her all-junk diet. "I eat at McDonald's three or more times a week, and I always get chocolate-chip cookies for dessert. I catch a lot of grief about the way I eat, especially at work -- no one can believe it!"
Breakfast: Cheese danish and sweetened coffee, every day.
Lunch: Pizza or other fast food.
Dinner: Pasta.
Vices: Indulgent snacks. "I usually have chocolate or a doughnut in the late afternoon and ice cream after dinner. Then, late at night, I'll snack again on chocolate cake."
Exercise: None -- Annette has no exercise routine.
Why the expert gave a four-star rating: "Annette may be a lean machine for now, but once she hits her mid-30s or has kids, she could find -- like a lot of 'I-can-eat-anything' types -- that her metabolism and body have changed. And when that happens, she'll definitely start accumulating pounds."
Diet fix: It isn't realistic to expect a junk-a-holic to become a healthy eater overnight, says Bauer. "The trick is to start small and eat just one healthy meal a day. Instead of a danish for breakfast, Annette should try high-fiber cereal and skim milk with fruit or oatmeal with fruit. Eventually, she should work on lunch, then dinner. It will be easier if she eats foods that offer a mix of textures and tastes -- which she's used to getting via junk food," says Bauer.
Good choices: a chunk of whole-grain bread with dense vegetable soup, a chicken stir-fry over brown rice or a bean burrito with spinach. "Annette has no idea how much better she will feel if she stops putting her body through huge blood-sugar swings."
