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Bethanne Patrick: What do you mean when you say that we are designed to gain weight?

Dr. Mark Hyman: Well our bodies are designed to actually hold on weight because when we evolved over the millennia, what happens is that the genes keep us from starving. That's what our bodies are designed to do -- to protect us from starving. So we're designed to actually eat as much as we can, whenever we can, and keep the weight on. That's what all the mechanisms that we have in our bodies genetically do, and so we turn those mechanisms completely on their head by overeating and eating high-fructose corn syrup and trans-fats which affect our genes in a negative way -- it encourages all these drives to accelerate. I think one of the problems we see in our society is we blame the victim. We blame the person whose fat, "well if you just exercised more and ate less everything would be fine." That's really a huge myth because if it were so simple everybody would do it. The reason we can't do it is because all these hormonal drives from an evolutionary point of view make us overeat and by understanding how to switch on the genes that do the opposite, that increase our metabolism, that control our appetite, and work with our bodies rather than against them, we'll never succeed in this obesity issue. I'm concerned about it not just for individuals but for society. In the year 2010 one in two children in North and South America will be overweight. In China, one in five kids will be overweight. This is a global epidemic of unprecedented proportions. It's going to have health implications and also serious economic implications. It's important that we take this information seriously. I make it fun, I make it interesting, I make it practical, but I'm trying to digest the science for everybody to take advantage of the medicine of the future today.

Bethanne Patrick: That's why it's so powerful to get this information out via the internet. I wanted to talk to you for a couple of minutes about what you're doing next week with the launch of this book, with the release of the book, and the different kinds of ways you're disseminating ultra metabolism out there.

Dr. Mark Hyman: Well, I've had an exciting lead up to this; a lot of people have been helping me and doing a lot of really fun things. One of the things that I've done is I created something called the ultra metabolism challenge which is an online challenge where we've invited people to participate in an 8 week ultra metabolism experience, and I've been guiding them each week with lectures and seminars and online blogs and online message boards and interactive features on the ultra metabolism website.

Bethanne Patrick: How's that been going?

Dr. Mark Hyman: That's been going great. People have been having amazing experiences. People do the program and of course they lose weight but what they really are shocked by is that they feel so much better. They didn't realize how bad they were feeling until they started feeling so good. One patient wrote me, she said 'I've lost 9 pounds, four inches off my waist, 2 inches from my hips, all this in six weeks time but more importantly I feel like I've awakened out of a deep fog that I didn't even know I was in. I have energy and strength and vitality and stamina, my head feels clear, and I feel like I can think better and handle emotions better. And to think I almost didn't do this because I've tried everything and nothing worked.' That's the kind of feedback we're getting.

Bethanne Patrick: That's very exciting

Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah, www.ultrametabolism.com/aol, they can actually download a free sneak preview of the book. I've convinced my publisher to offer this online which allows people to get a sneak preview. If they're interested then, they can go ahead and get the book. My DVD is available for the UltraMetabolism PBS show, which they can watch on their local stations or get a copy as well.

Bethanne Patrick: If you have not bought your copy of 'UltraMetabolism' yet you can find a chapter on how your thyroid works.

Dr. Mark Hyman: Thyroid function is often poorly diagnosed or misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at al. Often when it's treated, it's treated inadequately. I think most physicians learn a simple straight forward, you have it, you don't, here's the drug and there's only one choice and that's it. Unfortunately it's much more complicated. There are many factors that effect thyroid function. We can help deal with imbalances with stress hormones such as getting the right amount of selenium, iodine, zinc and omega-3 fats by eating vegetables, like seaweed, which actually have iodine.

Bethanne Patrick: This is one of the things that you can find in 'UltraMetabolism.' Definitely take a look at books.aol.com and ultrametabolism.com.

Dr. Mark Hyman: Woman's World is doing a story on the book, Family Circle, a big story in Town & Country, PBS is playing all this month my special on ultra metabolism which is showing in just every corner of America and it's getting great response from consumers, and the producers are really thrilled with it because it really lays out these new principles in a way that's really never been done before.

Bethanne Patrick: We hope that those new principles are going to be new impetus to a lot of people out there who have struggled with weight and health problems, so again thanks so much for joining us today, Dr. Mark Hyman, author of 'UltraMetabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss.'