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July 30, 2004/Av 5 5764, Vol. 56, No. 45
Candy man could help lick weight problem
MICHAEL MIKLOFSKY
Staff Writer
The candy man can help you lose weight, or so he says.
He is not a doctor and not a nutritionist, just a Jewish business owner selling kosher lollipops that also work to curb your appetite. They're called Slim Pops and Richard Shefferman, owner of the Scottsdale-based Good Pops, which distributes the product in the United States, says that his product just makes sense.
"The problem and the secret and the reason why diets don't work is because you could stay on one and you could lose weight, (but) over a period of time, your body will get you," he says. "It will make you hungry for your cravings.
"What happens with everybody is they go off a diet - because they think a diet is an on/off thing like a switch."
He wants people to realize that there is a natural progression for anyone trying to shed those extra pounds and because of the cravings, dieters end up putting on more pounds when they go off their diets than they had lost, but it doesn't have to be that way.
"They get some results, they go off the diet, they haven't changed their dietary habits, they go back to eating what they used to eat, they have cravings (that) make them eat too much, (and) the weight goes back on," he says. "Since your body has learned that you might be trying to do something to it, it takes on more weight than it used to have to make sure that you can't do that again."
Some people were brought up in a certain way, eating certain foods, and diets ask you to compromise your relationships with the foods that you love, which is what creates crav-ings. But Shefferman wants you to keep eating how you always have, and lose weight while doing it.
"If you were brought up eating gefilte fish and matzo balls, you don't want someone to tell you that you can't do that anymore, that you have to eat whitefish and rice. That's not your diet," he says. "But if they've been overeating, you can help them get down to eating the right quantities, portion control."
And Slim Pops can do that, Shefferman says, by curbing one simple dietary habit: don't "change the type of food that you've been eating... control your hunger for excess quantities of it."
Slim Pops are manufactured by the Yost Candy Company in Canton, Ohio, and supervised kosher by Rabbi Arrey Spero.
The product should be used one half-hour before a meal and used with water to help the active ingredients better absorb into your system.
Sagi Chekroun started using Slim Pops when he heard about it through a business partner. Chekroun is not overweight, but said that he "liked the idea that its really simple to use and really effective."
So why does he use them if he is not trying to lose weight?
"When I use them, they give me some energy," Chekroun says. "Right away you start to notice the difference. The product can be used by anybody. It doesn't matter how much you weigh, how tall you are, how old you are. And that's the greatest part."
But before using the product, Chekroun suggests contacting a physician, as he did.
"What she said and wrote to me was that it wasn't going to have any negative effect on me," he says. "They say consult your physician before you start any exercise, any diet because there's so much in the body that can have an effect on someone."
The biggest shock to Chekroun about Slim Pops was not the immediate boost of energy.
"My friend, he's a big guy. He weighs 240 pounds, he bench presses 450 to 475 (pounds) and can usually eat two foot-long subs when he's really hungry," he says. "After having only one pop and being really hungry, he could only eat a six-inch sub and he had to take the rest home."
Now Chekroun wants others to get the same benefits from using the product that he has. He is now a sales associate for Slim Pops and is looking for people to join his sales force.
Contact Sagi Chekroun at www.goodpops.com/sagi, 602-325-9307 or 480-348-9880.
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