Shreveport woman encourages Naturally Slim mentality
Years ago Sandra Breithaupt was prompted to find a different “key” to her own weight issue.
“I invented a program for myself because I had a weight problem,” Breithaupt said.
While she had been open to new diet plans and theories that came and went, the results were always futile. Breithaupt labels herself a “hard-core dieter” back then. “I started out with a small problem, and after years of dieting, I ended up with a big problem. When I learned that diets only have a 5 percent success rate for maintaining a weight loss, I realized that I had to take responsibility for my problem and give up dieting,” she said.
Breithaupt said she started to take notice of people with whom weight gain did not appear to be a factor in their lives. She observed that some people could eat just about anything they desired without that lurking excess weight concern that she was experiencing. She categorized these people as “true thins,” and her curiosity moved her to begin to study their eating habits.
After a while, she discovered the “key” she had set out to find: It’s not what one eats but when and how much that matters. Rather than attempting to follow diet plans, these “true thins” ate only when they were hungry, stopped when they were comfortable and did not use eating as a combatant for stress.
Breithaupt was keenly aware of the critical impact of obesity on a person’s general health so she focused on developing a common sense plan that would address the connection between disciplined eating habits (portion size, eating cycles) and overall wellness.
“I personally think there is something healing to the body when you eat only when you are hungry,” she said. “The body regulates itself. People don’t want diabetes, strokes and heart problems, but they have tried dieting and have given up. They just accept and stop thinking,” she said. She knew, as well, that psychological tools must be provided in order for people to identify and break up their existing emotional eating patterns.
Guided by these new revelations she began to test the waters using this information. After successfully getting to her desired weight and maintaining her weight loss for a few years, she refined a curriculum for her program, which she named Naturally Slim.
She began to share her concepts with others in a small classroom setting.
“I started with a class of volunteers because I wanted to see if I could impact their weight, and they had such good results that they spread the word,” Breithaupt said.
As people from different walks of life began to enroll and classes grew larger, teachers were trained to assist. Soon the Naturally Slim Program caught the attention of Dallas physician Dr. Wayne Agnew. His sister had been a student of the program, and he was so impressed with her results that he invited Breithaupt to teach a class to 10 of his medical colleagues in the Dallas area. Again, her methods proved beneficial.
At that point, Agnew suggested he and Breithaupt write a book using the success stories of these doctors. It was named “The Dallas Doctor’s Diet” and was published by McGraw Hill in 1985. It was featured on the cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine as well as mentioned in numerous health publications. Agnew and Breithaupt also made an appearance on the afternoon television talk show, “Hour Magazine,” hosted by Gary Collins.
Breithaupt and her teachers had taught more than 5,000 people when the Computer Age arrived and changed everything. At this time, she was ready to let someone else take over, and she didn’t have to look very far. Her daughter, Marcia Upson, a certified family nurse practitioner, brought Naturally Slim online (www. naturallyslim.com) and enabled students to conveniently take classes from their homes, to be provided online counselors for advice and to participate in an exclusive Naturally Slim social networking site to encourage each other. Her association with a human resource company who was looking for a wellness program for corporations opened the door for Naturally Slim to be utilized by municipalities, health organizations and large corporations all across the country. Southwest Airlines, The Hartford and many others now boast a proven track record of saving millions of dollars in health costs for employee insurance since using the program.
When Breithaupt took her program to the public, she said she did so with authentic purpose and deep compassion. To her, each person she taught was an exceptional individual with his or her own distinct qualities and gifts.
“She embraced me with kindness and thoughtfulness and helped me to understand how years of dieting had negatively influenced my way of thinking about food,” a student said. “Her patient nature helped me as I learned to let go of my old diet beliefs and began to enjoy life. Learning to identify true hunger and having the freedom to choose any food I wanted was totally liberating.”
– Jo Ann Garner
