From Fat to Fabulous: A Diet Guide for Restaurant Lovers

By E.S. Abramson

With the odds stacked against her, Elaine lost 50 pounds in one year. She has a sluggish thyroid, does not have a spleen, takes medication that causes weight gain, had a slipped disk, and has bad knees making any form of exercise extremely difficult. On the only diet that has ever worked for her, she went from a size 22 to a 12 by eating only restaurant meals.

Appearances, Articles, and Endorsements:

Appearances:

Kasey Joyce, Multimedia Journalist, reviewed From Fat to Fabulous: A Diet Guide for Restaurant Lovers on KSDK-TV (NBC-TV). Also on KSDK.com.

From Fat to Fabulous: A Diet Guide for Restaurant Lovers was on KDNL-TV (ABC-TV).
Featured Health News Video on KSDK.com. “Local woman dropped 50 pounds on restaurant diet.

FoodTalkSTL on KFNS-AM radio 590 – Elaine Abramson, a woman who lost 85 pounds by only eating restaurant food!

Cape Girardeau Storytelling Festival – From Fat to Fabulous: A Diet Guide for Restaurant Lovers.

Articles:

Riverfront Times Blog – Books – “Local Author Drops 10 Dress Sizes on ‘Restaurant Diet’.
The KSDK-TV, KDNL-TV, and the Riverfront Times Blog can also be found on

Featured in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Health News – “Woman leaves own kitchen to shape up. . . .Dietitians Hail Plan”:

St. Louis Post-Dispatch – Elaine Abramson
Huffpost Blog, Pbs Blog, Hbo Blog, Newsweek Blog

Health Endorsements:

“Elaine is our diet diva! She is inspirational.” said Cathy Cummings, Nurse, St. Louis Orthopedic Institute.

“What great work,” said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University. “She assessed her lifestyle, recognized the need for change and took action.”

“Amy Moore, dietetics and nutrition instructor at St. Louis University, said “Abramson seems to have mastered making good choices.”

“After seeing Elaine’s before and after pictures, I was really impressed with the results that were achieved by this diet. It sounds like a lot of fun to go out and enjoy great restaurant meals and lose weight in the process,” Dr. Srdjan Ilic.

Restaurant Endorsements:

“Elaine's proven diet obviously works..... Elaine looks fabulous. Amici's Restaurant staff and culinary team have been honored to help Elaine with her proven results.” Amici's Restaurant proprietors Dave Pullam and Jim McInroy.
“We believe that Elaine has enjoyed our food because everything is made from scratch. Our food has no preservatives and no saturated fats that you get from packaged foods. We see Elaine choose from our menu very wisely. We are happy to see that Elaine has had great success with dieting while supporting local restaurants. Thanks,” David Miller and Tony Dahl, Partners of Dave and Tony's Premium Burger Joint.

• Language: English
• Publisher: E.S. Abramson
• Release date: Aug 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9781452440422

Book preview

APPEARANCES

Kasey Joyce, Multimedia Journalist, reviewed From Fat to Fabulous:A Diet Guide for Restaurant Lovers on KSDK-TV (NBC-TV). Also on KSDK.com.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/290001/3/Local-woman-dropped-50-pounds-on-restaurant-diet.

From Fat to Fabulous: A Diet Guide for Restaurant Lovers was on KDNL-TV (ABC-TV).

Featured Health News Video on KSDK.com. Local woman dropped 50 pounds on restaurant diet.

http://www.ksdk.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1319110982001&odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|featured

FoodTalkSTL on KFNS-AM radio 590 – Elaine Abramson, a woman who lost 85 pounds by only eating restaurant food!

Cape Girardeau Storytelling Festival – From Fat to Fabulous: A Diet Guide for Restaurant Lovers.

ARTICLES

Riverfront Times Blog – Books – "Local Author Drops 10 Dress Sizes on ‘Restaurant Diet’

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/gutcheck/2011/12/elaine_abramson_restaurantdiet.php.

The KSDK-TV, KDNL-TV, and the Riverfront Times Blog can also be found on

www.ElaineAbramson.com.

