PERSONALITY SCALE
Tr ying to lose weight and failing? A new book says the secret to successful dieting is figuring out what archetype you are and crafting a plan that really suits you
F a woman’s exploits with diets were chronicled on an episode of “Sex and the City,” the show’s fictional scribe Carrie Bradshaw may come to the same conclusion that registered dietitian and cognitive behavioral therapist Dana James has: It’s not food — it’s you. James’ new book, “The Archetype Diet” (Avery), divides women into four different personality types: The comfort-eating “nurturer,” the reward-oriented “wonder woman,” the image-obsessed “femme fatale” and the can’t-seem-to-put-on-any-weight “ethereal.” Depending on her personality, James says, a woman tends to store fat in one of a variety of ways and has a particular eating behavior, and thus needs a unique diet catered to her.
“When you give a man a plan, he follows it. A woman has the influence of her emotions, and this makes being consistent more challenging,” says James, who divides her time between New York and Los Angeles and whose clients have included actress Margot Robbie and, she says, several Victoria’s Secret models, none of whom she can name.
For Courtney Sansone, learning her dieting personality type was the first step toward tackling habits that weren’t working for her. Sansone, a 38-year-old client of James’, found out she was a femme fatale, an archetype described in the book as someone who is “sensual, alluring, playful and passionate” and whose constant concern with her appearance means she tends to fluctuate between restrictive diets and bingeing, leading the body to have difficulty regulating insulin and estrogen levels.
James suggested a protein-based diet that is heavy in vegetables and low in carbs for Sansone, who had previously avoided meat in an effort to get rid of what she called “a little belly pooch.” It worked. The New Jersey mother, who works in corporate retail, started eating meat again, cut back on cheese and limited carbs to a couple of times a week, while sticking to roughly the same exercise routine — and she finally saw her body shape change.
“I gained muscles in my arms, I have ab muscles, my butt is lifted,” says Sansone, who
first met with James six years ago.
Elka Gruenberg was found to be a different archetype — a nurturer — and the 35-year-old from Long Island City was also successful working with James. Gruenberg, who works as a bra-fitting specialist, says she would be so busy with clients that she’d put off eating healthy snacks and meals and resort to eating sweets at the end of the day when she finally had a minute to herself.
“As part of my job, I take care of the women I work with, and there’s a lot of energy I give to them — so I hadn’t really prioritized my energy,” says Gruenberg.
James says nurturers such as Gruenberg tend to produce higher levels of insulin and estrogen, and store fat on hips and upper thighs, “which have more estrogen receptors than other parts of the body,” she writes. The nurturer diet is the most restrictive of all the archetypes: James recommends very limited carbs, since those can lead to further spikes in insulin. Instead, she advises nurturers to rely on healthy snacks between meals such as avocado, miso soup or pumpkin seeds and to avoid dairy. They should eat red meat sparingly, but consume plenty of protein such as chicken or fish to “decrease ... hormone-induced hunger.”
After about a year of working with James, Gruenberg has lost about 35 pounds. A key change was her breakfast: Instead of eating granola or oatmeal, she now has a breakfast smoothie with a plantbased protein, frozen berries and almond milk.
Not all of the archetypes struggle with staying trim. The ethereal type tends to have trouble keeping on weight and is also extremely sensitive to everything around her, including different foods. James classified another client, Jenelle Manzi, a New York City Ballet dancer, as an ethereal. She was struggling with digestive issues. Per James’ advice, she gave up gluten and dairy, introduced gut-balancing probiotic foods such as kimchi and allowed herself what James calls “grounding” carbs, such as quinoa. Manzi says she feels much better.
“When you nourish your body with the foods your body likes and needs, everything starts to click into place,” says Manzi, a 20something living on the Upper West Side. She adds that her body feels less inflamed.
For Linda Andon, whom James classifies as a wonder woman, the key to getting the body she wanted was all about letting go of her perfectionism. She’d tried just about everything before working with James — even weighing her meal portions — but her attitude got in the way: She saw every tiny dieting misstep as a major failure.
“The minute [I] eat something that’s not on the plan, [my] whole day is ruined. At dinner [I might] have a whole bottle of wine and french fries,” says the 39-year-old, who splits her time between the Hamptons and New York City and busies herself with entertaining friends and family. “Everything has to be perfect, or it’s a total wreck and I’m not doing it at all.”
James recommended she work on de-stressing, while limiting carbs and dairy to reduce inflammation and eating plenty of protein, including red meat once a week. Andon dropped 10 pounds in three months.
But as much as it might help to have a diet catered to one’s late-night bingeing habits or tendency to com-
fort eat, once labels start getting thrown into the mix, some dietitians are wary.
“When someone gets a label, [it can make her] insecure. Confidence levels drop, which plays a role in everything,” says Kellilyn Fierras, a Boston-based nutritionist and instructor at EverybodyFights boxing gym. “Women are sick of labels.” James says that’s missing the point. “This is to help women understand themselves better . . . It’s like a horoscope,” she says. “In fact, the ultimate goal is to de-label themselves. If people call it sexist, that’s a reflection on them, not on the model.”