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Diet guru Greene promotes active life

By Lisa Ryckman, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 21, 2008 at 7 p.m.

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Bob Greene grew up with weighty family issues.

Photo by Joan Allen

Bob Greene grew up with weighty family issues.

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Life has been good to Bob Greene - and so has Oprah Winfrey.

From the moment she walked into his Telluride health spa 16 years ago, his star has been on the rise. Greene became her trainer, a frequent guest on her show and a contributing writer and editor for her magazine and Web site. He's also become the best- selling author of 10 books - the first two co-authored with Oprah - and the most recent The Best Life Diet, with a foreword by Oprah.

That kind of endorsement is worth Oprah's weight in gold, a guarantee that his books sell, his speaking tours sell out and that 600,000 people - and counting - flock to the Internet Best Life Challenge he's created with - guess who! - Oprah. The boyish 50-year-old has so much consumer clout, in fact, that food manufacturers actually have reformulated some of their products just so they can earn the right to put his "bestlife" seal of approval on their packages.

But Greene, who speaks Saturday as part of the Colorado Women's Expo, hasn't gotten to this point on Oprah-power alone. He's an exercise physiologist with a sensible message, a holistic approach that includes facing the emotional obstacles that sabotage good health.

"I'm not going to prescribe a diet that's dehydrating people so they get artificial success," Greene says. "I have one of the few programs that addresses exercise and eating. That's where the magic is: You have to eat the right foods and be active if you want long- term success."

People seem to be listening, and not a moment too soon. In Greene's travels - including biking across the country twice - he's been appalled by the state of the nation's health, with fewer than 10 percent of Americans getting an adequate amount of exercise.

"We hit rock bottom a year or two ago. We're starting to work our way up, but healthy eating is leading the pack," Greene says. "Exercise is a harder sell."

He says that's why his Best Life book already has outsold his other solo efforts, which were more exercise-oriented. In a recent review of seven popular diet books, Consumer Reports gave highest marks to Greene's, praising its personalized advice, straightforward recipes and exercise emphasis.

"The message so many people don't want to hear is to be more active," Greene says. "I think it's easy to be in a Denver or Chicago or New York or Los Angeles and look around and see a lot of people who are fit. But when you look at the country as a whole, we're not moving at all."

That certainly was true of Oprah, who weighed a lifetime-high of 237 when she met Greene. They hit it off immediately, and with his guidance, she began to get to the bottom of her emotional eating, which she still struggles with, Greene says.

"You cannot ever live the life of your dreams without coming face to face with the truth," Oprah writes in the foreword to Best Life. "Every unwanted pound creates another layer of lies."

Greene knows about unwanted pounds. He grew up in New Jersey in a family of people who struggled with their weight and began questioning their food choices. He finally persuaded his dad to quit smoking and his mom and sister to become more active.

"I was a constant annoyance to my family," Greene says. "I had to run into Oprah before they'd listen to me. I eventually wore them down."

Greene studied health and physical education at the University of Delaware and then went on to get a master's degree in exercise physiology from the University of Arizona. He left a lucrative job as director of exercise physiology for a medical management company to hire and train fitness staffers for a spa in Telluride, which is probably where he'd still be if Oprah hadn't come through the door in 1992.

Nowadays, Greene, his wife and 17-month-old daughter are Oprah's neighbors and friends. Oprah was "best person" at Greene's wedding, which was held on the grounds of her California estate - and she still trains with Greene when their schedules allow.

And how does Oprah's trainer train himself?

"I do an hour of cardio every day, not because I think people need to, but because it makes me feel so much better," Greene says. "We were meant to do an hour of strenuous work each day. We thrive."

For Greene, that might mean biking, running, hiking or bounding up the stairs at a stadium, as well as strength work four days a week. And while his schedule wouldn't work for everyone, he has some advice that will.

"Stop looking at just losing weight," Greene says. "People think losing weight will lead to happiness, when it's the other way around: happiness leads to being the right weight."

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