Pump Up the Volume

Volumetrics offers a sane and sensible answer to permanent weight loss

by Sylvie Bigar — May 7, 2007

It's that time of year again. As the weather finally turns warmer, the cover of every magazine features the new crop of fad diets. But one weight-loss plan may turn out to have more staying power than the others: this month, Harper Collins is releasing the paperback version of The Volumetrics Eating Plan, outlining a commonsense approach based on years of research by Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., a professor of nutritional sciences at Pennsylvania State University.

Rolls defines volumetrics as a “weight-management strategy and not a diet,” and that strategy starts with the reality that each person consumes approximately the same weight in food every day to feel full or sated. If you tweak recipes by switching high-energy density food (food that provides large amounts of calories in a small weight, such as mayonnaise or a croissant) with low-energy density food (such as reduced-fat mayonnaise and whole wheat bread), you eat what seems to be the same old delicious chicken-salad sandwich when, in fact, you have significantly reduced the number of calories ingested. Add grapes and almonds to that salad, and you can even eat more of it while losing weight. The book explains the theory in detail and offers 125 recipes.

Rolls has spent 20 years studying hunger, obesity, and eating behavior. The daughter of an overweight mother, she realized early that the food the children were served was not what their mother was eating. Mysteriously, boxes of cookies kept disappearing at an alarming rate. “My mother was an obese secret eater,” says Rolls, “and then she died, way too young, of complications from obesity. That really affects a kid.”   She began her studies researching thirst, and later switched to food. “In this country, we are not comfortable with food. We are guilty eaters who can’t relax into a healthy eating style,” she says. “Our environment is a serious cause as we are surrounded by high -calorie, high-density food, such as potato chips and candy bars. Even here at the university, it takes foraging to eat healthy.” Rolls aims to change not only our eating habits but also our outlook. “I eat chocolate every day,” she adds, “and giving it up would be a huge sacrifice.”

So what’s her secret? Even though Volumetrics does not mean counting calories forever, Rolls advocates writing down exactly what you eat, at least at the beginning. It is then crucial to understand where the calories come from and to understand what she calls the “energy density” of specific foods. Energy density is simply the amount of calories per gram. For the same calories, you can eat a larger portion of lower-energy density food. By adding vegetables, fiber-rich and water-packed ingredients, as well as lowering the fat content of a favorite dish, you can change recipes but keep the basic taste you enjoy. If the recipe calls for three spoonfuls of olive oil, try it with two. If it calls for mushrooms and peas, add carrots, broccoli, and fresh herbs for more flavor and more volume.

Start your meal with a broth-based soup or a gigantic salad, and if you hate fat-free dressing, use your favorite one, but just less of it. It seems simple, but as Rolls puts it, “The issue is compliance, helping people stick with the program.”

Someone who has done just that is Phyllis Boudreaux, a 50-year-old physics instructor from Atlanta. Three years ago, Boudreaux’s scale read 350 pounds. At five-foot two-inches, her life was literally at stake when she found Rolls’s first book, The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan. “It made so much sense,” says Boudreaux, who lost 208 pounds in 26 months. “I was a sugar addict,” she adds, “but I traded my addiction to food for an addiction to a greater lifestyle.” And more importantly, she has kept the weight off. “I now look at food very differently,” she explains. “I’d tried everything, Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, but this is different. I am not on a diet, I am a permanent convert, I am in control, and I still have one square of dark chocolate every night.”

“Ultimately,” says Rolls, “everything starts with kids. We have to set an example and work with school programs. The key is to fit the foods we enjoy into a healthy diet.” And as the summer season unfolds and the offerings at the greenmarket become more and more varied, it becomes easier to find pleasure in healthy ingredients. “I love chocolate,” she concludes, “but give me a ripe home-grown tomato any day. Yum!”

Here are two recipes from The Volumetrics Eating Plan:

Almond Chicken Salad Sandwich

This savory sandwich filling features the delicious combination of grapes and chicken. You can also serve the chicken salad alone on a bed of lettuce.

Makes 4 sandwiches

1 1/2 cups diced, cooked chicken breast
1 cup halved seedless red grapes
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon toasted slivered almonds
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
8 thin slices multigrain bread
2 cups shredded green-leaf lettuce

1. Combine the chicken, grapes, celery, mayonnaise, almonds, and pepper together in a medium bowl and mix salad well.

2. Divide the chicken salad evenly on 4 slices of bread. Top each with 1/2 cup lettuce and another slice of bread.

Yields 4 servings, 275 calories per serving.

Veggie-Stuffed Macaroni and Cheese

8 ounces dry whole-wheat elbow macaroni
2 Tablespoons whole-wheat bread crumbs
1 teaspoon melted butter
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 3/4 cups non-fat milk
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups shredded, reduced-fat cheddar cheese
1 cup 1 percent fat cottage cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Pinch grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
6 cups shredded fresh spinach, about 1 pound
1 1/2 cups canned diced tomatoes with liquid

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Lightly coat a 9-by-13 baking dish with cooking spray.

3. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and set aside.

4. Mix the bread crumbs, butter and paprika in a small bowl and set aside.

5. Heat 1 1/2 cups milk in a 4-to-5 quart nonstick saucepan over medium-high heat until steaming.

6. Whisk the remaining 1/4 cup milk and the flour in a small bowl until smooth. Add to the hot milk and cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce thickens and simmers 3 to 7 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

7. Add the cheddar to the white sauce and stir until the cheese is melted. Stir in the cottage cheese, Parmesan, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir the pasta into the cheese sauce.

8. Spread half of the pasta mixture into the baking dish. Place the spinach evenly on top, then the diced tomatoes. Spread the remaining pasta mixture over the tomatoes and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs mixture.

9. Bake until bubbly and golden, 25 to 30 minutes.

Yields 6 servings,. 330 calories for a 1 1/2 cups serving

Sylvie Bigar is a New York-based freelance writer who specializes in food and travel.