DIET | DETECTIVE^®

Dr. Susan Bartell is a psychologist specializing in the issues of tweens and teens, especially girls. Dr. Susan’s Girls-Only Weight Loss Guide (Positive Parent, 2006is her second book for preteens and teens. She lives in New York and works with girls and their parents at her office, and in large and small groups at schools, camps, youth groups and other locations.

Name: Dr. Susan Bartell

Birthday: 22 September

Location: Port Washington, NY

Q: Tell us how you got to where you are now.

A: With enormous focus, great tenacity and a degree of luck. But mostly by being very well loved and supported by the important people in my life.

Q: Define and discuss failure.

A: Failure is when you stop trying! As long as you continue to make new goals and then work towards them, you can’t possibly fail. Of course, along the way you may make goals and then realize that they aren’t productive goals for you, or your goals may change as you go though life. In this which case, choosing to stop short of reaching a goal in order to change paths, is not a failure, but actually a real success because it means you have gained a greater understanding of yourself including your strengths and weaknesses.

Q: Is there anything about yourself that you've changed your mind about in the last 20 years?

A: For a long time I thought that excelling as a psychologist and then as a writer, would be enough to get me where I wanted to be professionally. I now see that where I want to be also requires me to have the ability to be an excellent business person.

Q: What's the next major item on your "to-do" list?

A: Write another book

Q: Define individual responsibility and how you react to adverse situations.

A: Individual responsibility is what happens when people take charge of their own lives, health and choices rather than blaming other people, companies or those in charge of the government for the way their lives turn out. I wish it happened more often!

When confronted with an adverse situation I discuss it with the important people in my life and then find a solution or alternative to it. If it is not possible to change the adversity, I learn to accept it and move forward in a different direction.

Q: When do you have time to think about your mistakes, mishaps, achievements, and minor victories; in other words, do you have any reflective time for yourself of your career?

A: I think about these things all the time—I have a business mentor who helps me with many aspects of the forward movement of my career. I also speak with my brilliant husband and a few close, smart friends who help me to reflect on these issues. I believe that it is imperative to think about the mistakes and successes we have in life and professionally—it is from these that we can move forward towards reaching our goals and making new ones. Self-reflection is critical in order to live a purposeful life.

Q: What is your most influential story, fiction or nonfiction, from a film, book, magazine, newspaper or parable? Explain its impact on your life? What's you're favorite saying?

A: I don’t have one favorite influential story because I choose to allow many different influences to help guide my life in many different ways. Actually, the greatest influences in my life all come from real people, close to me, who have challenged adversity in many forms and not only survived, but triumphed.

My favorite saying—invented by my husband—is “Everyone draws their own line of hypocrisy”.

Q: Was there a defining moment in your life when you made a decision that changed the course of the rest of your life forever?

A: My greatest defining moment in life came when I was 12-years old and moved from South Africa to the United States. Of course the decision to move was that of my parents, but, despite being very sad to leave my friends and family, I made the decision to embrace my new life fully and allow it to become an experience that enriched me. I am a decidedly different person than I would have been had I not allowed myself to see the incredible value of living in two different cultures. The way I think about people, the world and relationships is in some part, always defined by the knowledge that the world, no matter how large, is still very small.

Q: What's the most bodacious chance you've ever taken?

A: Becoming a writer has meant exposing my work to thousands of critical eyes. Every article or book I write feels like an enormous chance—I hold my breath waiting for the feedback.

Q: What's the biggest lesson you've learned about yourself? What's the biggest lesson you haven't learned?

A: The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that I am bossy! The biggest lesson I haven’t learned is how to STOP being bossy!

Q: What keeps you going (your motivation)?

A: I am motivated by wanting to have a phenomenal marriage, be a great role model for my children and by being successful professionally. My idea of professional success has expanded each year as I have achieved each goal I set for myself. This keeps me motivated. My marriage has grown deeper and stronger with each passing year, this too keeps me motivated and my children are growing into amazing people with each day bringing another challenge—stretching and motivating my heart and mind to its greatest potential.

Q: How do you stick to your diet on days when you really don’t want to? What are techniques you use to stay on track?

