Cheryle R. Hart, M.D. is the CEO of Crania Co. LLC, a neuro-nutriceutical supplement company specializing in neurotransmitter precursor therapy development. Dr. Hart is a 1984 graduate of the Mayo Clinic and is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology as well as bariatrics, the specialty of medical weight management. She held appointments as associate clinical professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota and the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Dr. Hart is currently the medical director of the Wellness Workshop in Spokane, Washington, a preventive health and weight loss clinic, having treated over 5000 weight loss patients since 1996. She and her clinic were featured in the September 2002 Time magazine cover story on weight loss in America.

She co-authored the best selling diet book The Insulin-Resistance Diet and is currently completing her book on neurotransmitter precursor therapy. She is a frequently requested national speaker, radio and television guest and co-hosted her weekly health talk radio program, Hart of the Matter.

Her new book, The Feel Good Diet explains the benefits of neurotransmitter precursor therapy, and features the work done in her clinic with CraniYums.

Name: Cheryle R. Hart, M.D

Birthday: January 26

Location:  Spokane, WA       

Website: www.hormonesbyhart.com, www.feelgooddiet.com,

Diet Detective: Hey Cheryle, thanks for joining us on DietDetective.com. We appreciate you taking time to answer a few questions. First of all, how does the Feel Good Diet influence a person’s behavior around eating and overeating?

Dr. Hart:  During my research for the book, as well as in my experience with over 5000 women at my Wellness clinic, I have found that the neurotransmitter, serotonin, has an overwhelming effect on one’s ability to control their appetite as well as maintain the willpower to stay on a calorie-restricted diet.  This is more of an issue for women, but serotonin is important for men, too.

Diet Detective: Are you saying that increasing serotonin, or at least having “enough” serotonin is necessary before one can consciously modify their eating behavior?

Dr. Hart:  Yes.  What I have found is that if someone is motivated to lose weight, for any number of reasons, they can maintain that motivation for a few weeks, even several months.  But eventually, for reasons that we now understand medically, their brain does not get the amount of serotonin they need to keep dieting.  In fact, with most women, especially, the need for serotonin becomes so strong that binge eating occurs.  Within a few weeks they have gained back all the weight they had lost and then some.

Diet Detective: You have found that this “yo-yo dieting” is caused by not getting enough serotonin?

Dr. Hart:   That’s right.  The most successful diets for weight loss work by restricting carbohydrates – especially the high glycemic ones – which controls insulin and insulin resistance.  Medically we have known how to do this for over 10 years.  What we are only recently discovering is that by controlling insulin, we are preventing the brain from making serotonin.  And without enough serotonin, at some point most women jump off their diets.  The really motivated dieters end up thin and mean.  While you would think that someone who has lost 45 pounds and now look gorgeous would be happy – but these women are anything but happy.

Diet Detective: So this is quite a dilemma.  How can women make or get enough serotonin to stay motivated and really feel good about accomplishing their goals?

Dr. Hart:  So, the Feel Good Diet method that I have developed with Mary Kay Grossman, a registered dietitian, has actually three components: nutrition or diet, exercising in a particular way, and neurotransmitter precursor therapy.  We discovered that one can still control insulin and thereby lose weight by using our “Link and Balance” system.  It calls for eating carbohydrates with protein in the same meal or snack.  In order to boost serotonin we have found that there are two or three time periods during the day when you can safely add a high carbohydrate snack.  The second part, exercise, can be done to either burn fat or improve the cardiovascular system.  But most women over-exercise and end-up burning muscle which is needed for metabolism.  We teach them to exercise for a particular purpose.  Thirdly, the vast majority of our patients still want to increase their serotonin even further by using our neurotransmitter precursor supplements.  These consist of certain amino acids, minerals and B-vitamins that the brain uses to increase and balance serotonin.  I have done studies to show that these supplements dramatically improve serotonin and ease the symptoms of low serotonin.

Diet Detective: Have you found that once women are getting enough serotonin through your Feel Good Diet that they are easier to motivate to eat right and  exercise like you teach them in your book?

Dr. Hart:   Oh yes, almost all of my patients know the “how” about weight loss and what foods to eat vs. what they were craving to eat.  Many of them have been on diet after diet.  But once they have enough serotonin then the cravings go away and they can determine their own fate.

