Emotional support key to diet success, experts say

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- Overeating is more about fulfilling emotional needs than hunger, according to dietary expert and author Laurel Mellin.

Mellin's "Solution" targets the feelings that trigger poor eating habits, starting with a simple question: Why?

"The way we do it is gently," said Mellin, a registered dietician and clinical professor of family and community medicine and pediatrics at the University of California in San Francisco. "(We) go inside of ourselves and practice these skills of self-nurturing and effective limits until those drives to overeat are gone."

Her book, "The Diet-Free Solution," explains a method used by some 150 groups across the United States that meet weekly and incorporate advice from dieticians and psychologists. Patients are encouraged to follow the program for a year at a typical cost of $2,300. Most insurance plans will not cover the cost.

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CNN's Elizabeth Cohen investigates 'The Solution' diet program Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

A 1997 study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association indicated the Solution weight-loss program helped participants to not only lose weight, but also to keep it off -- sometimes for years. The program also borrows from 12-step groups in that participants keep journals and call each other for support when they are tempted to overindulge.

A long-term study of 19 people found that six years after participating in the Solution weight-loss program, the participants remained an average of 17 pounds lighter than when they began.

"Six-year data is very unusual in this field," noted Barbara Moore, president and CEO of Shape Up America, a health initiative started in 1994 by former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. "I think Laurel Mellin is breaking new ground in that respect."

Mellin's data were being presented this week at a meeting of the American Dietetic Association.

One program participant, Robert, said he had lost 17 pounds using the Solution for five months, and only gained back a few -- a far better outcome than with other diets.

"Over the years, I've gotten a lot of head knowledge about how to eat, but somehow in my gut, I've kind of been emotionally unable to carry through with what I knew," he said.

Whether emotional support truly does the trick remains to be seen, others say. The important thing is that people continue to pursue weight loss.

"Obesity is surging," Dr. Gordon Jensen of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, told the dietetic association. "It's a major public health crisis."

The elderly suffer particular problems when obesity is added to their burden, Jensen noted.

"There are a lot of these people who are homebound -- can't bathe, can't tie their shoes," he said, adding that being overweight also contributes to potentially crippling knee and joint problems.

The U.S. government estimates that 18 percent of people in the United States are obese and 55 percent are overweight.

CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and Reuters contributed to this report.

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