Featured in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Health News–Woman leaves own kitchen to shape up … DIETITIANS HAIL PLAN

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/fitness/woman-leaves-own-kitchen-to-shape-up/article_78700114-f099-5153-b7c0-1ac5ca1a6afe.html#ixzz1sQoR3WbD

St. Louis Post-Dispatch – Elaine Abramson –

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/fitness/elaineabramson/article_e5dafb01-ca76-582a-837f6102fff72d83.html#ixzz1sVBCrtWX

Huffpost Blog –

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Elaine_Abramson/weight-loss-success-yvette-nathan-jones_n_1193965_131163670.html

PBS Blog –

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/ bb/health/jan-june12/obesity_05-08.html

HBO Blog –

http://www.mediaowners.com/company/hbo.html

Newsweek Blog –

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/06/why-the-campaign-to-stop-america-s-obesity-crisis-keeps-failing.html

HEALTH ENDORSEMENTS

"Elaine is our diet diva! She is inspirational," said Cathy Cummings, Nurse, St. Louis Orthopedic Institute.

"What great work," said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University. She assessed her lifestyle, recognized the need for change and took action.

Amy Moore, dietetics and nutrition instructor at St. Louis University, said, "Abramson seems to have mastered making good choices."

After seeing Elaine’s before and after pictures, I was really impressed with the results that were achieved by this diet. It sounds like a lot of fun to go out and enjoy great restaurant meals and lose weight in the process, Dr. Srdjan Ilic.

RESTAURANT ENDORSEMENTS

Elaine's proven diet obviously works.... Elaine looks fabulous. Amici's Restaurant staff and culinary team have been honored to help Elaine with her proven results. Amici's Restaurant proprietors Dave Pullam and Jim McInroy.

We believe that Elaine has enjoyed our food because everything is made from scratch. Our food has no preservatives and no saturated fats that you get from packaged foods.We see Elaine choose from our menu very wisely. We are happy to see that Elaine has had great success with dieting while supporting local restaurants. Thanks. David Miller and Tony Dahl, Partners of Dave and Tony's Premium Burger Joint.

OTHER ENDORSEMENTS

With so many challenges to our health and happiness around every corner—and on every plate—it's never been more important to be armed with knowledge and options. Elaine's story and plan will inform, amuse, and possibly even save your life.—Tom Hall, Graphic Designer & Lifestyle Enthusiast.

We have known Elaine for years and she looks and feels better than ever. Kudos to Elaine and a plan that makes you feel that way. Walter Alston, Engineer and Pam Stiehr, Grill Chef.

You look fabulous! Jackie D. Sclair, Insurance Agent.

Wow! Elaine, where did you leave your Siamese twin? Chris Fulton, Senior Engineer.

"Elaine practices what she preaches in From Fat to Fabulous. Looking great!" Thelma Urich, former National New Letters Chair for the National League of American Pen Women (NLAPW), past President of the Missouri State Association of NLAPW, president of the St. Louis branch of NLAPW.

The best problem solver is someone who has overcome the problem. Elaine is an overcomer who managed to reduce her size from a 22 to a svelte 12. Her practical plan is easy to follow - - but most of all it works. Bravo! Robin Theiss, St. Louis Writer, Bookseller, and Business Consultant.

It’s been a joy to watch Elaine’s success story evolve. She grew from a thin, frail child to a hefty woman wearing a size 22 to a size 12 curvacious women after losing fifty pounds in one year. With an incentive to succeed, she preserved through many popular diets only to create her own restaurant diet regimen. She has set a good example for all of her friends. Jeannine Dahlberg, Author.

You are SO inspirational, Elaine! Barbara Chartier.

So many weight loss programs rely on time-consuming meal preparation, which makes them hard for an on-the-go person to follow. Others rely on bland fare that sucks all the pleasure from eating. Elaine Abramson’s Restaurant Lover’s Guide offers a healthy, effective alternative for those of us who eat most of our meals between appointments. Jaden Terrell, Author and Executive Director of Killer Nashville Writers Conference.