Diet Detective:  What’s the most surprising and interesting fact or study that you’ve heard about dieting, that most of us have not heard about?

Dr. Hart:  Low Carb diets like Atkins and South Beach will help you lose weight, but you will also lose the ability to make serotonin, an important “brain hormone” or neurotransmitter. I like to tell my patients, “you’ll lose weight, but you will also lose your mind” on these carbohydrate-restricted diets.

Diet Detective: If you could eat one forbidden or unhealthy food (candy, cakes, etc..) whenever you wanted without gaining weight, what would it be?

Dr. Hart:  Dark Chocolate.  It is so good for you and it tastes so yummy, too.  You know, unless I eat more than 1.5 oz’s 3 times per day, I won’t gain weight on it either.

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

Dr. Hart:  Eggs, in particular I like mine fried, with the yolk cooked, too.  I especially like eating the eggs from vegetarian-fed free-range chickens.  They are higher than regular eggs in Omega 3’s which are important for your brain health, and higher in trace amounts of silica -- which most people don’t realize is very important for strong bone structure.

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

Dr. Hart: There are 3 very important things, but if I had to pick one I would say that dieters, especially women, must get enough serotonin through their diet or supplements otherwise it will be very hard for them to stay on their diet, and the yo-yo rebound will end up making them fatter than they started.

Diet Detective: What do you consider the world’s most perfect food?

Dr. Hart:  Again, I will have to go with the egg.  It has protein, Omega 3, other healthy fat, and there are so many tasty ways to make them.

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

Dr. Hart:  Actually I like to do Pole Dancing.  I practice with one in my basement.  It’s loads of fun and a lot of good exercise.

Diet Detective: What’s your favorite healthy ingredient? What’s the one thing you’d suggest people keep in their kitchen if they want to cook healthy meals?

Dr. Hart:  Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  It can be used for so many dishes and it’s so healthy.

Diet Detective: What’s the one kitchen utensil or tool that you can’t live without?

Dr. Hart:  Of course this would be the cork screw.  I can’t open my bottle of Pinot Noir without one.

Diet Detective: What’s the easiest healthy meal you know how to make?

Dr. Hart:  Halibut on the grill.  And it’s easy, too.  I marinade it with Italian Dressing along with Garlic powder and Onion powder.  As a side dish I grill some vegetables and make up some brown rice on the stove.  As you can probably tell, I like my food fast, simple and healthy.

Diet Detective: Do you have a favorite low calorie healthy recipe or cooking tip? If so would you share it?

Dr. Hart:  This may sound simple, but you can save a lot of grams of fat in a week by using sprayed oil, like “PAM” instead of butter or margarine when cooking.  It doesn’t work on toast, though.

Diet Detective: Do you have a Calorie Bargain? What food did it replace? Was that an important food in your diet, since you ate it so often?

Dr. Hart:  Microwave Light Popcorn.  It replaces a whole bunch of snacks that I would otherwise eat while I watch a movie.

Diet Detective: Define failure.

Dr. Hart:  The only “failure” is someone who does not even start.

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

Dr. Hart: About 10 years ago I left a very busy, lucrative Ob/Gyn medical practice, doing surgeries and delivering babies -- in order to start up the Wellness Workshop Clinic to help people (mostly women) learn how to lose weight and keep it off.  My staff and I worked on their nutrition, their psychology, taught them exercises that they could do at home, as well as looking at the medical reasons that they may be having problems losing weight.  I did that for 8 years.  Now I have taken my program “on-the-road” where I go around the U.S. giving seminars on what I have learned for and from my patients.  I have helped over 6000 patients at the clinic plus thousands more through my first book, The Insulin Resistance Diet.  I hope to continue to help these readers and thousands more people with my current book, The Feel Good Diet.

Diet Detective: What was your worst summer job?

Dr. Hart:  That’s easy.  Working the “service” desk at a department store. 

Thank you!!!!

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written by Lisa H., August 31, 2007

Can you address your "Healthy Hormones" seminars. I know you have addressed this in the past.

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written by Carla Kooij, August 17, 2007

Can you tell me where there is a program like yours in Washington, D.C. to help me lose weight?