A MAKEOVER IN PROGRESS: SOUND BODY AND MIND

ETHAN J. SKOLNICK, eskolnick@herald.com

Thursday at Pro Player Stadium, the New Orleans Saints run into their past. They might be surprised if it runs by, and not just through, them.

The Ricky Williams the Saints will encounter is dramatically altered from the franchise running back traded to the Dolphins for draft picks in March, the player who often carried more than 250 pounds on his frame while carrying the football 313 times last season.

Much has been made of Williams' psychological transformation since he was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and started taking Paxil during his often rocky time in the Crescent City. It is only slightly easier to detect his physical makeover since coming to South Florida, but it might prove even more significant for the Dolphins, who have sought a runner of his pedigree for two decades. Now, that runner has been re-engineered.

"I want to go wherever my body takes me," the 229-pound Williams, this area's most famous Whole Foods shopper, said Aug. 3 over a lunch plate of pork chops and garbanzo beans at the Nashville Doubletree Hotel. "For me, food was just energy for the most part. I would eat pretty much anything. But, really, everything you put in your body, you have to make sure it works for you."

He loves where his body has headed since he approached Dolphins strength and conditioning coach John Gamble in March. Single with a sweet tooth, Williams wanted to play lighter, closer to the weight he was at when he won the Heisman Trophy at the University of Texas. Gamble, a former champion powerlifter, introduced the prized acquisition to nutritionist Sari Mellman. Her Dietary Engineering-Dietary Progressions program, which costs $3,329, is reimbursed by some insurance companies and is used by more than 50 pro athletes, many of whom fax her menus from training camps.

In 19 years, she has never given two people the same program.

Within a week of expressing interest, Williams had his blood taken for a food panel, analyzed against about 150 foods and food additives.

"It is kind of different, because it goes against the grain of saying, 'Well, that is not healthy for you,' "said Gamble, who has been referring players to Mellman for five years. "Well, it may be healthy for Ricky, but it may not be healthy for me."

After the initial blood work, Williams had a consultation to learn How To Play The Game, Mellman's phrase for implementing and then constantly adjusting the cleared foods according to the patient's scale weight and/or symptoms. Mellman bases her work on the premise that weight gain and wasted energy is caused by the body's improper recognition of food structures, and that there are many more unknown negative mechanisms - those that don't show up on tests - than known.

She has developed a protocol to manipulate the mechanisms causing an inflammatory (and thus weight-increasing) response, whether they be foods, chemicals or additives. That means shuffling foods in and out of the user's program, until the body corrects, retraining itself to accept them. Mellman said the liver, aided by a diet full of foods it can handle, is able to increase the production of enzymes to break the rest down better. "Nothing is removed forever," Mellman said.

Her program intends for the patient to find his or her appropriate weight, and she deems Williams best between 225 and 230. It does not count portions, calories or fat grams, nor does it require exercise for weight-loss purposes. And unlike other diet plans, it allows patients to get on and off, as long as they go all-out when they get back on.

You can take breaks and your body remembers," Mellman said.

Patients eat as much as they want, as long as it's what their system wants. If not, it'll show up on the scale within three days, and the patient may show symptoms, like bloating, burping, hiccups, intestinal gas or dry mouth.

"There are so many different philosophies out there. Some people like to stay away from carbs, and learn all these things about how you should eat," said Williams, who speaks with Mellman daily. "With this diet, you unlearn everything you've learned. Basically, food is chemicals that you put into your body, and certain people handle different chemicals differently. Some people can handle aspirin, some people can't, and so forth and so on. With her program, it should tell you there are certain foods your body deals well with, and certain foods it doesn't.

"And honestly, after doing it for three or four months, it's not just about losing weight, it's about making your body work extremely efficiently."

Never has his felt so good.

"She makes it so the food you put in your body isn't disrupting anything," Williams said. "So on this diet, yeah, you're going to lose weight, because you're efficient with the foods you eat. But more than losing weight, you have more energy, you heal faster. You're giving yourself the best chance to live longer, to feel better, to be at your best. I used to have bad allergies, and I used to get sick a lot. I haven't had a sniffle since I started the diet, nothing. It's amazing how good food can be for you."

If it's the right food. After the blood work, he started with a list of immediate-use foods: eggs, lettuce, garbanzo beans, cane sugar, rice, pineapple and papaya. And he received a list of no-nos for at least four to six weeks: celery, chicken, turkey, vanilla, chocolate, cow's milk, wheat. These keep changing, but they gave him more initial guidance than he had before.

Every day, I had chicken and turkey,'' Williams said. "Every day!"

On the second day of the program, the patient is allowed to add four or five more foods, in what's called the Challenge. If something is pinpointed as causing a negative reaction or affecting scale weight, it's removed. Sometimes, that can include supplements - Williams had trouble shedding weight just before training camp until he stopped using one that included corn.

"Your body starts to feel so good, you don't want to put anything bad in there," Williams said.

Oronde Gadsden, Williams' teammate, was on Mellman's program, and says, "I'm impressed with Ricky's discipline." Williams has become a nutrition nut, well-versed in the science, reporting to Mellman regularly, very specific about symptoms. When he's not placing orders with the nearby Davie Grill, he tinkers. When pineapple and papaya were on his approved list, he would mix in raw eggs for a breakfast smoothie.

"He enjoys dabbling," Mellman said.

When he melts sugar on nuts, he knows which kind of sugar to use - Florida Crystals has no corn. Even the type of cooking water is important, though Mellman can't resolve that until Williams breaks camp. He loves sushi, and can still eat that, as well as pork and beef, so long as they are seasoned properly. And once potato starch is cleared, he'll be able to bake some cakes and cookies with it and rice flour.

It's easy, but it's hard," Williams said. "You can't really go to dinner, because the way chefs cook, I can give them a list of foods, but they want to marinate the meat or add certain things. People just assume I don't like this food, or I just want different foods, but I just want what they put in it to agree with me.

Williams never dined out much anyway. But he does travel, and that is difficult except in rare cases when "everyone is so accommodating," as people were during his Paxil promotional tour in New York last month.

He lost seven pounds in four days, further assuring that wherever he travels this season, off or on the field, he will travel light.

Illustration:color photo: Ricky Williams (A)

Copyright (c) 2002 The Miami Herald