Anthony DeMartino is starting the year way ahead of the rest of those who have made New Year's resolutions to lose weight, exercise more and improve their health.

Mr. DeMartino, who recently finished the first phase of the Dr. Dean Ornish program offered for the first time by Jefferson Regional Medical Center, has lost 22 pounds since late September and lowered his triglyceride level by more than 100 points.

"I feel great now," said Mr. DeMartino, 69, of Pleasant Hills.

But Mr. DeMartino is quick to acknowledge that he was not happy about being referred to the program, which is designed to reverse heart disease, because it requires strict adherence to a total vegetarian, low-fat, caffeine-free diet. He said he was someone who "liked to eat" even though he had a stent inserted in a clogged artery eight years ago.

Mr. DeMartino's cardiologist, Saul Silver, suggested the program after he saw an irregularity on his patient's stress test. Dr. Silver is the medical director of Jefferson's Ornish program.

"I was perturbed, very, very much perturbed. I thought about getting a new doctor. I knew other people who had heart problems and their doctors weren't making them do this," Mr. DeMartino said. "But I went reluctantly."

New lifestyle

Mr. DeMartino was one of six people to take part in the program at Jefferson, which, hospital officials say, is the only suburban hospital in Allegheny County to offer it.

Allegheny General Hospital also operates an Ornish program.

"Now I'm glad I went on it," Mr. DeMartino said. "It's a new lifestyle. It took me 13 weeks to rid myself of the muck in my arteries and I am not going to put it back again," he said, adding that he's hoping the Ornish program will help him avoid the heart bypass surgeries that his three brothers and a sister underwent.

The Ornish program generally starts with a 12-week session, but Jefferson spread the program over 13 weeks, said Lexi Robinson, director of Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation and the Dean Ornish program at Jefferson Regional Medical Center.

Mr. DeMartino and the other five participants were selected from among patients referred by doctors or those who expressed interest after receiving letters about the program from Highmark.

Now Jefferson is opening the program to the general public with an open house called Taste of Ornish from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday at the medical center's Cardiopulmonary Wellness Center at the Kmart Plaza on Clairton Boulevard in Pleasant Hills. Program sessions are held at the wellness center. Those who want to attend the open house must register by calling 412-469-7805.

Registration open

Seventy people have registered to be considered for the next Ornish program, which will start Feb. 6. Registrations will continue to be taken up until the night of the open house. Sixteen people will be selected from among those who register. The program will run for 12 weeks.

A second February session, with up to 16 more people, could be conducted if enough eligible participants are identified, Mrs. Robinson said.

Participants are screened to determine their health risk factors and how likely they will be to stick to the program, which requires adherence to the diet, regular exercise, practice of stress management techniques and group therapy.

Highmark covers the costs for its qualified policy holders and some Medicare patients might also qualify for coverage, Mrs. Robinson said. Without insurance, the program can cost $7,200.

"There are people who are going to say, 'I am not going to do it.' For others, this is their last chance. A lot of the people who come into the program are very sick people. They are terrible diabetics who can't get it under control or people who are morbidly obese and need to lose weight or people who've already had open heart surgery," Mrs. Robinson said.

"There are also people who enroll in the program because they have risk factors and they don't want to end up like the rest."

One of those people was Michele Cepko, 51, of Pleasant Hills, one of the six participants in Jefferson's first Ornish group. She was diagnosed with Type II diabetes about eight years ago and has had trouble maintaining a healthy weight.

"Diabetes runs in my family and I am looking down the road. I want to live a long, healthy life and I want to be here when grandchildren come along and I want to enjoy a retirement with my husband," Mrs. Cepko said.

She registered for the program after receiving information from Highmark because she was interested in finding a way to maintain a healthy diet, weight and lifestyle in order to keep her diabetes from getting out of control.

"This sounded excellent because it combined the four things I wanted to combine: nutrition, exercise, group therapy and stress management," Mrs. Cepko said.

Since adopting the Ornish lifestyle, Mrs. Cepko said, she has lost 20 pounds and her blood sugar levels have gone down.

Dedication needed

Each meeting the participants are required to attend lasts four hours. The first week, they meet three times. In subsequent weeks, they meet twice a week. The session starting Feb. 6 will meet from 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The Ornish program does not include prepackaged food. Participants are given recipes and cooking demonstrations and taken to a grocery story to learn about and to locate healthy foods, such as soy products, wheat pastas and the like.

The meetings will start with an Ornish-style dinner prepared by the hospital cafeteria. Then participants have a lecture time during which a dietitian will talk with them about their eating habits and doctors will talk with them about the program and their health risks.

Then the participants go into group therapy for about an hour. That is followed by an exercise session done under the supervision of an exercise physiologist and nurses who monitor heart rates.

Last comes the stress management segment of the program, which includes basic yoga techniques.

As part of the program, participants are given an Ornish cookbook and demonstrations on how to make simple recipes.

"It is a vegetarian diet. You are not eating any meat or fish. The protein is replaced with beans and legumes, and soy is another product used a lot. You are doing a lot of fruits, vegetables and pasta," Mrs. Robinson said.

At the open house Wednesday, participants from the original Ornish class will be on hand to tell their success stories. Like Mr. DeMartino and Mrs. Cepko, the other participants in the initial Jefferson Ornish program saw significant improvements in their health, Mrs. Robinson said.

Impressive numbers

"The six lost a total of 105 pounds. That's a lot of weight for six people to lose over 13 weeks, and they are still losing. All had a change in their numbers for the better. Of the diabetics, one man had a decrease in his diabetic medication. The best thing is that they all feel better," Mrs. Robinson said.

Mr. DeMartino and Mrs. Cepko made it through Thanksgiving and Christmas without eating turkey or ham, even though Mrs. Cepko cooked the traditional meals for her family. Mr. DeMartino also passed on his Italian family's traditional seven-fish Christmas Eve dinner.

"That was the hardest thing. I really missed that," he said.

Both Mr. DeMartino and Mrs. Cepko are continuing in the Ornish program. For the next three months, they will attend once a week group therapy and stress management sessions. In addition, they will keep up with exercise routines.

Mrs. Cepko said she had been able to stay on the Ornish plan by focusing on what she is gaining from it, not what she's had to give up.

"My blood sugar levels are down. I don't have cardiovascular disease, but my last stress test showed improvement," Mrs. Cepko said.. "The weight is coming off. I have more energy and my outlook on life is so much better."