A Sizable Apple: You have written about your own battles with self image in particularly battling an eating disorder, and also about binge eating. What advice do you have to maintaining a healthy lifestyle based on what you've learned from your past and reporting on others?
L. Goldman: Well, I never struggled with binge eating myself - my problem was anorexia in college. It was a very kind of cliché ED: I was the straight-A, perfectionist, eager-to-please young woman who goes off to college and freaks out and develops and eating disorder to cope with it, to cope with this new dis-order in her world. I lost a significant amount of weight; not so much that the fashion world would be appalled, but enough that I looked horrible. In terms of recovery, I got better physically within my freshman year, gaining most of the weight back. . . but it wasn’t until, I’d say, my junior year that I started looking deeper and realizing it wasn’t just about food—that it was so much more.
As for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, I have to say being ready to change is a critical step. You can’t really help someone if they don’t want to be helped. So once I was mentally and physically prepared to make a change, I made damn sure I had a good therapist. You can and should couch-hop a couple times if you don’t click with the guy or lady right away. I found a male social worker who is challenging and doesn’t coddle me. Some people like a softer approach. I wanted confrontation.
Also, I have to give a shout-out to medication. Honestly, Luvox saved me. I’m know some people out there are anti-antidepressants and so was I for the first few years of college. I thought there was a stigma. Little did I know that 10 years later, 95% of my friends would be on Zoloft, Paxil or Lexapro. That’s an exaggeration, obvious, but I do maintain that being on an SSRI helped to clear away the clouded vision I had of my body. It didn’t make me feel instantly pretty or skinny or sexy, but I feel it put me on a level playing field to fight the disease.
ASA: I think it's sometimes difficult for women to see fit fitness and nutrition writers/spokespeople discuss alternatives and workout plans that are made to look easy, without actually understanding what work a successful plan entails. What is your fitness plan like?
L. Goldman: I work out five to six days a week - which some may say is a lot, but it is key for my stress management and I can literally feel negativity build up inside me unless I unleash it through sweat and hard work! One of those days is a yoga class, then 4 days a week I'll do about 30 minutes of cardio (Love the StepMill machine...now that it's getting warmer in Chicago, I can't wait to run outside). I also lift weights twice a week. I wouldn't say my plan is easy, but it's become a vital part of who I am. I wake up early - 6am-ish, go workout, get my sweat on, shower and have the whole day to be productive. And goof off. I only wish I lived somewhere warm and hilly so I could go hiking...but I do love my Chicago!
ASA: What is fittodaytv.com about? Who is it geared towards and what is its mission?
L. Goldman: Fit Today is a Chicago show, the brainchild of NBC5 Fitness Team correspondent Andrea Metcalf. She asked me to be a co-host and of course, I accepted! My role centers on food and nutrition, so I've been interviewing leading area RDs, nutritionists, chefs and more. Dave, another co-host, is all about lifestyle Inspiration, a perfect fit for him because he lost 150 lbs (!!!) and is now a trainer. Joanne, the final co-host, does a bit of food, a bit of lifestyle. Andrea pulls everything together with general health and medicine.
For the past month or so, we've been filming on location at various Chicagoland area locations, such as Crunch Fitness, local hospitals and restaurants and even McDonalds, which is cosponsoring the show (a huge deal!) in an effort to promote their heathier offerings like the Asian Chicken Salad, Apple Dippers, Dasani bottled water and, my favorite (and I'm NOT just saying this because you know I've mentioned these before) the Fruit & Yogurt Parfait. In fact, starting last week, a photo of Andrea, Dave and myself, dressed in workout gear, is appearing on tray liners at more than 500 McDonald’s across Chicago and Northwest Indiana for two months! People are literally eating off of me!