I am amazed at the transformation of Elaine from an attractive heavy set woman to a much slimmer lady with a beautiful figure. I think Elaine's restaurant diet is fantastic, and I plan to follow her approach to losing weight. Adrienne Rosen, fine artist and teacher.

Most people have found that eating in restaurants frequently will increase their waistlines. Elaine has found a creative way to reverse this. Elaine looks younger since she went on her diet. We should all want to have this information. Way to use your creativity! Betty Shew, Artist.

You look amazing! Maggie McCarthy, Watercolorist.

Thank you for sharing your story. It is such a delight to meet interesting people who have overcome huge obstacles in life. You are an inspiration! I look at this as God stepping in to help you and then using you to inspire others and help others with emotional or physical conditions which keep them from experiencing joy in their lives." Ruth Galayda.

"While designing and formatting From fat to Fabulous, I became so fascinated by Elaine’s journey, I forgot my job and began reading her story. Elaine’s novel approach to dieting combines healthy, effective weight loss with entertainment, indulgence, companionship, and hundreds of tasty delights. For restaurant lovers everywhere, including me, this is a delicious way to become slim and fabulous." Ellie Searl, Publishista.

FROM FAT TO FABULOUS

How I went from a size 22 to a size 12 in one year by eating only restaurant food.

There is no love more sincere than the love of food.

~ George Bernard Shaw ~

I am an award-winning artist and author who was lucky enough to have Thursday’s Child, a collection of 43 short stories based on my life, published. With credentials like that, you are probably asking what qualifies me to write From Fat To Fabulous: A Diet Guide for Restaurant Lovers. I am a mother, grandmother, wife, and a woman who has spent her entire life fighting the battle of the bulge. My restaurant diet is the only diet on this earth that has ever worked for me. I have tried them all, only to gain weight on every one of them. But on my restaurant diet, I have gone from a size 22 to a size 12 in one year and have enjoyed every minute of it. Now I am never hungry and have more energy than I have had during most of my life.

With the odds stacked against me, I lost 50 pounds in one year. I have a sluggish thyroid, do not have a spleen, take medication that causes weight gain, had a slipped disk, and have bad knees making any form of exercise extremely difficult.

The questions people ask most frequently about my diet are: 1) Won’t you get fat eating in restaurants? Answer: not if you eat the right food. I tell them that by eating only in restaurants, I have gone from a size 22 to a size 12. 2) Is it expensive to eat out? My husband and I eat out Friday night, Saturday and Sunday lunch and dinner, and on special occasions. I clip coupons out of magazines and newspapers, print them off the Internet, and use them at restaurant chains and local independent establishments. Our favorite coupons are the buy one lunch or dinner and get one of equal value free. Second to that is the twenty and ten dollar off your total bill coupons. We come home with so many take-out boxes that our refrigerator and freezer are always full. By using restaurant offers and coupons and by eliminating the fat I cut off meat and disposed of; olive or vegetable oil I dumped out after sautéing meat and vegetables; onion, potato and carrot peelings I threw in the garbage; meat and vegetable shrinkage during cooking; cost of using the stove and oven; cost of detergent and running the dishwasher; and all the other things I did to prepare a meal and clean up afterwards; there was only a slight difference in our food bills between what we spent in grocery stores and what we spent in restaurants. Best of all, with all of these leftovers we have the convenience of not having to prepare a meal and the fun of choosing a different meal every time we eat.

I don’t believe in fad diets, quick weight loss diets, or diets linked to support groups or diet groups where you must purchase the organization’s food. I have failed at diets based on portion control, calorie counting, carb counting, weighing food, recording everything you eat in a diary, eating low fat or fat free foods, or any of the other numerous things that people who watch their weight do. In an effort to slim down the population, the state of New York and several other states have required restaurants to publish calorie and other nutritional information on their menus. They are finding out that this does not work because most people tune out that information when placing their orders.

People want to enjoy themselves, not worry about counting calories while they are dining out. Recently I spoke to the manager of a national restaurant chain. He said the chain had placed low fat and butter free items on the menu but removed them shortly thereafter because diners did not purchase them. He said that he looked forward to hearing about a diet like mine because diners could order from the regular menu. Like his customers, I do not like low calorie, low fat, or fat free foods. To me, they are tasteless.

