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BWMC doctor wants people to cut back on soda intake

By THERESA WINSLOW, Staff Writer

Published 10/29/09

Dr. Joan Lehmann's crusade doesn't pack much pop - but that's the whole point.

Theresa Winslow — The Capital
Dr. Joan Lehmann, an emergency room physician at Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie, wants to reduce the incidence of obesity in children and adults. One of the small steps she advocates is cutting out sugary soda in favor of beverages like milk and water.

Lehmann, 46, who works in the emergency room at Baltimore Washington Medical Center, is on a mission to curb America's growing problem with obesity. And one of the small steps she'd like children and adults to take is to cut out sugary soda.

"There's no one magic bullet, but this is a baby step; a significant first step," the Pasadena resident said.

Instead of soda, she recommends milk (preferably skim or low-fat), iced tea or just plain water. She's not a fan of sugar-free soda, either, because of all the chemicals it contains. Also on the outs are sugary fruit drinks. Lehmann would prefer people to consume 100 percent natural fruit juices - in moderation.

Parents, she explained, can set an example for their children by following these guidelines. Children, meanwhile, can start a habit of healthy behavior that will have long-lasting benefits.

Michele LaSpina, a BWMC nurse, is certainly a believer.

After talking with Lehmann, she stopped drinking soda and immediately started dropping weight. LaSpina, who lives in Glen Burnie and has three children, lost 10 pounds in just the first week after cutting out her daily six-pack of soda. "It really was like a light bulb went off," she said.That was in May, and she's stuck with the program ever since.

"Oh my gosh, I love Joan," added LaSpina, who also stopped eating fried food and has dropped a total of 59 pounds. "She's in tune with things."

Lehmann has a Web site dedicated to her cause, www.fizzfactor.org, which she's been pushing for the past couple years. Her views were shaped in large part by an experience she had as a newly minted resident in family medicine in the backwoods of West Virginia. One of the first patients she was assigned to was an 800-pound woman.

"When I met her, I was terrified," said Lehmann, who has been working at BWMC for 11 years. "(But) after talking with her, I got to know her. She was a hoot."

Still, her visits with the woman stuck in her head, as did all the empty pizza boxes and empty bottles of cola in her patient's home. "It planted a seed that obesity was a preventable problem that wasn't getting enough attention," she said.

As Lehmann spoke, she pulled up a government Web site on her computer that showed how obesity rates in the United States have spiked from 1985 to 2008. Maryland is no exception, though its rates are in the middle of the pack for all states.

"Maryland's not the worst state, (but) you start in your backyard," Lehmann said.

Can-do attitudes

Kirsty Shanks, a fifth-grader at Broadneck Elementary School in Arnold, thinks Lehmann is on the right track with her crusade against soda.

The problem is that Kirsty, 10, isn't so sure she can kick the habit completely. "I like it," she explained. "It just tastes good to me."

Classmate Chloe Baerwald agreed.

"I think for most kids, it would be difficult (to give up)," she said. "But not for me, though. I don't drink it very often. I drink milk a lot."

Lehmann realizes all of this. In fact, she likes soda, too. She just doesn't drink more than half a glass a week. If everyone did that, she said, it would go a long way toward fighting obesity.

"I think that it takes a little while to change the palate, but it's a fairly rapid change that can be made," she added. "It's not that sugar is evil or cola is evil. It's just proportions."

Parents with children too young to buy soda themselves need to stop bringing it home, she urged, and teens old enough to get it on their own need to cut back.

"It's tough," she said. "By the time someone is 16 or 17, it's difficult to monitor what they're eating or drinking. You have to start when you bring them home from the hospital."

Dr. Elizabeth Fronc, a pediatric hospitalist at BWMC, called her colleague's cause "brilliant."

"We are staring down the barrel of a huge health epidemic with our pediatric and adolescent patients," she explained. "The causes are not simple, (but) little steps can really help reduce the problem."

Fronc went on to say that if someone cuts out just 100 calories a day, over a year that amounts to 12½ pounds.

Most children, she said, don't realize the impact of a regular soda habit.

"It's a down-the-road effect," she said.

For more information, visit the Web site at www.fizzfactor.org.

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Right on - 2009-10-30 16:17:58

I think this is common sense information that many people are just not applying. It is wonderful that Dr. Lehmann is actively shedding light on often overlooked dietary issues. People need to be better educated about nutrition and pay more attention to what they intake.

Many pay particular attention to the nutritional value of the foods that they eat but aren't aware of the dietary impact of the drinks that they consume. I think more educational outreach should be made to the fact that fatty alcoholic beverages, absorbent amounts of sugary and artificial fruit juices and soft drinks (diet and regular) are simply not good for our bodies and DO contribute a large part to our nation's health and obesity concerns.

Moderate amounts of nearly anything isn't too harmful but people need to be more empowered to be able to assess nutritional value relative to unhealthy attributes in food and beverage products when shopping. Misleading labels don't help in this goal.

I also like the idea of letting people know what a better replacement for an unhealthy component of their diet might be. For example, instead of a sugary soda, try naturally flavored seltzer water containing no carbs, sugars, calories, cholesterol, sodium, etc.

Part of the problem is that some people don't care and would rather remain ignorant. But I have to believe people would start making better choices for their families, if not themselves, if they were better empowered with proper nutritional education and really understood package labels and ingredient lists.

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Rachel Rachfal - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Good

article - 2009-10-30 14:51:43

First I'd like to commend Dr. Lehmann for her efforts in encouraging healthy lifestyles; however, I do not agree with all of her recommendations. As a registered dietitian and consultant to the food and beverage industry, I tell my clients that a healthy diet is not about picking or rejecting specific foods or beverages. Instead, it is about making informed, sensible choices based on individual needs. It's all about moderation, not elimination. I firmly belive that obesity has many causes and can not be solved by targeting one food or beverage alone.

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Alisa Winters - Atlanta, GA - Karma: Neutral

sure - 2009-10-29 17:51:29

10 lb.s in one week. A six pack of soda a day and fried food? What a great example of how much weight you can lose by cutting out soda! Get a grip. A soda once in a while isn't that bad. They even have the nice 8 oz. size for those who think a 12 oz. is too much. Parents need to regulate what their children have. But don't worry, the government will soon take soda away from us by taxing it for being the "sin" that it is.

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Thomas Frankowski - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Neutral