Computer Programs Can Be Dieter’s Pals

Minutes after meeting you, Bert wants to know all about you. He asks about your height, weight, exercise routine and eating habits. He’s interested in your stress level, too.

Opening up to Bert can pay off. Bert is a computer program, one of a growing number of software packages designed to help people lose weight and maintain a diet and exercise program.

After analyzing your answers, Bert spews out your mental weight, which reflects your eating and exercise habits, motivation, self-image, stress levels and how you feel about your weight problem. Ideally, your mental weight and actual weight should be about the same, says Karl Kaplan, a Los Angeles physician who uses the program at his Center for Weight Loss.

The worse your eating and exercise habits, the higher your mental weight. But Bert gives solid advice on how to close the gap.

“The computer programs uncover things people would probably never tell another person,” Kaplan says. “And it does it in a non-threatening way.” The package is the brainchild of Maurice Larocque, a Canadian physician. For information: (213) 207-4975.

There are other programs with dieters in mind.

* “Moods, Foods and Willpower” was developed by Santa Monica psychiatrist Roger Gould and his colleagues at Interactive Health Systems. The computer program “helps people who have concerns about overeating understand what they are looking for when they open the refrigerator door,” says spokesman Ken Stevenson. For information: (800) 675-0472.

* Sante (French for “for good health”), a new program for IBM-compatible computers, is promoted as all-in-one weight control, diet planning, exercise and recipe software, says Carol Dunn, a program developer. Sante, for instance, can help people tailor their own weight-loss plan. You tell the computer you want to lose three pounds a month. It tells you what to eat and how much to exercise. It also evaluates the nutritional value of your own recipes and more than 3,000 foods, including fast food. Suggested retail, $59.95. For information: (800) 397-9211).

* Diet Balancer, another IBM-compatible program, helps count calories and breaks down food according to nutritional value. It’s available at software outlets. (Suggested retail, $49.99.)

* The Good Health and Diet Program, an IBM-compatible program, evaluates your metabolic rate, designs exercises and starts with a joke. It’s from Diet Research in Reno, Nev.: (702) 329-5144.

TWO VIEWS Should Children Visit Sick Relatives in ICU?

Should children visit relatives who are in an intensive care unit? A new study by a research team at the University of Iowa College of Nursing suggests that children who want to visit and are allowed to do so cope better than those not allowed to visit--provided they are educated first.

Anita Nicholson, lecturer, College of Nursing, University of Iowa, Iowa City

“We studied 20 children, ages 5 to 16. Ten did not visit; 10 visited at least once. First, we prepared the child for what he or she would see in the ICU. We showed pictures of what the ICU setting looks like. We explained IV pumps and breathing machines. We talked about the child’s feelings. Those involved in visiting said they really wanted to go in.

“We compared the control group and visiting group. The children who got to go in . . . had less trouble sleeping, less anger, less trouble concentrating.”

“But if a child does not want to go for a visit, don’t force it.”

Dr. Mercedes Navarro, child and adolescent psychiatrist, Memorial Miller Childrens’ Hospital, Long Beach

“If a young child does not get to visit, he or she may use fantasy (to imagine the worst) and become more anxious.

“Older children, if not allowed to visit, may exaggerate the danger (the patient is in).

“Children should be prepared before the visit in terms of their own age and fears. I must often explain to a young child, for instance, that a parent in a coma is not dead.

“If a child does not want to visit, be tolerant. In that case, offer to allow the child to talk on the phone (with the patient). If the patient cannot talk, perhaps a nurse could intercede, telling the child what the patient is doing.”