The manager of another restaurant said he worked every day of the week and ate all of his meals at the restaurant. He also said he only ate low fat entrees and had only taken off two or three pounds. He attributed his minimal weight loss to doing a tremendous amount of exercise. Unlike him, I barely exercise and I do not eat low fat foods.

I love to eat and want to enjoy every bite. I also hate to cook. I felt that if God had wanted me to cook, He would have seen to it that I was born with a spatula and a cookbook in my hands. Instead I came into this world with a paint brush, sewing machine, and a pen ready for instant use. An I Hate To Cook cookbook would describe me. My cooking skills involve freezing restaurant leftovers, defrosting them, and microwaving them for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

My husband, bless his heart, tells everyone that I am a good cook, but in all truthfulness he rarely sees a home cooked meal. The only time I ever attempt to cook anything is when all the restaurants in town are closed. That only happens on Christmas day. Even then I try to have enough restaurant leftovers in my freezer ready to microwave to cover emergency situations such as this.

Whenever there are power outages I get down on my hands and knees and pray to God that my restaurant care packages will not thaw before I am ready to microwave and eat them. God forbid I should have to play happy homemaker and actually prepare a meal. It has been so long since I have done it that I am not sure I would remember how.

My past cooking skills were nothing to rave about. When my husband and I returned from our honeymoon, I proudly announced that I would make a gourmet breakfast for him. I had watched my grandmother and aunts do it and thought there was nothing to it. I began by thawing a can of frozen grape juice under a hot water faucet, dumping it into a pitcher, adding cold water, and stirring it. That part I could do with ease. Pouring the juice into a glass didn’t tax my culinary skills too much either. But making sunny side up eggs, that was another matter. No one had ever told me that there was a difference between using the copper bottomed frying pans my elders had used and the ones made out of glass that we received as a wedding present. I melted a large pad of margarine in a Pyrex pan on top of an electric stove. After the margarine bubbled up, I cracked the eggs and let them slide into the pan. While I waited for the eggs to cook, I sipped my grape juice. When the egg whites turned brown around the edges, I added more margarine. No one had ever told me that you do not add cold ingredients to hot food cooking in a Pyrex pan. CRACK! POW! BAM! The glass pan exploded. Hot butter, greasy eggs, and glass flew through the air. It stuck to the ceiling, counters, stove, and floor. It also ran down the cupboards and walls. My apartment efficiency kitchen resembled a Jackson Pollack painting minus the canvas. To protect myself from the hot projectiles, I jumped backward spilling grape juice all over my new white negligee. That was the last time my husband ever let me make his breakfast.

When our children came along, I tried my hand at making nutritious tasty meals, the ones that all the talk shows recommended for happy healthy families. Maybe those talk show mothers knew what they were doing, but I sure didn’t. My husband took one taste of what I had put on his plate and opted to take all of us to his mother’s house for dinner. When he cried on her shoulder about my cooking skills, or more accurately my lack of them, his mother sent her recipes home with us. She also gave me a set of cookbooks for my birthday. But it didn’t help. I was all thumbs in the kitchen. As for the kids, they quickly discovered the wonders of putting their plates on the floor and letting the dogs lick them clean.

Only our chow hounds begged for more.

My husband gave up on getting home cooked meals. Moonlighting at a mom and pop deli, he made the greatest corn beef Reubens. During the bewitching hour we sat on the bed eating the biggest sandwiches you ever saw. We shared a super-size bag of potato chips, a pound of coleslaw, huge sour tomatoes and pickles, a family size bottle of soda, and a wedge of cake which could have served four people. We had leftovers for breakfast and for lunch the following day. In between midnight feasts I snacked on junk food.

The only time I ever enjoyed being in the kitchen in that house was the day I got out my acrylic paints and painted trees and flowers on the cupboard doors. The real estate agent who sold our house said the only thing that attracted the buyer to our seventy-five-year-old house was the cupboard decorations. So I guess I did have some skill in the kitchen after all.

