Diet hurting PM¹s thinking, dietician says

CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA ‹ Paul Martin doesn¹t think he¹s fat, but it seems his wife does.

The prime minister revealed this week that he has been on a
low-carbohydrate diet ‹ specifically the South Beach Diet ‹ since wife
Sheila pointed out his growing girth recently.

³She asked me to stand sideways and said, ŒLook in the mirror,¹ Œ¹
Martin confided today in an interview with The Canadian Press.

³I thought I looked quite good in that sideways shot, but that was not
her judgment.²

Under cover of a navy blue suit jacket, Martin doesn¹t appear all that
chubby. But take off the jacket and there it is ‹ a stomach that diet
experts say is pretty typical for a man his age.

No one in the Prime Minister¹s Office will say exactly how much the
66-year-old weighs. When asked the question a year ago, a Martin
spokesman would only reveal that the PM was at ³fighting weight.²

At least one expert has concerns about how the diet might affect
Martin¹s brain.

³Cutting carbohydrates means he¹s also cutting his cognitive
functions,² said Beth Mansfield, a registered dietician and fitness
specialist with Peak Performance of Ottawa.

³That can¹t help a man like the prime minister think straight.²

Mansfield also asked why Martin turned to a commercial diet program
when his own government offers a taxpayer-funded solution?

³Why is he going on this huge diet thing?

³Why not follow Canada¹s food guide, and show people that they should
be doing the same thing to stay healthy? He¹s a figurehead and should
be providing an example to Canadians.

Susan Fyshe, a nutritionist who operates Healthy Lifestyles Nutrition
Consulting of Toronto, doesn¹t think the South Beach Diet is a good way
for the prime minister to lose weight, although she commends him for
trying.

³It¹s not a really balanced diet . . . and in the long term, they¹re
not that easy to sustain.²

For the first 14 days of the South Beach program, bread, rice,
potatoes, pasta, and baked goods are completely off limits. So is
fruit.

The South Beach people say their clients can begin adding those things
back into their diets again after two weeks.

And the prime minister can¹t eat candy, cake, cookies, ice cream ‹
basically anything with sugar. Alcohol is another no-no.

Mansfield recommends that instead of dieting, the prime minister walk
more ‹ maybe even use a pedometer to measure how many steps he takes
during say, an election campaign. Wink, wink.

³He has a fat belly. That¹s a big risk factor for diabetes and all
kinds of other illnesses,² she warned. ³Not to mention the stress he
must be under.²

She had other suggestions too.

³All he really needs to do is cut the cream from his coffee, or get
rid of the white sugar, or eat half a muffin at breakfast instead of a
whole one.

³He can give the other half to his press secretaries, because they
probably need to lose weight too.²