European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 28, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                When temptation Calls some dieters hear a whisper but Only a few Are  nation obsessed with thinness by Mary Macvean associated press in childhood chef David Liederman recalls his brother and his Stepfather lunging a Forks first a toward the last pork chop. Dad speared the brother and in the chaos Liederman came up with the chop Quot we were so eager to get to the portion that we barely tasted what we were eating and whatever hit the table was devoured As if hit by a Buzz  Liederman was off on a decades Long journey of devouring that eventually led him to map trips through France aimed at hitting As Many three Star restaurants As possible. At 38, he topped 300 pounds. He opened two new York City restaurants and a Chain of chocolate Chip cookie shops called David a cookies. And though he has dropped 100 pounds kept it off for three years and written a Book David a delicious weight loss program he remains obsessed with food. A my biggest project in life is keeping from getting fat a said Liederman now 41. Quot if you believe the Way i do that compulsive eating is not Only a sickness but an addiction How do you get rid of the problem without spending the psychological Energy Quot one therapist likened his situation to Quot psychological  but Liederman for now is Content. He carries a pocket diary everywhere recording every single taste of food in tiny Little letters Down to the spoonful of Clear Broth and mushroom soup tasted at his Broadway cafe. He is fanatic about daily exercise usually with a Trainer. At 5-foot-11 and about 180 pounds he looks healthy and moves fast. Quot my goal in life is for someone to say a you look terrible David. Eat something a Quot he said. Millions of americans feel an immediate Affinity with those words. Half the adult women and 30 percent of adult men in this country Are on a diet. Americans spent More than $30 billion trying to lose weight or keep it off last year and a congressional committee is investigating the Industry. Still an estimated 34 million american adults Are obese a that is they weigh at least 20 percent above their Ideal weight. Quot the aesthetic Ideal is so lean and now athletic that its simply impossible for Many people to attain that Ideal Quot said Kelly Brownell co director of the obesity research clinic at the University of Pennsylvania. Quot Many people lose to a healthy weight but they done to feel satisfied. A Quot they push beyond to the aesthetic Ideal and their body fights Back their body wins and they end up at a higher  americans turn to self help books relaxation techniques Over eaters Anonymous weight watchers modified fasts liquid diets liposuction wired jaws stapled stomachs grapefruits acupuncture hypnotism fatty photos on the refrigerator fake fats artificial sugars jogging spas aerobics stairmaster gyms drugs. Dieting is part of the mainstream going off a diet is failing. That philosophy is part of the problem according to therapists who say food represents other problems. If people Learned to eat to ease hunger for food rather than hunger for love or something else most eventually would reach a weight that s Good for them they say. Financially emotionally and physically americans Are paying for being so persistently and obsessively focused on an Ideal they most Likely will never attain. Why for one thing women and men to a lesser extent Are victims of a culture that worships a Sylph like figure to the virtual exclusion of other body types. A you can to work with women and not work with eating problems body image Quot said Andrea Gitter a therapist at the women s therapy Center Institute in new York City who specializes in eating problems. Quot it touches on everybody s insecurity. The underlying message is that you re not Okas you Are Quot said Gitter who was a compulsive eater until she Learned to eat to satisfy physical hunger rather than to stave off guilt loneliness or other emotional longings. Women often believe that if they Are thin if they control their appetites they will be Happy loved and respected Kim Chernin writes in the obsession. Losing weight Hillel Schwartz argues in his Book never satisfied has become Quot the modern expression of an Industrial society confused by its own desires and therefore never  the obsession strikes girls Early. A 1986 study in san Francisco found that of 500 girls in grades 4 to 12, almost 80 percent of 10-and 11-year-Olds reported dieting to lose weight. And Many parents have overreacted to researchers warnings that television addicted children would grow obese nutritionists had to admonish parents not to take All the fat out of their children a diets. That provides a glimpse at one of the strange aspects of americans obsession with weight one need not be overweight to live a lifetime of dieting. Few people feel Content with their bodies. A sort of daily tally Sheet is set up an hour peddling the exercise Bike equals a dish of Haagen dazs. No breakfast makes Fries of at lunch. A husky Guy continued on Page 15 resisting temptation by Enid Nemy new York times there is at least one person in new York who never Well almost never buys potatoes. This person has nothing against potatoes in Point of fact she considers that potatoes have everything going for them including unfortunately her appetite. This appetite is apparently insatiable when confronted with mashed Fried scalloped baked or roasted spuds and although these and other More esoteric versions Are ordered when dining out she knows that potatoes in her Kitchen Are an open invitation to disaster. Quot before you know it i would be Messing around baking and roasting and mashing them Quot she said. A this would be All very Well if i were a Normal person but in a not i can t eat just one potato or a decent portion of mashed potatoes. Quot if i have potatoes around there a a Little Devil in me that plops four or five of them in pot or oven and when they re ready i eat every last one of them without a second thought. The second thought comes when i get on the scale the next  this woman is not an unusually big eater. When it comes to almost any other food she is satisfied with the usual portions. She can eat half a bar of chocolate and one scoop of ice Cream. Friday september 28, 1990 it just happens that potatoes Are her downfall and while watching television in the evening or Reading she can go through a bowl of potato salad As easily As other people scoop up Popcorn. If its a very Large perhaps 10-serving salad bowl she takes a couple of intermissions but there Isnit enough left to tempt a cockroach by the time she goes to bed. Although a number of people think incorrectly that potatoes Are loaded with calories there Aren t too Many who done to Trust themselves with even the raw product in their Kitchen. Its far More common to find a Lack of willpower in the area of breads sweets particularly pastries chocolate and ice Cream and salted things such As continued on Page 14 the stars and stripes a a a Page 13