Amanda Sainsbury-Salis

Amanda Sainsbury-Salis, PhD is an Australian molecular scientist, educator and author. Her research interests are hypothalamic control of body weight, famine reaction, metabolism, body composition, anorexia, obesity, eating disorders. [Garvan Institute of Medical Research, [http://www.garvan.org.au/about-us/our-people/dr-amanda-sainsbury-salis Dr Amanda-Sainsbury-Salis ] ]

Biography

Sainsbury-Salis was born in Sydney, Australia in 1969 and grew up in Perth, Australia. She graduated from the University of Western Australia in 1990. Then she was the Australian recipient of the Boursière de la Confédération(Swiss Government Scholarship) in 1991 and she received her PhD from the University of Geneva, Switzerland in 1996. She returned to Australia in 1998 to work at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research where she currently leads a research team. She is also a senior lecturer in the University of New South Wales Faculty of Medicine. [ [http://www.med.unsw.edu.au Faculty of Medicine] ]

As a young adult she had a binge eating disorder which caused her weight to rise to 93 kilos (height 1.60cm) despite numerous attempts to lose weight. After she started medical research in weight loss, she lost 28 kilos and has kept it off over 10 years. [ The Don't Go Hungry Diet, Sainsbury-Salis, Amanda, Bantam Australia, 2007. ISBN 9781863255233 / 1863255230 ]

Her book The Don't Go Hungry Diet was published by Bantam Australia in 1997. She shares her scientific and personal insights about weight regulation with the public through community workshops, her website [ [http://www.dramandaonline.com Sainsbury-Salis website] ] and media such as her regular column on weight loss in the Australian Women's Health magazine. [ [http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/b/womens-health/category/weight-loss Australian Women's Health magazine] ]

Famine Reaction and Fat Brake

Sainsbury-Salis introduced the terms "famine reaction" and "fat brake" into the diet literature.Fact|date=January 2008 She describes those two defence mechanism of body as follows:quote|The Famine Reaction is your body's way of protecting you from losing too much weight. The Famine Reaction is activated whenever your weight drops below a certain threshold. It triggers the nagging hunger and cravings for fattening foods that you've no doubt experienced while trying to lose weight in the past. The Famine Reaction also causes dramatic reductions in your metabolic rate and contributes to plateaus and rapid rebound weight gain. Your body not only has a Famine Reaction that protects you from losing weight, it also has an ingenious mechanism - the Fat Brake - that helps protect you from gaining weight. Whenever you eat more than you need, your Fat Brake blunts your appetite (notably your appetite for fattening foods) and boosts your metabolic rate. [ Dr Amanda Online [http://www.dramandaonline.com/HintsfromDrAmanda/FAQs.aspx Dr Amanda Online FAQs] ]

The Don't Go Hungry Diet

"The Don't Go Hungry Diet" is a lifestyle diet. [ Dr Amanda's Don't Go Hungry Diet [http://www.dietsinreview.com/diets/Dr*_Amanda_Don%27t_Go_Hungry_Diet/ Review of Dr.Amanda Don't Go Hungry Diet ] ] According to her the conventional diets (calorie restricted diets) don't always work because the body goes into "famine reaction". The body wants to stay around at a "Set-Point" weight and to establish that slows the metabolism and hangs on to the "fat". The way around is to eat whenever you feel physically hungry, even it feels like a piece of chocolate cake. While this seems good for many dieters it can also be a "license to overindulge" for some. [ [http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/b/womens-health/category/weight-loss Australian Women's Health magazine] December 2007 issue, Page:150 ] Along with adlibitum eating(just enough to satisfy your hunger), she also advocated eating great variety fruits and vegetables and whole (minimally processed) foods. [ GI News, 1 February 2007, [ http://ginews.blogspot.com/2007/02/books-dvds-websites-whats-new.html] ]

Awards

* 2002 Young Investigator of the Year Award from the [http://www.asso.org.au/home Australasian Society for the Study of Obesity]
* [http://www.tallpoppies.net.au/awards/ytp_details.php?id=75 2004 NSW Young Tall Poppy Award] from the [http://www.aips.net.au/ Australian Institute of Policy & Science] .

Books

*Sainsbury-Salis, Amanda. " [http://www.randomhouse.com.au/Books/Default.aspx?Page=Book&ID=9781863255233 The Don't Go Hungry Diet] ", Bantam Australia, 2007. ISBN 9781863255233 / 1863255230

References

External links

* [http://www.dramandaonline.com Dr Amanda Online ]
* [http://www.dietsinreview.com/diets/Dr*_Amanda_Don%27t_Go_Hungry_Diet/ Review of Dr.Amanda Don't Go Hungry Diet ]
* [http://www.garvan.org.au/about-us/our-people/dr-amanda-sainsbury-salis Dr Amanda Sainsbury-Salis profile in Garvan Institute of Medical Research]
* [http://www.randomhouse.com.au/Books/Default.aspx?Page=Book&ID=9781863255233 Random House Australia - Book Details - The Don't Go Hungry Diet ]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiT5i5qF1tk TV interview on Channel 7 Sunrise]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ3CpQcMKuE TV interview with Karie-Anne on Channel 9]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/helthrpt/stories/s1178217.htm Norman Swan interviews with Dr. Amanda on famine reaction on ABC National's Health Report]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/classic/throsby/stories/s2192469.htm Interview with Dr. Amanda on Mornings with Margaret Throsby at ABC Classic FM]