Big fat Greek doctor no more: North County's own Dr. Nick loses the weight, shares his method

By: AGNES DIGGS - Staff Writer | Saturday, December 4, 2004 8:44 PM PST ∞

Dr. Nick Yphantides lost 270 pounds, and some would say that's a really big achievement. But, to him, the real story is about what he gained in the process of cutting himself down to size.

After facing a barrage of "how did you" questions from every side, Yphantides wrote a book about his experiences, in conjunction with Encinitas resident Mick Yorkey. He called it "My Big Fat Greek Diet" (Nelson Books, $22.99.)

The process of losing weight and becoming a whole new person was about developing a whole new attitude about the food that he ate and the activities he involved himself in, Yphantides said.

"Food was never meant to be your friend, Valium on a plate, where you turn for comfort, an alternative to boredom," he said. "Food is for nutrition. I eat for very different reasons than I did in the past. How I eat and why I eat is more important than what I eat."

Yphantides said his reason for writing the book was to offer hope and help, inspiration and instruction. Having weighed more than 467 pounds, he said, made him something of an expert in obesity.

"I think obesity is a complex issue that has multiple contributing factors," he said. "Cultural reasons, emotional reasons, inactivity, food selection are among the many contributing factors that led to my previous weight. If there was a contributing factor to obesity I involved myself in all of them. I didn't get to be 467 pounds by eating too many Twinkies."

Yphantides earned a master's degree in public health and, at the age of 26, a medical degree. By the time he put up his shingle at the Escondido Community Health Center, he had become morbidly obese, having eaten his way up to 300 pounds.

But the real blow came as he turned 30 and was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Surgery and radiation treatments saved his life, but reality had a foot in the door, making him face the fact that his troubles were nowhere near over.

"I'm very thankful that I had cancer because it was my battle with reality that brought home how important my personal health is," Yphantides said. "There was nothing I could do or say about having cancer but here was certainly something that I could do to struggle with the multitude of health problems that came from being so obese."

Yphantides made a game plan ---- literally. He took a year off work to focus on losing weight and gaining his health, and set out on a pilgrimage that combined something he loved with his life-and-death struggle.

He put himself on a liquid protein fast and set out to indulge his love of baseball by visiting every major league baseball park during a single baseball season. He drove to every state except Alaska and Hawaii, which he flew to. He discovered in his travels that in order to change his weight he had to change parts of his life. It was never just about losing weight, he said. It was about never finding it again.

Despite his expertise in preventive medicine he said, he was living in a form of self-denial.

"I was kidding myself that I was doing good things for the health of this community while at the same time sacrificing my own health at the altar of busy-ness," he said. "So I hit life's pause button, went on the journey, and rediscovered my priorities. And in the process, my own health and wholeness."

The book tells of his pilgrimage to health. He was on the road for eight months, receiving a lot of support from his father, grandfather friends and family members, so the journey was a shared one, Yphantides said. "It's such an excruciating process I don't think it can be accomplished alone," he said.

His story is written with the goal of giving readers the tools to customize their own weight loss plan, he said. There's no one-size-fits-all solution, he said. And his message is one of life-long change.

"What I have that's more important than my authority as a medical doctor is the experience of a man who used to wear a size 60 pants," he said. "Of a man who could barely make it up a flight of stairs; someone who experienced the humiliation of not being able to fit into a restaurant booth, someone who could not fit into an airplane seat. Someone who had to go to great lengths in their public persona to compensate for the morbid amount of weight I was carrying around."

He has a new perspective on things like working out, these days. It isn't just something he does, he said. He sees it as part of his job.

Yphantides, the man who once couldn't climb steps, just got back from climbing Mt. Whitney, and was able to do it with ease, he said. It's due to the amount of time he invested in his future by working out at the local "Y" here in Escondido, he said.

"I've reached the conclusion that unless I stay in shape, unless I keep on living, unless I stay on track I won't have a life, I won't have a future," he said. "That's where these changes have really become a matter of life and death."

Yphantides married his wife, Despina, on May 1. And now, along with husband, doctor, administrator, author and a scheduled appearance in People magazine, he's about to add another item to his resume.

"We are blown away with excitement that we are expecting in March," he said. "So you can add daddy to my job description ---- daddy to be."

You can get information about or see photos of the incredible shrinking doctor and some of his adventures on the baseball odyssey on his Web site at www.HealthSteward.com. The book is available online and in book stores.

Contact staff writer Agnes Diggs at (760) 740-3511 or adiggs@nctimes.com.