12/4/96

The following Ohio University professors are available for insightful interviews on topics in the news. Please contact Dwight Woodward at 614/593-1886 to arrange an interview.

HEALTHY HOLIDAY COOKING: You can still enjoy yourself and not feast on fat, suffocate on sugar or slather on the sauces this holiday season, according to Marjorie Hagerman, director of Ohio University's Didactic Program in Dietetics. Think about the three Rs of holiday cooking -- Reduce, Rework and Reconsider -- for a healthful culinary approach to the holidays, says Hagerman. Reducing the fat and sugar in desserts by adding more fruit is one way to reduce calories. Reworking recipes by substituting margarine for butter, cocoa for chocolate or low-fat milk for cream is another way. And while grandma may have handed down tasty and calorie-laden recipes for holiday treats, reconsider this tradition and start your own by serving healthier, low-fat desserts. Hagerman is author of Home Plate Strategy, a book commissioned by the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS) to help minor league players plan healthy diets.

HOLIDAY SHOPPING SURGE ONLY A BLIP IN ECONOMY: Retailers are reporting tremendous gains in sales over last year's Christmas shopping season, and while some economists warn about record credit card debt and personal bankruptcies, Lowell Gallaway, distinguished professor of economics at Ohio University, says credit card debt poses no threat to the overall economy. "There's an interesting argument being made now that says we have too much consumption and need more investment, but credit card debt is not a problem in the overall economy. Trying to assign a significance to these upswings and downswings is an exercise in futility," Gallaway said. "People should be able to make these decisions for themselves." Despite reports of a robust economy, the current economic growth rate is what concerns Gallaway. "In the long run, you will see consumers reined in by a slow growth rate. The current 2.5 percent growth rate used to be a recipe for getting politicians out of office. The long-term growth rate for a quarter of a millennium in this country, from the early 1700s to the early 1970s, was 3.5 percent."

PARTY HARDY WITH THE RIGHT APPROACH: Some experts predict the average American will gain 8 to 12 pounds this holiday season, according to Char Kopchik, director of Ohio University's Health Education and Wellness Program. "A lot of people use the wrong approach during the holiday season," Kopchick said. "People skip breakfast and lunch because they know they are going to a party. Then they arrive at the party starving so they overindulge." A better approach is to eat a normal, balanced breakfast and lunch so you won't be as hungry for the party's sweet and fatty delights. It's alright to have a couple of alcoholic drinks, but intersperse glasses of water with alcoholic beverages and avoid high sodium foods that increase thirst. And Kopchick says, no matter what, continue to exercise through the holidays and always eat breakfast. Breakfast eaters burn 300 calories more per day than those who don't eat breakfast.