If I can Keep Kosher, Why Can’t I Stay on a Diet?
Judith Wurtman, Ph.D. Explores this Quandry
By Susie Davidson
Advocate Correspondent
BROOKLINE - Judith Wurtman, Ph.D. is one of the better known
international names in nutrition
research. Founder and
director of TRIAD Weight Management Center at McLean Hospital, which
specializes in weight gain caused by antidepressant meds, she is a
Clinical Associate at the MIT
Clinical Research Center. For years, she and her husband Richard
have conducted research into the
relationship between the brain chemical serotonin and its effect
on overeating and mood. Their
work with the diet medication phen/fen was a checkered endeavor;
heart valve problems reported in
a few patients put the brakes on this heretofore promising
regimen.
Nonetheless, the Wurtmans have contributed greatly to the science
of food and mood, and continue
their active involvement in cutting edge research, books, lectures
and program management.
On Feb. 10 at Temple Beth Zion in Brookline, as part of their
“Sunday Conversations” series, Judy
Wurtman’s topic, “If I Can Keep Kosher, Why
Can’t I Stay on a Diet?”, covered the difficulties of
weight loss experienced by Hasidic women.
“I’m sure all of you know that keeping Kosher is not a
trivial undertaking,” she said. “In
addition to the household regulations, every aspect of your eating
has to be scrutinized. One
would assume that anybody who can keep Kosher can stay on a
diet.”
“It can’t be that hard,” Wurtman recollected
telling a group of women at a talk arranged by a
daughter-in-law of the Bostoner Rebbe (“it was the only talk
I’ve ever given where everybody had a
perfect hairdo,” she joked). “Not only do you keep
Kosher but look what you all go through at
Passover.
“Yet, with 7 or 8 kids, time dependent activities, stressful
Thursday nights of Shabbat
preparation, they are exhausted and overwhelmed; they are a
microcosm of why so many of us, can’t
stay on a diet,” she said. “They don’t smoke or
drink, go to movies, shows, or dancing.
“We, like they,” she explained, “tend to
overdose on the carbohydrates we’re eating in order to
feel better.”
Wurtman spoke of the programs she ran at McLean, with her
program’s carbohydate drinks specially
formulated to induce serotonin production. She explained how to
ingest carbohydrates in order to
produce optimal brain serotonin – not liberally until one
was in a stupor, but minimally, on a
relatively empty stomach, and without protein.
She spoke of Seasonal Affective Disorder, which could be mitigated
by increased exposure to light,
and how antidepressants often initially spur serotonin production,
causing the brain to slow down
its own normal work with weight gain an unfortunate consequence.
Wurtman’s ten books to date include The Serotonin Solution,
Managing Your Mind and Mood Through
Food, Eating Your Way Through Life, The Carbohydrate
Craver’s Diet, and, with her husband Richard,
Nutrition and the Brain: Disorders of Eating and Nutrients in
Treatment of Brain Diseases and
Human Obesity.
Wurtman was a graduate of the first Meah class at Hebrew College;
she has been taking courses
there ever since. She recently had her Bat Mitzvah with others at
Temple Beth Zion, officiated by
Rabbis Moshe Waldoks and Ellen Pildis. She reads from the Torah
several times a year during
Shabbat services and is Co-chair of its Synagogue Practice
Committee. She is also currently
studying Hebrew at MIT Hillel.
“The Sunday Conversations began in Oct. 2001,” says
Rhoada Wald, Coordinator of the free, public
series which is also overseen by Reggie Silberberg, who is Chair
of TBZ’s Education Committee. “We
try to present a
diversity of topics on issues affecting the Jewish community, building
on the
expertise of our synagogue
members.”