Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 2, 1 February 2010 — In 2010, Choy aims to tip the scales at ... 185? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

In 2010, Choy aims to tip the scales at ... 185?

By Lisa Asato Public lnformation Specialist Chef SamChoy, who onee tipped the seales at 405 pounds, was never a welterweight. But this year, four years after starting his Mareh to Losing Weight, whieh has improved his health and deereased his waistline, he has his eyes on a new prize: 185 pounds. Now 58 (he just eelebrated a birthday Jan. 27), Choy has never weighed less than 200 pounds - even when playing football for Kahuku. Now 210 pounds, Choy deeided on 185 beeause "I just never been there," he said, still getting used to his slimmer shape. "It's really weird, but I still get the big man walk," he added. "When I walked, I waddled. Now Fmlearmng not to waddle." Four days into the New Year, Choy sat down at his Nimitz Highway eatery, Sam Choy's Breakfast Luneh and Crab, and shared his health stats (for one, his blood pressure has improved to 120/70 from 210/120) and talked about overeoming his food addietion and Native Hawaiians being a "dying raee." "I always think about our Iz, you know," Choy said, referring to the late singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, who bat-

tled obesity. "I think he still would have been around if aggressively (people) approaehed him during his ehallenging times with his weight. . . . And we see a lot of people in Hawai'i - espeeially the Hawaiians - are huge." That's a trend that Choy attributes to upbringing. "Their eirele of friends, loved ones have the same eating habit," he said. "That's why when I started my 'mareh' - not to be rude or disrespeetful - 1 had to ehange my eirele of friends." The friends he thought he had lost have all eome around again, telling him, 'I'm so glad you did what you did.' " After years of trying WeightWatehers and other diets that didn't work, Choy has embraeed the whole approaeh to weight loss: in addition to eating healthier, he now exercises - "revisiting" that more active lifestyle of his youth. But instead of football, surfing, motocross, now he paddleboards, dives and swims in Kona with his granddaughter Samantha, who lives with himand his wife, and who provided the inspiration for him to lose weight. His regimen also includes working out five times a week for 90 minutes a day either with his personal trainer Eric Yamashita in Kaimukl or with Jeff and Marlina Lee at The Club in Kona. Choy is also embracing another

element from his past - his father's approach to eating. "He loved good food and there was a way of cooking with him that was very artistic. The prep was more important than the cooking," Choy said of his dad, Hung Sam Choy, whose booming lū'au business - feeding "800 people every Saturday" - had helped pay for the building of Polynesian Cultural Center. "And the thing was, watching my dad, he didn't piek (at the food while cooking). He cooked, worked hard and then he sat down and he ate one bowl and that was it." Choy has words for insurance eompanies, who he says should pay more for preventive services like personal trainers, whieh ean cost around $80 or more an hour. "You cannot look at it as a business," he said. "You have to look at it literally as helping a dying race. When you look at the Hawaiian people, we're a dying race." This month, on Valentine's Day, Choy and his wife, Carol, will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. It's just one of the things he ean now let himself look forward to, now that he's got a grip on his health. He said he wants other overweight Hawaiians to follow suit, "It ean be done. Get off your 'ōkole," he said. No matter how bad your situation or life may seem, "If you start changing one thing then your self-esteem starts to eome back, he said, adding that it hasn't always been easy for him, but now eating healthier has become a habit, because you start to realize "that what you're building you cannot tear down." ■

olakino'G,r ta"

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