A: If I have a strong yen for something and I don’t eat it at all, I will continue to think about it until I simply must have it. By then I want it so badly that I’ll overeat it and really blow my healthy eating. So, for me what works is that when I have a craving for something, I eat a small portion of it. This satisfies me. My husband is always amazed how long a pint of ice-cream can sit in the freezer because I don’t have the urge to eat the whole thing. It took me a long time to figure this out about myself. For many years I would deprive myself and then go crazy.

Q: If you could eat one forbidden food whenever you wanted without gaining weight, what would it be?

A: Chocolate bars

Q: What dessert do you dream about?

A: Chocolate of course—mousse cake!

Q: If there were one healthy food item (something you love) that you had to eat every day, what would it be?

A: You mean chocolate isn’t healthy?? Just kidding—I would have to say fat-free cottage cheese would be a food that I could (and do!) eat every day.

Q: What do you think is the most important thing that makes or breaks a diet for someone?

A: It’s crucial to find enough of a variety of healthy, low fat foods that you truly enjoy. This allows you to stick to your healthy diet without feeling deprived. The feeling of self-denial and deprivation is a diet killer!   

Q: How did you come to your conclusions about weight loss and dieting?

A: My personal experiences as well as working with my child and teenage patients who struggle with their weight and with eating healthily have both deeply influenced my two conclusions about weight loss and dieting. One, that for many people overeating is connected to a difficulty expressing and mastering feelings in a less self-destructive way and two, that extreme self-deprivation almost always results in failure when it comes to dieting—especially for children and teens.

Q: Do you think that failed attempts have influenced you approach to dieting? How have past struggles help you find a system that works for you?

A: Failed attempts have definitely influenced my approach to dieting. I discovered that my body and brain didn’t respond well to the deprivation of most standard diets—it made me think about forbidden foods all day long and then overeat them when I couldn’t stand it any more. This was not a good plan for me! What worked, and has continued to work for about twenty years now is eating healthy foods in moderate portions each and every day and also allowing myself small portions of “forbidden” or junk food each day too—not a day goes by when I don’t eat a little chocolate. My weight and size have stayed exactly where I want them and I never feel deprived.

Q: Have you dealt with weight issues personally?

A: Yes, I struggled mightily with my weight through high school and college. My resolution of this has been an enormous influence on the way I conceptualize, support and teach weight loss and dieting now. I share this story with my teenage patients and in my book, Dr. Susan’s Girls-Only Weight Loss Guide, and on www.girlsonlyweightloss.com to help girls see that they’re not alone.

Q: What’s the best book about health that you’ve read?

A: What to Expect When You’re Expecting—does that count?

Q: What are your two favorite health magazines?

A: Self—although it’s not strictly a health magazine, has lots of interesting health ideas and articles. I also like Fitness and Shape.

Q: What do you consider the world’s most perfect food? Please be specific and try not to answer with a category but rather with a specific food item: for example, not “whole grain” but “raisin bran cereal”?

A: Sushi—specifically Salmon and cucumber rolls.

Q: What physical activity do you do to keep yourself in shape?

A: Elliptical trainer, weight training, ice-skating, walking.

Q: Do you have a favorite healthy recipe or cooking tip? If so would you share it?

A: Baked chicken nuggets—my kids love them!

Cut chicken breasts into nugget size pieces (take off the fat). Dredge them in egg whites and then a little bread crumbs. Spray a baking pan/sheet with cooking spray. Lay the nuggets in a single layer in the pan. Spray them with cooking spray. Bake at 350 until they’re just cooked through, turning once to crisp both sides. Spray the second side when you turn them. Don’t overcook them, b/c they’ll dry out.

Q: Do you have a Calorie Bargain? What food did it replace?

A: I love calorie bargains—in Dr. Susan’s Girls-Only Weight Loss Guide, I call them Sensational Substitutions. They’re incredibly important for teenagers in particular.

·    Chocolate rice cakes replaces chocolate bars

·    My 9-year old daughter recently replaced cream cheese with low-fat Laughing Cow Cheese wedges. It’s been terrific for her.

·    We all drink flavored seltzer instead of soda

·    My 12-year old son replaced is TV snack of pretzels with air-popped popcorn—he can eat much more and still have fewer calories.

·    Hebrew National 97% fat free hot dogs replaced regular hot dogs—this is a biggie for my kids and husband.

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