Seattle Times Article     

"Seattle Times Newspaper Article"

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

Alternative weight-loss methods examine issues that cause overeating

By Young Chang
Seattle Times staff reporter

(Excerpt from article)

The faith-based approach

A client was more than 100 pounds overweight and needed a solution that would take off the weight and cure her of overeating.

The Aloha, Ore., resident joined the Center for Counseling and Health Resources, Inc., last year, driving at least every week to Edmonds for treatment at the faith-based, for-profit program.

Staff members there consider issues of faith an important part of the whole-person approach to addressing eating disorders. Upon request, clients can receive treatment integrated with Christian themes including Bible verses and prayer.

The client started started with the center's Intensive Counseling Program for disordered eating — five to six hours a day of treatment, five days a week, usually for two to six weeks.

She underwent clinical testing, intensive emotional counseling and coaching to stop misusing food. Lund opted for just a week of the intensive treatment, but she continued with weekly, hour long counseling sessions.

Psychologists and counselors helped the client, 45, deal with childhood abuse, the trauma of being raped at 21 and the fact that she was eating to build a shell around herself to keep men away.

"We worked through the issues that made me want to stay isolated from people," she said.

The client was treated for depression, taught to change her self-image and advised to journal everything she ate. The Center, which also treats people with mental-health and chemical-dependency issues, incorporated her faith into the treatment.

"They totally bring God into the process," said the client, who lost 160 pounds in just over a year.

Gregg Jantz, founder and director of the center, said faith, relationships, emotions and physical health play a part in eating disorders. Center doctors test each patient's metabolism and offer emotional counseling.

Most clients stay in weekly counseling for 12 to 18 months. Jantz, a certified eating-disorder specialist with the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals, and who is also a licensed mental-health and chemical-dependency counselor, has centers in Edmonds, Federal Way, Olympia, Stanwood and Everett and is the author of: "Hope, Help and Healing for Eating Disorders."

In addition to the intensive program and weekly one-on-one counseling, Jantz and his state-licensed employees offer a weekly group meeting for those with eating disorders. He caps the group at about 12 participants. Coordinators lead the meetings, which are part presentation, part discussion.

About 80 percent of the clients who stick with one of the center's programs for six months or longer lose weight, Jantz said. Those who stop treatment sooner are less successful.

Clients who report being displeased with the program often cite that they didn't lose weight fast enough, Jantz said.

The center is a preferred provider for numerous insurance companies including Premera and Regence Blue Shield, Jantz said.