Years later, my husband and I invited friends to a Thanksgiving feast in our new home. I managed to poison everyone present. I had bought ground round at the best meat market in town, the one that all the cooks working in the homes of the town’s millionaires and billionaires shopped at. I made Italian meatballs and a turkey with all the trimmings. Everyone at the dinner table wolfed down the meatballs but left the turkey. I was the only one who ate the overcooked dried out bird. The following morning, everyone else was down with ptomaine poisoning. Why didn’t I get poisoned? Because my artistic sensibilities did not like the shade of red the cooked meatballs were, so I did not eat them. For the next week, while my husband, children, and I vacationed in the romantic city of San Antonio, they lived on apples and tea while I ate in the riverwalk restaurants.

After our children had left the nest but before I discovered my restaurant lover’s diet, my I-hate-to-cook mentality drove me to take a sixteen quart soup pan and fill it to the brim with low fat soups, chili, spaghetti sauce, and stews so I would only have to cook once a week. My husband and I ate the same meal for lunch and dinner every day. I became so bored eating the same food over and over again that, between meals, I raided the pantry and snacked on junk food. As you can guess, I reduced meal preparation time but added pounds and fat to my ever-expanding body. So I concluded that being bored with the foods I cooked were my diet’s enemy.

So now you know why I don’t cook.

I believe that our parents program our food likes and dislikes during infancy. I spent ten years traveling the United States and Canada doing an exhaustive search into my family’s background. My fraternal grandmother’s 1916 immigration papers revealed that she was four feet eleven inches tall and weighed over two hundred pounds. From the Renaissance until recently the Rubenesque figure was prized because it proved that a man could adequately provide for his family. Photographs of her and her sisters show very heavy-set women. My father’s US Army Air Corps medical records listed him as obese. My grandparents were raised in a section of Europe known as the Pale of Settlement, an area that was conquered by Poland, Russia, and Germany. With so many conquerors one never knew if there would be food on the table. Their vegetable selection appears to have been potatoes, onions, garlic, and beets. When my grandmother came to this country, she avoided all vegetables other than those she had had in her native land. My father and his sisters and brothers grew up avoiding the same vegetables my grandmother did. They also became overweight adults. After my father married my mother, she put fresh salads on the table. Because he had never had fresh vegetables before, he accused her of trying to poison him. His yelling at the kitchen table led to my avoidance of vegetables. It wasn’t until I married my husband that realized there was nothing wrong with them and I developed a taste for them.

I came into this world a thin frail child. When I was six weeks old my mother had an operation that ended her ability to breast feed me. After a six-month bout of infant bronchitis, I developed an allergy to cow’s milk. Goat’s milk, which was in limited supply during the war years, was substituted for it. So illnesses and allergies kept me thin and frail until I was seven. About that time, my mother discovered how much she enjoyed eating dinner out every Sunday. One of her favorite restaurants was a diner called Dorsels. My sister and I thought their hamburgers and French fries were the greatest. As a special treat, our parents let us drink chocolate milk. Unlike today’s cartons of chocolate milk, the waitress mixed it herself putting in far more chocolate syrup than would be dispensed at a soda fountain on an ice cream sundae. This was the late 1940’s.World War II was over. It was also a time when children were told, Don’t waste food. Finish everything on your plate. Children in Europe are starving. I never understood how finishing my food helped starving children in Europe, but I did as I was told. The clean plate scenario was encouraged at Dorsels and many other restaurants in the Cleveland area by putting a treasure chest in front of the cash register. If you ate all the food on your plate, you could select a gift from the treasure chest. WOW! Big thrill for a child. I could select a new toy every week. Thus began my love affair with food and my membership in the Clean Plate Club.

I spent every Saturday afternoon at my grandmother’s apartment. She served my favorite lunch – baloney on rye with Wise Potato Chips, Cotton Club cherry soda, and cherry Jello. When I finished eating, we walked hand-in-hand across the street to the corner grocery store where she let me pick out a cake or cupcakes for dessert. My favorite was a dark chocolate cake with thick layers of milk chocolate icing. Mr. Israel, the owner of the store, always gave me a stick of penny candy.

By the time I started junior high school I was grossly overweight. When my classmates taunted me or made fun of my weight,